# [Official] AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870 Owners Thread



## Razi3l

*AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870 Owners Thread*










*For AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870 reviews, please check the official reviews thread here, which contains all the reviews from various sources.*

*Requirements:*
- Include your card model and manufacturer in the post
- Post a screen shot with GPU-z with your OCN username visible in notepad, or a pic of the card.

Sig link

Code:



Code:


[CODE]
[URL="http://www.overclock.net/ati/850691-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners.html"][B][U]AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870 Owners Thread[/U][/B][/URL]

[/CODE]









*AMD Radeon HD 6850 Owners List*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
5867dude - *ASUS*
alienguts - *ASUS* - X2
Ash_ - *ASUS*
anuclearbomb - *SAPPHIRE*
Bassdoken - *XFX*
Ben the OCer - *ASUS*
bigx5murf - *Diamond*
caffeinescandal - *ASUS*
Carlos Hilgert Ferrari - *PowerColor*
Chrono Detector - *GIGABYTE*
damric - *SAPPHIRE*
Deathschyte - *SAPPHIRE*
disemvoweled - *SAPPHIRE*
EzzA - *SAPPHIRE*
G.E.Nauticus - *MSI*
G-Dragon - *XFX*
Ihatethedukes - *GIGABYTE*
kpo6969 - *ASUS*
Korlus - *ASUS*
kzone75 - *ASUS*
Lethal - *SAPPHIRE*
manitox - *SAPPHIRE*
michintom - *SAPPHIRE*
mjl4878 - *XFX*
MLJS54 - *SAPPHIRE* - X2
nardox - *ASUS* - X2
Nirso - *XFX*
Noir - *SAPPHIRE*
nubgen - *XFX*
Obito Ishii - *ASUS*
Pao - *SAPPHIRE*
Problame - *XFX* - X2
qbical - *XFX*
Razi3l - *MSI*
reisya - *SAPPHIRE*
Regamaster - *ASUS* - X2
Riou - *SAPPHIRE*
RoNNeRT - *GIGABYTE*
SkillzKillz - *XFX* - X2
smoke420 - *ASUS* - X2
SonDa5 - *XFX*
Super Coffee - *SAPPHIRE*
the.hollow - *XFX* - X2
total90 - *SAPPHIRE*
trebor31 - *PowerColor*
TripleC - *HIS*
unreal104 - *SAPPHIRE* - X2
Viridian1 - *SAPPHIRE* - X2
wandering_goat - *ASUS*
YoursTruly - *GIGABYTE*
Zerkk - *XFX*
0razor1 - *MSI*
sinn98 - *GIGABYTE*
yesitsmario - *ASUS*
chavez88 - *GIGABYTE*
qbical - *XFX*
manitox - *SAPPHIRE*
Carlos Hilgert Ferrari - *PowerColor*
Korlus - *ASUS*
leecH01 - *XFX* - X2
77Pat - *ASUS*
pReno - *XFX*
ltg2227 - *GIGABYTE*
a pet rock - *XFX*
McFlurry - *SAPPHIRE*
Erper - *SAPPHIRE*
TwistedDane - *XFX*
amd+ati - *ASUS*
Krusher33 - *SAPPHIRE*
JuStIn871 - *HIS*
phreakboy - *SAPPHIRE* - X2
onslaught_ - *GIGABYTE*
Problame - *XFX*
ht_addict - *GIGABYTE*
Viridian1 - *SAPPHIRE*
Liquoid - *SAPPHIRE*
Krusher33 - *SAPPHIRE*
abu46 - *ASUS*
TriplePlay - *ASUS*
Behemoth777 - *MSI*
speedhunter - *XFX*
OolerTheInventor - *XFX*
Catscratch - *SAPPHIRE*
TheStealthyOne - *ASUS*
grishkathefool - *SAPPHIRE*
TwiggLe - *VisionTek*
Alden - *ASUS*
mrhdream - *SAPPHIRE*
jwblitz - *SAPPHIRE* - X2
Buska103 - *MSI* - X2
XSCounter - *ASUS*
Badwrench - *XFX*
Attackllama - *ASUS*
chaics - *GIGABYTE*
iLLGT3 - *XFX* - X2
Jman11322 - *XFX*
Kieran - *SAPPHIRE*
OMG It's Bob - *SAPPHIRE*
ZeroVision - *MSI* - X2
HereToERADICATE - *XFX*
Raven.7 - *SAPPHIRE*
Phenomanator53 - *SAPPHIRE*
LUZR4LIFE - *AMD* (ES)
antmiu2 - *AMD* (OEM)
ColossusofRhodes - *HIS*
Matt86 - *MSI*









*AMD Radeon HD 6870 Owners List*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
[EX3]Cobra_XP - *MSI* - X2
aaronmonto - *SAPPHIRE*
arrow0309 - *GIGABYTE*
aznofazns - *SAPPHIRE*
Azz_lub - *SAPPHIRE*
Behemoth777 - *ASUS*
Beldecca - *XFX*
blackbalt89 - *GIGABYTE*
bord2bwild - *XFX* - X2
Chisharpe - *SAPPHIRE* - X2
Chuxanator - *GIGABYTE*
CJRhoades - *SAPPHIRE*
CLeeFESQ - *XFX*
Coopa88 - *SAPPHIRE* - X2
DB006 - *XFX*
dante. - *PowerColor*
dennis_g - *XFX* - X2
dog5566 - *SAPPHIRE*
doomsdaybg - *PowerColor*
Electroneng - *ASUS* - card 1
Electroneng - *SAPPHIRE* - card 2
EliteComputerBuilds - *HIS*
faraz1729 - *HIS*
Freakn - *GIGABYTE*
GForceXIII - *HIS*
Griffin - *VTX3D*
GsxR1000Ryda - *ASUS* - X2
G-Dragon - *XFX*
hoss331 - *ASUS*
Houly - *XFX*
ibfreeekout - *SAPPHIRE*
jammo2k5 - *SAPPHIRE* - card 1
jammo2k5 - *ASUS* - card 2
jason123 - *XFX*
JG964 - *ASUS*
jprovido - *SAPPHIRE* - X2
KBCobra - *MSI*
kSmith - *SAPPHIRE*
Leech - *ASUS*
Lunchbox21984 - *HIS*
MacA - *VTX3D*
Modori - *MSI* - X2
mretgis - *Diamond*
N10248 - *SAPPHIRE*
nagle3092 - *XFX* - X2
Obakemono - *XFX* - X2
PKV - *GIGABYTE*
PsychoKilla666 - *ASUS*
Razi3l - *SAPPHIRE*
Riou - *SAPPHIRE*
Robilar - *ASUS* - X2
Samir91 - *XFX*
samuel002 - *SAPPHIRE*
Sarngate - *SAPPHIRE*
Shinjo - *GIGABYTE*
skwannabe - *ASUS*
slytown - *XFX*
sniper_13 - *SAPPHIRE*
sunnyFTW - *MSI*
Swat565 - *SAPPHIRE*
tenkirulez - *MSI*
TheBear - *SAPPHIRE*
TMS106 - *VisionTek* - X2
toyz72 - *SAPPHIRE*
utnorris - *XFX* - X2
WorldExclusive - *ASUS*
worx - *ASUS*
XtremeBlackout - *SAPPHIRE*
Yoko Littner - *SAPPHIRE* - X2
zenoob - *HIS*
BankaiKiller
jmrios82 - *XFX* + *MSI*
denydog - *MSI*
Nautilus - *ASUS*
shadowk - *SAPPHIRE*
nerdybeat - *XFX* - Card 1
nerdybeat - *SAPPHIRE* - Card 2
cheezypoof - *HIS*
Lostcase - *XFX*
PixelFreakz - *MSI*
MentalSoul - *XFX*
begjr2 - *SAPPHIRE*
falcon26 - *XFX*
regae - *ASUS* - Card 1
regae - *GIGABYTE* - Card 2
LucidusCruorem - *XFX*
Archer S - *MSI*
joeyck - *MSI*
Calexan - *SAPPHIRE*
Colt - *SAPPHIRE*
Cosmic_Flash - *ASUS*
Calexan - *SAPPHIRE*
shnur - *PowerColor*
NickCC1991 - *HIS*
Blue Destroyer - *GIGABYTE*
Silomatic - *XFX*
toyz72 - *SAPPHIRE*
Qcgold - *GIGABYTE* - X2
D3TH.GRUNT - *XFX*
shuojinz - *XFX*
Reload_X - *XFX*
FlowDee - *PowerColor*
Cosmic_Flash - *ASUS*
Doom - *HIS* - X2
PowerTrip - *SAPPHIRE*
Krakatau - *GIGABYTE*
Greg0986 - *AMD reference*
hytek9 - *VisionTek*
drBlahMan - *XFX*
Armand - *PowerColor*
frannyvox - *ASUS*
wickedout - *XFX*
twisted5446 - *XFX*
Calexan - *SAPPHIRE*
Heartl3ss - *SAPPHIRE*
Buska103 - *HIS*
ablearcher - *MSI* - X2
Soulniz - *XFX*
detonat3 - *GIGABYTE*
kromar - *SAPPHIRE*
Metalcrack - *XFX*
excoracer - *SAPPHIRE*
Markocro100 - *SAPPHIRE*
Marafice Eye - *XFX*
Cathal - *SAPPHIRE*
Cathal - *ASUS*
sniperdude - *MSI*
seth.i.simmons - *HIS*
FedeVi - *ASUS*
kabj06 - *XFX*
Raven.7 - *SAPPHIRE*
SightUp - *SAPPHIRE*
Mistfang - *SAPPHIRE*
Spade616 - *SAPPHIRE*
ComradeNF - *MSI*
XReflection - *XFX*
jimwest - *No brand specified*
aznx2high - *No brand specified*
ezveedub - *No brand specified*


----------



## Hy3RiD

Good luck, and enjoy your club.
Let's see a load of pics and some reviews in the OP?


----------



## SkillzKillz

In.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Hy3RiD* 
Good luck, and enjoy your club.
Let's see a load of pics and some reviews in the OP?

Yep adding that stuff now. Getting my 6870 soon ^.^

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
In.
Will update when it arrives.

Added you as pending, update your post when you get the card


----------



## beers

Probably will get my woman one for xmas so she can escape her wretched GT220.
Hopefully there will be some in stock before the year ends if I don't jump on it now..


----------



## Witchdoctor

69 series due out in a month or so


----------



## sarngate

I woke up this morning with a banging headache, but that didn't matter once i saw the little package sitting on the Kitchen table !


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
I woke up this morning with a banging headache, but that didn't matter once i saw the little package sitting on the Kitchen table !









Oh my God you got it?!







Ebuyer right?








I should be getting mine monday/tuesday hopefulyl =)
Get overclocking!








*Added*


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Oh my God you got it?!







Ebuyer right?








I should be getting mine monday/tuesday hopefulyl =)
Get overclocking!








*Added*

I got this one from Scan, the shipping only cost me Â£7 and i didn't want to wait ! I'll be putting this in my box in a couple of hours, i'll probably put up some impressions then.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
I got this one from Scan, the shipping only cost me Â£7 and i didn't want to wait ! I'll be putting this in my box in a couple of hours, i'll probably put up some impressions then.

Ah it's showed me pre-order in scan not in stock :O


----------



## XtremeBlackout

I should be getting mine the latest at the end of the week


----------



## Modori

Mmmm!


----------



## Noir

Only MSI 6870 are available in my country as of now.

Waiting for a 6850


----------



## Razi3l

Current lists updated. But next time please include your name in a notepad window in the screenshot


----------



## Triggaaar

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
I got this one from Scan, the shipping only cost me Â£7 and i didn't want to wait!

You can get free shipping from Scan on all purchases over Â£30 if you're a member of another forum (I'll post details here if that's allowed).


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Triggaaar* 
You can get free shipping from Scan on all purchases over Â£30 if you're a member of another forum (I'll post details here if that's allowed).

Yea if you're part of the Hexus community and have linked your Scan account with the Hexus account.


----------



## Hy3RiD

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Yea if you're part of the Hexus community and have linked your Scan account with the Hexus account.

That's too much of an effort for me, unless ... yes... I'll do it now!


----------



## Chisharpe

Oh why god did you make me so impatient. Just ordered 2 sapphire 6870s from ebuyer for Â£360 Inc Monday delivery. Now that's a steal Â£176 each







now Monday needs to bloody hurry up!!


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
Oh why god did you make me so impatient. Just ordered 2 sapphire 6870s from ebuyer for Â£360 Inc Monday delivery. Now that's a steal Â£176 each







now Monday needs to bloody hurry up!!

I'm getting mine monday/tuesday.. because i got some other stuff and one of those things is out of stock -.-
But i can wait







(not really but oh well)


----------



## Hy3RiD

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
Oh why god did you make me so impatient. Just ordered 2 sapphire 6870s from ebuyer for Â£360 Inc Monday delivery. Now that's a steal Â£176 each







now Monday needs to bloody hurry up!!

Wasn't the 5870 Â£320 at release, that's awesome...


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Hy3RiD* 
Wasn't the 5870 Â£320 at release, that's awesome...

5870 was actully Â£300 at launch, and 5850 was Â£200 but prices crept up








It's average price now is around Â£280. This card really needs to be around Â£200 to still sell, since the 6870 is a lot cheaper and is pretty close to it, though i bet it's price will raise too, and with future driver improvements it should be level with the 5870. Come on AMD, where are thoes price cuts?


----------



## jason123

Cant wait to get mine! Shame I have to wait another 2 weeks till pay day


----------



## rollinsoundzboy

anyone that installed it got anymore screenshots benchmarks ???


----------



## sarngate

Just a quick picture of the card in it's new home:










I'm a little disappointed that the sticker on the fan itself is misaligned, but i'll probably end up removing it anyway, looks tacky to me.


----------



## rollinsoundzboy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
Just a quick picture of the card in it's new home:










I'm a little disappointed that the sticker on the fan itself is misaligned, but i'll probably end up removing it anyway, looks tacky to me.

looks nice apart from horrible sticker i admit it looks horid!


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rollinsoundzboy* 
looks nice apart from horrible sticker i admit it looks horid!

Indeed, i opened it and saw the actual shroud sticker, thought 'that looks good' and then saw that silver monstrosity ! It reminds me of the sun blockers that people put inside their cars in the Summer.









Anyway, i just started it up and the fan at idle is pretty damn quiet, i have it right next to me on the desk as i'm typing this and it's barely audible.


----------



## Frosty88

Hrmmm....may have to move my golden editions for some 6870s. I actually dislike the Nvidia drivers more than ATi's!


----------



## Chisharpe

We need some benchamarks. I'm really looking forward to seeing how well these scale.


----------



## Little Overclocker/Gamer

Gonna get an Asus version during Thanksgiving and spray painting it black (going with a blue theme so I gotta get rid of the red).


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
We need some benchamarks. I'm really looking forward to seeing how well these scale.









They scale brilliantly, two 6870's in Crossfire match a pair of 480's in some benchmarks. Seems like AMD really focussed on Multi GPU scaling for this generation.


----------



## djsi38t

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Modori*











Mmmm!


Gee only 315.00 a piece?333.00 with shipping?


----------



## Behemoth777

Asus 6870 reporting for duty!









I don't have gpu-z yet because a)the card is still on its way here and b) my ram is on rma









And technically Razi3l, you can't add yourself to the list yet either!


----------



## N10248

I ordered my Sapphire 6870 yesterday and should get it monday.

Already removed my 5770 and connected the 2nd 6 pin cable to the PSU ready!


----------



## pac0tac0

i need to sell my watercooled 4890 but once i do im going to microcenter and getting an xfx 6870







DDDDD


----------



## sarngate

So i just installed the drivers etc. and i decided to go into Overdrive and set fan speed to 100%.










I felt like there was a wind turbine under my desk, the loudest fan i've ever heard, and i thought my 4890 was loud !


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


So i just installed the drivers etc. and i decided to go into Overdrive and set fan speed to 100%.










I felt like there was a wind turbine under my desk, the loudest fan i've ever heard, and i thought my 4890 was loud !


Haha, yeah that's AMD's blower type cooler for ya.









So are we going to see some overclocking results? Put those review sites to shame and represent Overclock.net!


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


So i just installed the drivers etc. and i decided to go into Overdrive and set fan speed to 100%.










I felt like there was a wind turbine under my desk, the loudest fan i've ever heard, and i thought my 4890 was loud !


How cool did it run at full load?


----------



## sarngate

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Haha, yeah that's AMD's blower type cooler for ya.









So are we going to see some overclocking results? Put those review sites to shame and represent Overclock.net!


This is a brand new build pretty much, i'll be installing Crysis in a minute, use that old classic Benchmark. Have to do Vantage as well of course. Keep in mind, this little i3 will do it's best but that might influence things somewhat.


----------



## Ghostcracker

i see that the new series is not expensive at all like the 5xxx series , why??


----------



## Ghostcracker

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


This is a brand new build pretty much, i'll be installing Crysis in a minute, use that old classic Benchmark. Have to do Vantage as well of course. Keep in mind, this little i3 will do it's best but that might influence things somewhat.


why you dont overclock that i3 530???


----------



## sarngate

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Behemoth777*


How cool did it run at full load?










With the fan at default (im guessing 20% judging by the noise) it was at 39C, which i'm pretty impressed with, especially with the case i'm using.


----------



## sarngate

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Ghostcracker*


why you dont overclock that i3 530???


One step ahead







Got it sitting at 4Ghz stable, i'll probably push it up once i get everything sorted.


----------



## rico2001

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


I woke up this morning with a banging headache, but that didn't matter once i saw the little package sitting on the Kitchen table !



















Love the box. Congrats.


----------



## CCast88

The scaling on these cards makes me waht t0 get a pair... but... I... Must... Resist!!!


----------



## Exostenza

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Frosty88*


Hrmmm....may have to move my golden editions for some 6870s. I actually dislike the Nvidia drivers more than ATi's!


That is like liking Vista over Windows 7... *Not possible!*


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CCast88* 
The scaling on these cards makes me waht t0 get a pair... but... I... Must... Resist!!!

Do it


----------



## Little Overclocker/Gamer

NVIDIA's been creamed. The 6800 cards are only good at combat games, not Dirt2. The GTX470 beat the 6870 in Dirt2 but the 5970 is still in the lead. I think it was 5970, 480, 470, 6870, etc. for Dirt 2 Benchmarks.


----------



## Obakemono

I ordered two Sapphire 6870s, and they are for my brother for xmas. I'm happy with my three 5770s for now. What I really wanted was three reference 6850s but since you cannot tri/qaud fire them I was a bit put off by that, but I will see.


----------



## Chisharpe

some screens of the order and price cant wait



















Cant wait to see what these overclock to


----------



## sarngate

Okay so i've just been doing some basic OC'ing with Overdrive and Furmark this is what i've reached:

Core - 975Mhz (+75)
Memory - 1200Mhz (+150)

However these are comfortable settings, the fan is only running at 32% and is perfectly quiet for gaming with headphones on. I get a feeling that with an increase fan speed the Core could be maxed out at 1000 easily.

I'll be doing some benchmarks with these clocks and stock in a little while, right after i go eat !


----------



## Chisharpe

awesome can't wait


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
Asus 6870 reporting for duty!









I don't have gpu-z yet because a)the card is still on its way here and b) my ram is on rma









And technically Razi3l, you can't add yourself to the list yet either!









Hey, i'll be providing proof once my card gets here








Post a GPUz or photo when you get yours.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *djsi38t* 
Gee only 315.00 a piece?333.00 with shipping?

He probably lives outside of US lol

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
some screens of the order and price cant wait

Cant wait to see what these overclock to

*Added*, once you get the card post a GPUz validation or a photo of the card









Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
Okay so i've just been doing some basic OC'ing with Overdrive and Furmark this is what i've reached:

Core - 975Mhz (+75)
Memory - 1200Mhz (+150)

However these are comfortable settings, the fan is only running at 32% and is perfectly quiet for gaming with headphones on. I get a feeling that with an increase fan speed the Core could be maxed out at 1000 easily.

I'll be doing some benchmarks with these clocks and stock in a little while, right after i go eat !

That's pretty nice, but Furmark isn't the best for stability, run Vantage and some games when you get the chance, 1000 should be easy though








--------------------------
*Note: Until i see a GPUz screenshot w/ OCN name/Validation or photo i'll set "Pending" next to your name.*


----------



## CJRhoades

Just ordered mine a few minutes ago! Should be here Wednesday.


----------



## ztmike

I'm probably going to pick up the MSI 6870 to add into my rig with my 5870. Not sure when I'll buy though..I still need some motherboard standoff screws and thinking about a new heatsink, like the H50.

Edit: The 6870 is compatible with the 5870, right?


----------



## Frosty88

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ztmike* 
I'm probably going to pick up the MSI 6870 to add into my rig with my 5870. Not sure when I'll buy though..I still need some motherboard standoff screws and thinking about a new heatsink, like the H50.

Edit: The 6870 is compatible with the 5870, right?

I was under the impression that the cards had to be in the same series.....58xx with another 58xx and so on...


----------



## rico2001

HIS Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card in Crossfire (TweakTown)


----------



## Detroitsoldier

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ztmike* 
I'm probably going to pick up the MSI 6870 to add into my rig with my 5870. Not sure when I'll buy though..I still need some motherboard standoff screws and thinking about a new heatsink, like the H50.

Edit: The 6870 is compatible with the 5870, right?

No, they are not compatible. At least, not with CrossFire.


----------



## Electroneng

*Item List:*

*Item**Description*
*Quantity*

*Unit Price*

*Extended Price*

14-121-401VGA ASUS|EAH6870/2DI2S/1GD5 R

*Click Here To Protect Your Investment*
1

$239.99
$239.99

*Payment Summary:*

*Payment Term:*
Paypal

*Subtotal:*
$239.99

*Tax:*
$0.00

*Shipping and Handling:*
$7.87

*Total Amount:*
$247.86

Here is one of the two that I have ordered! ASUS 6870 and Sapphire 6870!


----------



## aaronmonto

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CJRhoades* 
Just ordered mine a few minutes ago! Should be here Wednesday.









Do you really need to do rush processing over the weekend? I was considering doing it, but I ordered it on Friday... I'm also surprised these things haven't gone out of stock yet. I guess people are still waiting... well, this was what I was waiting for!


----------



## Shadow of Intent

Hmm may end up getting a 6870 in the end.
Waiting on the 6950 atm but I have space limitations in my case, 10.5 inches infact in the storm scout. The 6870 is 10.3 with the stock cooler on it so it'll fit.

Who knows, by the time the 6950 comes out we may have some 6870's that have aftermarket coolers on em, after all the PCB is actually the same 9.5 inch length as the 5850...just the silly stock cooler makes it longer >.>


----------



## CJRhoades

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aaronmonto* 
Do you really need to do rush processing over the weekend? I was considering doing it, but I ordered it on Friday... I'm also surprised these things haven't gone out of stock yet. I guess people are still waiting... well, this was what I was waiting for!









I don't know. I figured Newegg would be processing a LOT of orders on Monday because of the release of these cards and I want to make sure my order is sent out on Monday so I get it asap. It's only $3 anway...


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
Okay so i've just been doing some basic OC'ing with Overdrive and Furmark this is what i've reached:

Core - 975Mhz (+75)
Memory - 1200Mhz (+150)

However these are comfortable settings, the fan is only running at 32% and is perfectly quiet for gaming with headphones on. I get a feeling that with an increase fan speed the Core could be maxed out at 1000 easily.

I'll be doing some benchmarks with these clocks and stock in a little while, right after i go eat !

TechPowerUP's GPU Tool allows voltage tuning.

You can also use Sapphire'S Trixx GPU Overclocking utility for voltage adjustments.


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
TechPowerUP's GPU Tool allows voltage tuning.

You can also use Sapphire'S Trixx GPU Overclocking utility for voltage adjustments.

Unfortunately Trixx isn't available yet, the download is pending on Sapphire's website despite it being made a selling point on the box.









I'll try GPU Tool though, thanks.


----------



## sarngate

So because i love messing around with my hardware, i'm going to do a little experiment. I have an old heatsink from a Sapphire 5850 sitting here, it was from one of the non-reference designs and has an 80mm fan along with 5 heat pipes.

I plan to run Furmark for 10 minutes with the stock cooler at 33%, and then at 100%. I'll take the final temperature readings from both. Then i'll do the same with the 5850 cooler. AFAIK the only problem i might run into is cooling the VRAM chips, but i've got some of those around somewhere which i'm sure i can dig out.

Keep in mind my card is inside a rather small case, so temperatures will probably be several degrees lower across the board if you're using a full tower with good airflow.

*Update*

Stock cooler results:

33% - 84C
100% - 64C


----------



## trn

I went ahead and ordered 2 x 6870's on a whim today + a 100mm xfire bridge. I was looking for an upgrade to power 3 monitor gaming and the price, performance, and power usage and temps were just to great to pass up and order SLI GTX 480's like I was planning. I'll give em a shot and hope for improved driver quality since the last time I tried a xfire + eyefinity setup


----------



## sarngate

Okay, swapped the cooler with the one from the 5850.










Goodbye blower !


----------



## PopcornMachine

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
Okay, swapped the cooler with the one from the 5850.

Interesting that it fit so nicely. Gives me hope that there will be custom 6870s as I do not have a 5850 lying around.


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Hey, i'll be providing proof once my card gets here








Post a GPUz or photo when you get yours.

Oh I will...









And here's at least enough proof to get me on the list.


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PopcornMachine* 
Interesting that it fit so nicely. Gives me hope that there will be custom 6870s as I do not have a 5850 lying around.









Well the Barts GPU's use the same PCB layout as the 5*** when it comes to placement of the cooler etc.

I'm so happy with the noise levels now though, it's barely audible and keeps the card running a little cooler to boot.


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
Well the Barts GPU's use the same PCB layout as the 5*** when it comes to placement of the cooler etc.

I'm so happy with the noise levels now though, it's barely audible and keeps the card running a little cooler to boot.

But the blower style cooler keeps the heat out of your case...









I will personally leave mine on. These cards are very quiet at idle and when i'm gaming, i'll just turn the fan up and throw my headphones on. Easy fix.









BTW, very nice results with the different fan speeds. Upping the fan speed to 100% took off a whole 20c!


----------



## CJRhoades

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
and keeps the card running a little cooler to boot.

Just how cool? You gave us stock heatsink figures but what about the 5850 cooler?


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cjrhoades* 
just how cool? You gave us stock heatsink figures but what about the 5850 cooler?

33% - 81c
100% - 59c


----------



## sarngate

But like i said, anybody using a case with half decent airflow will be getting noticeably lower temperatures than me anyway. I'm using a non-modular PSU in a tiny case with a 11'' GPU and a single intake fan.


----------



## CJRhoades

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
33% - 81c
100% - 59c

Ah nice. Knocked off another 3-5C.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
Okay, swapped the cooler with the one from the 5850.










Goodbye blower !

That looks sweet man, so 5800 coolers can fit these 6800 cards, awesome. I wonder if you can overclock some more with that now :thunb:

*Owners list updated*. It seems Sapphire is quite.. popular


----------



## XtremeBlackout

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
That looks sweet man, so 5800 coolers can fit these 6800 cards, awesome. I wonder if you can overclock some more with that now :thunb:

*Owners list updated*. It seems Sapphire is quite.. popular









I guess because they are the cheapest


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *XtremeBlackout* 
I guess because they are the cheapest























yep


----------



## Triggaaar

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Yea if you're part of the Hexus community and have linked your Scan account with the Hexus account.


Quote:


Originally Posted by *Hy3RiD* 
That's too much of an effort for me, unless ... yes... I'll do it now!

I don't know what the Hexus community is. I get free postage from Scan with my AVForums account.


----------



## bmh69

now that looks a horrible non reference cooler from 5850


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Triggaaar* 
I don't know what the Hexus community is. I get free postage from Scan with my AVForums account.

Hexus is basically a review site and in their forums they have a support area dedicated to Scan customers. Pretty cool, i just never bothered registering although shipping would be free then.. and i could've saved a bunch.. maybe i'll do it sometime







. I didn't know they had a partnership thing with AVForums either


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bmh69* 
now that looks a horrible non reference cooler from 5850

How do you work that out good sir ?

5 Heatpipes vs. 3 from the stock model
80mm fan quiet fan vs. Leaf blower

While i believe that the stock cooler looks a lot nicer, the thing is so over engineered (like most reference coolers tend to be) that it isn't as effective as it should be.


----------



## sendblink23

I'll join here soon... need to order them next week *CF 6870


----------



## goldcrow

Will a non-reference Palit Sonic cooler fit the likes of the 6850?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *goldcrow* 
Will a non-reference Palit Sonic cooler fit the likes of the 6850?

I think the mounting holes for 48xx and 58xx (and thus these) were similar but i'm not sure.. Although most 6850 cards are non-reference and have pretty good coolers on them.


----------



## dante.

So my question is to what for nonreference 6870 with better cooling or to buy now GPU?








And if so, which model to buy?


----------



## ben h

hmm
any 1 in here care to run 3dmark06 i wanna see how it compaires to my 5770


----------



## goldcrow

Just gotta wait for a non-reference Palit or Sapphire card. Whew, the 6850 looks like it'll blow the 4850 out of the water.


----------



## dante.

When can we expect Vapor-X or equal Palit model of 6870?


----------



## Live_free

Which card is better the 5870 or the 6870?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ben h* 
hmm
any 1 in here care to run 3dmark06 i wanna see how it compaires to my 5770

3DMark06 isn't exactly a good measure of graphics power since Vantage is better. And it's quite a bit faster than a 5770. Infact the 6870 is sometimes equal/faster than the 5870.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *goldcrow* 
Just gotta wait for a non-reference Palit or Sapphire card. Whew, the 6850 looks like it'll blow the 4850 out of the water.


Quote:


Originally Posted by *dante.* 
When can we expect Vapor-X or equal Palit model of 6870?









Vapor-X would be cool, and ASUS would also make non-reference cards, along with most others like Gigabyte. Also, Palit don't make Radeon cards anymore, they have gone NVIDIA-only it seems, shame really, since Palit/Gainward made some amazing ATI cards.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Live_free* 
Which card is better the 5870 or the 6870?

The 5870 is better in most cases, but the 6870 should be equal to it's performance or even surpass it with future driver updates. It also scales better in CrossFire, and uses less power (even though that's not much of an issue with 5xxx/6xxx cards). It's also cheaper it seems so it would be better to go with the 6870 instead, at least what i think


----------



## MrTOOSHORT

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Live_free*


Which card is better the 5870 or the 6870?


5870 is faster than a 6870, but 6870 crossfire is faster than 5870 crossfire.


----------



## Silvershot

so guys, is the 6870 better than the 5870? if yes? how the hell is it so cheap????? i paid double the price to get the 5870 and now the 6870 is released ffs


----------



## pewpewlazer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Silvershot*


so guys, is the 6870 better than the 5870? if yes? how the hell is it so cheap????? i paid double the price to get the 5870 and now the 6870 is released ffs


For the love of god, do some research. NO, the 6870 is not faster than the 5870. It's close though. And of course you paid twice as much for a 5870. It was ATIs high end single GPU when you bought it. This is a mid range card.


----------



## goldcrow

Looks like I'll be going for a non-reference Asus or Sapphire 6850 now. Anyone think the Q6600 at 3.2ghz will bottleneck it big-time? Waited almost 3 years to replace the trusty 4850.


----------



## Silvershot

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pewpewlazer*


For the love of god, do some research. NO, the 6870 is not faster than the 5870. It's close though. And of course you paid twice as much for a 5870. It was ATIs high end single GPU when you bought it. This is a mid range card.


Ok dude, calm down. I don't know where to search other than this awesome forum. it's just a simple question. there are many people here who bought the new gpus and know which one is better. thanks though


----------



## pewpewlazer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *goldcrow*


Looks like I'll be going for a non-reference Asus or Sapphire 6850 now. Anyone think the Q6600 at 3.2ghz will bottleneck it big-time? Waited almost 3 years to replace the trusty 4850.


Big time? No. Bottle neck? Yes.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Silvershot*


Ok dude, calm down. I don't know where to search other than this awesome forum. it's just a simple question. there are many people here who bought the new gpus and know which one is better. thanks though










anandtech.com
guru3d.com
techpowerup.com
techsport.com
bit-tech.com
hardocp.com
benchmarkreviews.com
hardwarecanucks.com

There are plenty more out there. Googling "6870 review" would be a pretty quick way as to find stuff as well.


----------



## Live_free

Are the 69xx supposed to be replacing the 59xxs? So same price point just faster is what I'm guessing?


----------



## ben h

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
3DMark06 isn't exactly a good measure of graphics power since Vantage is better. And it's quite a bit faster than a 5770. Infact the 6870 is sometimes equal/faster than the 5870.


i havnt ran vantage thats why i said 06


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ben h* 
i havnt ran vantage thats why i said 06

Ah ok, take a look here.


----------



## snow cakes

wohh so thers already a new series? how do they compare to the 5800 series cards?


----------



## nascasho

Quote:


Originally Posted by *snow cakes* 
wohh so thers already a new series? how do they compare to the 5800 series cards?

Start clicking...









From Chunky_Chimp:

*Engadget review roundup*

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/a...eview-roundup/

*Guru3D*

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon...0-6870-review/

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon...sfirex-review/

*TechPowerUp!*

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6870/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...850_Direct_Cu/

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

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...870_CrossFire/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...850_CrossFire/

*Hexus*

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=27053

*HardwareCanucks*

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...50-review.html

*TechGage*

http://techgage.com/article/amd_radeon_hd_6870_hd_6850/

*LegitReviews*

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1445/1/

*[H]ard|OCP*

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/...eo_card_review

*Anandtech*

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3987/a...idrange-market

*Overclock3D*

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/g...usive_review/1

*Bit-Tech*

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra...-6850-review/1

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra...-6870-review/1

*NeoSeeker*

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha...70_6850/2.html

*HardwareHeaven*

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review...roduction.html

*PureOverClock*

http://www.pureoverclock.com/article1109.html

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1107&page=1

*KitGuru*

http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...hd6870-review/

*Benchmark Reviews*

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...=628&Itemid=72

*HiTech Legion*

http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/...-hd6850-review

*Hot Hardware*

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/AMD-R...50-GPUs-Debut/

*Legion Hardware*

http://www.legionhardware.com/articl...hd_6870,1.html

*MaximumPC*

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/rev...hd_6870_review

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/rev...hd_6850_review

*Neoseeker*

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha...eon_6870_6850/

*PC Perspective*

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=1022

*PC Pro*

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/graph...radeon-hd-6870

*Rage3D*

http://www.rage3d.com/reviews/video/...launch_review/

*TechRadar*

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...c=rss&attr=all

*TechSpot*

http://www.techspot.com/review/325-amd-radeon-6870/

*Tested*

http://www.tested.com/news/tested-am...eo-cards/1197/

*Tom's Hardware*

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...arts,2776.html

*TweakTown*

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/360...ard/index.html

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/360...ard/index.html

*Vortez*

http://www.vortez.co.uk/contenttelle..._review,1.html

*OverClockersClub*

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/amd_6800series/

*AlienBabeltech*

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=21598&all=1[/QUOTE]


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MrTOOSHORT* 
5870 is faster than a 6870, but 6870 crossfire is faster than 5870 crossfire.

lols, only when the 6870 cf is using newer drivers and the 5870 is using older <10.8 drivers


----------



## Chisharpe

Can't wait to see that ups man today!


----------



## dog5566

Im so happy!! just paid for my first 1, and will get my next 1 in 2 weeks when i get paid.


----------



## Chisharpe

Just got back from lunch an look what was waiting or me.




























Can't wait to finish work now.

Let me know if anyone wants some game benchmarks done.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Chisharpe*


Let me know if anyone wants some game benchmarks done.










yummy









Well run all the game benchmarks that you want & post them lol

Do single & cf tests then afterwards experiment overclocking them.. and as well do again benchmarks.


----------



## Th0m0_202

i will be getting one or 2 in a month or 2. awaiting for my younger brother to buy my gtx460. im over this card haha. its not fast enough anymore


----------



## Chrono Detector

Please add me to the list, I got myself a new Gigabyte 6850 and so far I'm enjoying it. Also, its for my secondary rig, not my main one.

Here is an unboxing video I uploaded on YouTube:

  
 



  



 
 My temps for the card:

Idle: 33C
Load: 54C+
Furmark: 69C max


----------



## N10248

Mines arrived...



















(Sapphire version)


----------



## PopcornMachine

Quote:



Originally Posted by *N10248*


Mines arrived...


And it's in a Vulcan! Good job.


----------



## kSmith

woot I join the ranks lol


----------



## Razi3l

*Lists updated.*


----------



## Mr.FraG

Quote:



Originally Posted by *N10248*


Mines arrived...



















(Sapphire version)


Looks amazing







My 6870 Sapphire will come tomorrow, i'm goint to post pics


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mr.FraG*


Looks amazing







My 6870 Sapphire will come tomorrow, i'm goint to post pics










So does mine









You know, i'm actually thinking now that I might get another 6870 in a month, depending on what my budget looks like. I know I won't likely need it, but it will pretty much max out my board so the next time I upgrade it will be my whole system.

Decisions, decisions...


----------



## Mr.FraG

I'm thinking on buy another after 3-4months, but don't know if my q6600 will bottleneck the CF


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mr.FraG*


I'm thinking on buy another after 3-4months, but don't know if my q6600 will bottleneck the CF










At 3.6ghz? Not a chance.

Now if it was stock, that would be a different story.


----------



## XtremeBlackout

Mine comes tomorow or the day after too.Can't put it in my rig until Sunday tho


----------



## Razi3l

Mine has been delayed because of stock issues -.- And i won't have a rig to put it in until friday.. or even next week


----------



## Wildcard36qs

When does AMD release their own?! I want that reference sticker! Looks awesome. Should I sell my 5770 and get 1 6870?


----------



## dennis_g

ordered 3 of sapphire 6870, 2 for my system and 1 for my htpc







(ordered in ebay)
will update in 2 weeks (i'm from israel and its ships from usa..)


----------



## Riou

I am going to pick up a 6850 and a 6870. I will post some pics once I finally get the cards.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Wildcard36qs* 
When does AMD release their own?! I want that reference sticker! Looks awesome. Should I sell my 5770 and get 1 6870?

Yea reference design looks sexy.. the sticker at least.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Riou* 
I am going to pick up a 6850 and a 6870. I will post some pics once I finally get the cards.









Both?  Why not just 2 of one or the other? You gonna mix-n-match? XD


----------



## Riou

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Both?  Why not just 2 of one or the other? You gonna mix-n-match? XD

The 6850 is going to a friend.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Riou* 
The 6850 is going to a friend.









Oh right. Be sure to post pics here (of either; or both)


----------



## Chisharpe

A Quick Look At My New 6870 in Crossfire

http://www.overclock.net/ati/852583-...crossfire.html


----------



## RoNNeRT

I'm surprised I haven't seen more of the non-reference Gigabyte 6850s in here!










Got this gem on Newegg for $60 cheaper than any 6870 I could find so I ended up going with it. Hopefully I'll be getting a second one for next paycheck assuming they have them back in stock by then


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
A Quick Look At My New 6870 in Crossfire

http://www.overclock.net/ati/852583-...crossfire.html

Awesome nice work ^_^

@Everybody Make sure you post validation/pics when you get your cards (if you haven't) so you can be confirmed on the list


----------



## Chisharpe

cheers guy so happy with the cards man


----------



## Lunchbox21984

i just ordered mine today, HIS 6870. it has been charged to my paypal and hopefully it will be here at the end of this week. having to run on the laptop until i get my card.


----------



## PsychoKilla666

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Exostenza* 
That is like liking Vista over Windows 7... *Not possible!*

I logged in just to disagree with you for disagreeing with us LMAO

6870 arriving today

will update my specs later when I post pic


----------



## Faraz

I'm loving the solid rectangular look of these cards.

Are there any benches done with 6850 in CF?


----------



## PsychoKilla666

Box is fatter then expected, cut off some of my username LOL


----------



## PopcornMachine

Pureoverclock reviewed that asus eah6870 and were able to get it to 1000MHz core and 1175MHz memory. And I don't think they increased voltage.

Looks like a nice card.


----------



## Davidsen

Which one should i upgrade to, or which of those is a better upgrade?

XFX Radeon HD 5850 1GB(possibly Reference model) $284
XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB $290


----------



## PopcornMachine

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Davidsen* 
Which one should i upgrade to, or which of those is a better upgrade?

XFX Radeon HD 5850 1GB(possibly Reference model) $284
XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB $290

Get at 6870 at $240.


----------



## swat565

Waiting on my Saphire 6850, left post office this morning and should be arriving any minute now..


----------



## sarngate

I'm so frustrated right now, because i'm sitting here just waiting for their to be a tool publicly released which will allow me to change the voltage on my card. I know for a fact that this is the thing which is my barrier right now, and not the temps.

It's a little bit outrageous that Sapphire put their Trixx utility as a sticker on the packaging of my card when it isn't actually bundled, nor is it available to download.

Grr !


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
I'm so frustrated right now, because i'm sitting here just waiting for their to be a tool publicly released which will allow me to change the voltage on my card. I know for a fact that this is the thing which is my barrier right now, and not the temps.

It's a little bit outrageous that Sapphire put their Trixx utility as a sticker on the packaging of my card when it isn't actually bundled, nor is it available to download.

Grr !









Did GPU Tool not work?


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Did GPU Tool not work?

Nope, doesn't recognise the GPU.

I currently have the Core at 970Mhz running OCCT with no errors, and Memory is at 1200Mhz too. I don't see any reason why these cards won't be able to comfortably hit 1100Mhz Core with a voltage increase if temps are decent.


----------



## Yvese

Can anyone run Metro2033 @ 1920x1200 DX11, AAA, etc?

I saw it in reviews already but curious what actual users get. Single and CF would be great!


----------



## sarngate

Aaaand this is why i don't use OCCT. Furmark gives me a max temperature of 85C stable, and within 10 minutes of OCCT my card is hitting 98C and crashes repeatedly.


----------



## pewpewlazer

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chrono Detector* 
Please add me to the list, I got myself a new Gigabyte 6850 and so far I'm enjoying it. Also, its for my secondary rig, not my main one.

Here is an unboxing video I uploaded on YouTube:






My temps for the card:

Idle: 33C
Load: 54C+
Furmark: 69C max

How quiet is that? Thinking about grabbing a pair.


----------



## Shinjo

I've bought a GIGABYTE 6870, a nice card indeed.


----------



## BIGGUN

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-348-_-Product

Just ordered that. I have the two fan Gigabyte GTX460 now and really like the cooling.


----------



## Shinjo

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BIGGUN* 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-348-_-Product

Just ordered that. I have the two fan Gigabyte GTX460 now and really like the cooling.

Haha, I do know that windforce cooling can do much better and be quieter.
I can hear no more noise when my friend adjust fan speed up to 100%.


----------



## Chrono Detector

Quote:


Originally Posted by *pewpewlazer* 
How quiet is that? Thinking about grabbing a pair.

Well, at first by default when you install CCC and the driver, CCC will set it to 70% fan speed at default. But I decided to decrease the fan speed and now it runs quiet. So yeah I could hardly hear it while gaming.


----------



## Behemoth777

I get my asus 6870 tomorrow..









Will post pics when it arrives.


----------



## aaronmonto

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shinjo* 
I've bought a GIGABYTE 6870, a nice card indeed.









Wow... I almost regret ordering the Sapphire model. That looks sexy as heck.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chrono Detector* 
Please add me to the list, I got myself a new Gigabyte 6850 and so far I'm enjoying it. Also, its for my secondary rig, not my main one.

Here is an unboxing video I uploaded on YouTube:






Why don't you like the reference cooler, Chrono? I've always found the ones that port out the back to be superior, and they're better looking







.


----------



## XtremeBlackout

Mine just came !!








Can't post GPU-Z SS until Monday.


----------



## TheBear

I've bought Sapphire HD 6870 yesterday... I have paid 200 euros for it in Serbia.

My card hits 85c in Furmark 39% fan, very quiet... In games temps are under 80c...

Put me on the list









GPUZ, and picture of card:


----------



## dante.

Hi Bear








Bought PowerColor 6870 yesterday also in Serbia.
Damn this card is wicked, preforms like hell with almost no sound.
Thumbs up for ATI.


----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *dante.*


Hi Bear








Bought PowerColor 6870 yesterday also in Serbia.
Damn this card is wicked, preforms like hell with almost no sound.
Thumbs up for ATI.











Hi









Yes it's really great card for money...


----------



## dog5566

Here is my validation. i cant hear this card at all.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/z8my4/


----------



## marduke83

definitely thinking about making the move back to radeon cards rather than going SLi (saves me installing the hack for my MB). Plus some of the benchmarks of 2x 6870's are amazing! And the cards arent much more than the 460's here. I will wait to see what the 69xx cards are like though. I still have a soft spot for ATi/AMD cards.


----------



## Razi3l

Alrighty folks, updated. Still upset that i'll have to wait longer for my card but no worries


----------



## strezz

thinking of grabbing the gigabyte 6870 in before the end of the year. Still waiting on my xmas bonus to come in


----------



## Azz_lub

woo! Mine comes today! can't wait







like a child on christmas morning everytime i update my card! ha

EDIT: will be posting pics and results in the near future


----------



## TheBear

Does anybody knows about some software for OC with Voltage Tuning ?


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TheBear* 
Does anybody knows about some software for OC with Voltage Tuning ?

None as of yet, we're waiting for Trixx to be released or possibly Asus' Voltage tool.


----------



## TheBear

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
None as of yet, we're waiting for Trixx to be released or possibly Asus' Voltage tool.

I don't understand why triXX isn't included, there's sticker on box that says TriXX and I saw hexus review and they used it....


----------



## PsychoKilla666

I can give you guys a link to the Asus Utilities if that could help anybody

Here it is anyway LOL

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8SPGXP24


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TheBear* 
I don't understand why triXX isn't included, there's sticker on box that says TriXX and I saw hexus review and they used it....

Yup, there's a download page on Sapphire's website but it just says 'Coming soon.' Frustrating because i can easily get much higher clocks on this card if i can up the voltage.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Count me in. I have my first one coming in Thur. I will follow it up in a few after I sell my HD 5770s. Thx.


----------



## MorbEIn

just got my one! =D



















by the way, whats the normal temp 6870? cuz im getting 40c idle. 460 used to get 30c idle...


----------



## Hy3RiD

It's growing


----------



## Behemoth777

6xxx series will be the best price/performance cards since the 8800gt!


----------



## aaronmonto

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
6xxx series will be the best price/performance cards since the 8800gt!










No kidding. I was thinking just that. We basically haven't had another 8800 GT since its release, as far as bang-for-the-buck goes. And like the 8800 GT, I hope my 6870 will last me faithfully for years to come







.


----------



## grunion

This is what I want..
Run the M2033 benchmark tool w/without tess enabled, I want to see the performance hit.

Like so..

Attachment 178149

Attachment 178150

Congrats on your cards









Thanks


----------



## =JLumbs=

I just ordered my sapphire 6870 to come in in about one week with another one in a month or so it was a tough choice to sell one of my 4870s from my CF sig rig...... 4870CF still holding it's own....... But I did it I hope this 6870 CF will last a long time


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PsychoKilla666* 
I can give you guys a link to the Asus Utilities if that could help anybody

Here it is anyway LOL

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8SPGXP24

Thanks man, but no dice. 'Can not find graphics card information'


----------



## Epitope

Ordered an Asus 6870 EAH6870. Arrives tomorrow


----------



## ZealotKi11er

What is the stock volts for HD 6870 and how far does it go with stock volts?


----------



## Live_free

Ignore this post, I have several windows open and posted in the wrong thread.


----------



## =JLumbs=

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Live_free*


How many of you actually use battery backups? Do you think they are worth the money or is it better spent somewhere else?

This is the one I was considering.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16842102048

Is their a better one for around the same price?

I will be using a 850w psu.


this should be asked somewhere else not in he 6850,6870 owners thread


----------



## Lunchbox21984

well, till my 6870 gets here, had to through in my old 7600gt, not before throwin on some IC Diamond, this thing is chilling at 48c at stock settings and with stock cooler w/ fan speed at 50%, can not believe this thing.

about to try it with some Doom3, lol.

i might as well do something till it comes right guys.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Got mine yesterday, HIS 6870


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## un-nefer

Any word on if you can crossfire 58xx with 68xx since 68xx barts are basically rehashed 58xx series anyhoo?


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *un-nefer*


Any word on if you can crossfire 58xx with 68xx since 68xx barts are basically rehashed 58xx series anyhoo?


you cannot mix different series.. you can only CF with same series... example: 57XX + 57XX, 58XX + 58XX or 68XX + 68XX.. etc


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


you cannot mix different series.. you can only CF with same series... example: 57XX + 57XX, 58XX + 58XX or 68XX + 68XX.. etc


I thought it was based on the actual GPU family used in the cards and not the actual series?

Actually, I just reread the details of the barts, and they are based on the Juniper GPU (ie. 57xx) and not the Cypress GPU at all.

Anyhoo, I'm not really fussed, I was more just curious


----------



## 13thirty7

5k series FTW!!!


----------



## MacClipper

Can anyone share their Asus HD 6850 BIOS dump using ATIWinflash20112 (the latest I can find) ?
http://www.ziddu.com/download/122560...20112.rar.html

Seems Asus SmartDoctor strictly needs the Asus BIOS for it to work, thanks in advance.


----------



## sarngate

I wish !


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacClipper* 
Can anyone share their Asus HD 6850 BIOS dump using ATIWinflash20112 (the latest I can find) ?
http://www.ziddu.com/download/122560...20112.rar.html

Seems Asus SmartDoctor strictly needs the Asus BIOS for it to work, thanks in advance.

Are you literally willing to void your warranty? Well actually I have no clue if your brand has no problem with flashing the bios... but seems like a great plan you have


----------



## jprovido

I have a question. Can I do eyefinity on 6870's without the need for active display port adaptors?


----------



## MacClipper

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
Are you literally willing to void your warranty? Well actually I have no clue if your brand has no problem with flashing the bios... but seems like a great plan you have









Nothing ventured, nothing gained.









Again pls share if anyone has the Asus 6850 BIOS dump, thx.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacClipper* 
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.









Again pls share if anyone has the Asus 6850 BIOS dump, thx.









What if you kill your card while trying to flash it huh??















I know nothing... hopefully someone dumps the bios you need, its going to be great if it works


----------



## swat565

Finally arrived this morning, got it clocked to 915/1165 stable.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## TheBear

Mine overclocks to 990/1190Mhz without voltage adjustment...

Here's Crysis Warhead run @ 990/1190 clocks:

http://ultraphoto.org/viewer.php?fil...unqkssfvn2.jpg

Also included temperatures 71c max., fan is fixed 39%, very quiet....

If anyone find any tool for voltage adjustment please post it here.


----------



## Redwoodz

FYI MSI Afterburner is in the process of fully implementing support for these cards-no eta as of yet.


----------



## Behemoth777

For your viewing pleasure


----------



## MrTOOSHORT

Thanks for the pics Behemoth777


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MrTOOSHORT* 
Thanks for the pics Behemoth777









Your very welcome









I love asus, their quality in everything they make is evident, from motherboards, to gpus, to sound cards.

I am one happy guy right now. Going from a 4770 to this is like









Can't wait to test it out tomorrow when my games are downloaded, just installed my new ssd today too.









Oh, and I just did the WEI test, and my lowest score at 7.4 is my cpu. lol!


----------



## MorbEIn

checked all the benches and reviews and all of them are going for 40c idle, im using dual monitors at the moment, and im hitting 50c idle , is this normal?


----------



## MacClipper

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
What if you kill your card while trying to flash it huh??















I know nothing... hopefully someone dumps the bios you need, its going to be great if it works

No worry about that for me.

I really wanna see & hopefully understand how the Asus card can clock so much higher than the others. Is it the chip binning or BIOS or the card build quality?


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MorbEIn* 
checked all the benches and reviews and all of them are going for 40c idle, im using dual monitors at the moment, and im hitting 50c idle , is this normal?

I have one monitor and with replacing the tim, my idle is 55c. The thing with these cards is, their fan speed is really low, so it is quiet at idle. But at 100% fan speed, this is definitely louder than my old xfx 4770 at 100%.

50c is quite normal.


----------



## MorbEIn

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
I have one monitor and with replacing the tim, my idle is 55c. The thing with these cards is, their fan speed is really low, so it is quiet at idle. But at 100% fan speed, this is definitely louder than my old xfx 4770 at 100%.

50c is quite normal.

ahh cool cool, just worried that it might melt or something, cuz i have my computer almost on the whole day, it only gets 4 hours of rest a day...

hehe yeh, 100% fan is freaking loud!


----------



## MacClipper

FYI, more volts!

http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-rade...cil/10160.html


----------



## sendblink23

MacClipper cool find bro









I can't believe my stock CF 5770.. still beats a 6870 on vantage even on 1030/1180

stock CF 5770









OC 6870:









I'd imagine if I overclock my CF 5770... I will murder a single 6870

No worries I'm still going to order the CF 6870 or CF 6850
I just feeling bad how cheap I gotta sell the 5770's


----------



## dog5566

I love this card, OC's well with no volt modes, cant wait to get my new rig up and runing. will get sum 3D marks up soon.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *dog5566* 
I love this card, OC's well with no volt modes, cant wait to get my new rig up and runing. will get sum 3D marks up soon.









Why is your memory at 880?? Just curious..


----------



## Azz_lub

Got mine!!

Manufacturer : Sapphire
Model: ATI Radeon 6870

http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...alofwee/fe.png

http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...01027-1408.jpg

http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...01027-1430.jpg

http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...01027-1258.jpg


----------



## beldecca

Add one more. Mine just came in.


----------



## Razi3l

*Forgive me but i'll update in a few days since i'm on phone atm







. Sorry for the inconvenience.*


----------



## dog5566

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
Why is your memory at 880?? Just curious..


umm i dont no? but its ok now, thanks for pointing it out..









Is there any way of changing fan speeds with out going into CCC? one more thing, what are the safe hight temps for this card?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *beldecca* 
Add one more. Mine just came in.

Chyeahhhhhh, another courageous XFX customer.

-fistbump-

Quote:


Originally Posted by *dog5566* 
Is there any way of changing fan speeds with out going into CCC? one more thing, what are the safe hight temps for this card?









Just stay below 90C and you'll be fine.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## SkillzKillz

Can someone dump the Asus HD 6870 bios?


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

I am having an issue with my 6870, It doesnt want to run at 3d clocks in benchmarks sometime, the core stays at 300 for some reason, any idea's


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
I am having an issue with my 6870, It doesnt want to run at 3d clocks in benchmarks sometime, the core stays at 300 for some reason, any idea's

try reinstalling your driver.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Please add me. I just got it. It is on my other gamer till I replace my Apogee XT Back Plate on my i7. Thx.


----------



## SkillzKillz

HD 6870 1000mhz/1150mhz on stock volts:


----------



## SonDa5

Add me to the HD6850 wall!


















Stock voltage 1GHZ/5000mhz

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/g4hyd/


----------



## SkillzKillz

Wow, now I'm REALLY excited for mine. So jealous right now.

1GHZ at 60C! XFX really designed a winner this time.


----------



## hydroman

Mine's out for delivery!


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## Pao

I have a Sapphire 6850 otw, I'll post a picture to get on the wall when it arrives.

I wanted Gigabyte, but they were sold out and it was one of those "the order is now, or forever hold your piece" kinda deals.

Edit: How audible was that fan at 100% SonDa5?


----------



## SonDa5

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pao* 
Edit: How audible was that fan at 100% SonDa5?

Not very loud compared to the standard fans that ati/AMd have used. It's a non reference heat sink with fan. Quiet and works well.


----------



## utnorris

Ok, so I am having a stupid moment. Nowhere in CC do I see where to setup Eyefinity. I have two XFX cards with the three monitors plugged into the DVI ports on the first card and the third monitor in the first DVI on the second card. Am I doing something wrong? Also, does CF disable multimonitors? When I enable it, I only get one monitor, I am assuming this is normal, like SLI on Nvidia?


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *utnorris* 
Ok, so I am having a stupid moment. Nowhere in CC do I see where to setup Eyefinity. I have two XFX cards with the three monitors plugged into the DVI ports on the first card and the third monitor in the first DVI on the second card. Am I doing something wrong? Also, does CF disable multimonitors? When I enable it, I only get one monitor, I am assuming this is normal, like SLI on Nvidia?

Do you have Desktop & Displays in your CCC ?

Just mess with it & it should work..... but from past experiences.. I think you need an active display adapter(that must be your main display, all the rest use the other ports) to do Eyefinity... but since obvious I don't have your card... and it has more ports so no clue


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *utnorris* 
Ok, so I am having a stupid moment. Nowhere in CC do I see where to setup Eyefinity. I have two XFX cards with the three monitors plugged into the DVI ports on the first card and the third monitor in the first DVI on the second card. Am I doing something wrong? Also, does CF disable multimonitors? When I enable it, I only get one monitor, I am assuming this is normal, like SLI on Nvidia?

One of the monitors has to connect via Display port for Eyefinity.


----------



## WorldExclusive

ASUS 6870 Stock
http://i55.tinypic.com/vcxc41.jpg


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
ASUS 6870 Stock
http://i55.tinypic.com/vcxc41.jpg

I love the look of the entire set up so far


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
ASUS 6870 Stock
http://i55.tinypic.com/vcxc41.jpg

Now that looks boss.


----------



## Rhezuss

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
In.










Will update when it arrives.

Ordered the exact same card at 2pm today!
Should get it by friday if all goes well, can't wait!

This is replacing my HD 5770, which I already found a buyer (coworker)!


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
I love the look of the entire set up so far










Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Now that looks boss.

Thanks. I'll post more photos in the Lian Li Gallery since I took pictures of the whole build/case.


----------



## utnorris

Yeah, it looks like you have to have the three monitors connected to one card which kinda sucks. Oh well, time to order my DP cables from monoprice. They are like $3 each.


----------



## =JLumbs=

Hey guys im just wondering what kinda fps you getting with 6870 from sapphire on BFBC2 on DX10 i know that wont most likely happen, or even DX11 max settings i wanna know "real world" figures how much will one go against my 4870CF im getting about 80-90s....

Also does newegg.ca ship on weekends?????


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

My i7 comp is waiting on a back plate but I put it on my work comp







. I am still testing it. I cleaned off the stock grease and added some TX-4. Dropped about 4c in idle and 8c up top. I passed vantage as high as 1040/1170 but not stable for too long.


----------



## Pao

Fantastic OC there Cobra!


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

128c on your TMPIN2, damn thats way to hot..


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pao* 
Fantastic OC there Cobra!

Thanks. Hopefully I can spend some more time on it with my i7 comp.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
128c on your TMPIN2, damn thats way to hot..

Asus board gives off some insane readings sometimes.


----------



## rico2001

AMD 6850 Crossfire Review and Benchmarks (XFX & ASUS)


----------



## nardox

Just ordered two Asus 6850 DirectCU from Newegg


----------



## lethal

add me to the list.. Sapphire HD6850


----------



## aaronmonto

Just got my Sapphire HD 6870 in the mail!
The name of the uploader is mine backwards.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aaronmonto* 









whats with the 100 million things opened when doing the gpu-z screen shot?
seems overcrowded to show off youR current oc.. all you needed to show was the gpu-z and its happy enough









Oh the spatula in the video was the best part lol


----------



## PsychoKilla666

Quote:


Originally Posted by *utnorris* 
Yeah, it looks like you have to have the three monitors connected to one card which kinda sucks. Oh well, time to order my DP cables from monoprice. They are like $3 each.









ugh, damn you AMD


----------



## Modori

Just thought I'd post for thread owners ref.


----------



## N10248

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Modori*











Just thought I'd post for thread owners ref.


I'm wondering how hot the top card will get when two are mounted directly next to each other without a spare slot in between.

As the 6870s have no rear air intakes and the 2nd card will cover the 1st ones fan hole completely?


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Modori*











Just thought I'd post for thread owners ref.


OK.... I saw this and thought I was seeing double









I just ordered my second card from the egg. I should get it next week.


----------



## Pao

Quote:



Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP*


OK.... I saw this and thought I was seeing double









I just ordered my second card from the egg. I should get it next week.


I look forward to seeing the results of two 6870's in crossfire running at 1Ghz.


----------



## Namwons

so how much slower is 6850 @1ghz vs 6870 @1ghz? 5%? 10%? these cards seems to be amazing overclockers (even with no voltage tweak).


----------



## Modori

Quote:



Originally Posted by *N10248*


I'm wondering how hot the top card will get when two are mounted directly next to each other without a spare slot in between.

As the 6870s have no rear air intakes and the 2nd card will cover the 1st ones fan hole completely?











For the interested, this is what it looks like in my case. I think it's quite handsome, but thats just me. Ignore the cable management, Antec 1200 is horrible for cable manage with a 1000 watt half-modular PSU.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Pao*


I look forward to seeing the results of two 6870's in crossfire running at 1Ghz.











If you wait a little, maybe a couple of days, I will drop a thread about my overclock, with temps and benchmarks.


----------



## Pao

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Namwons*


so how much slower is 6850 @1ghz vs 6870 @1ghz? 5%? 10%? these cards seems to be amazing overclockers (even with no voltage tweak).


No idea, but to be honest your estimate doesn't sound that far off. It's what? 960 shaders to 1120 shaders?


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Pao*


I look forward to seeing the results of two 6870's in crossfire running at 1Ghz.










For sure. I might have at least 2 different tests (PII x6 and i7 920). The other tech at the comp repair shop I work at on the weekends picked up a Sapphire HD 6870 so we are going to CF them on a few systems. He already pushed his card to 1000MHz core so hopefully we should get that on CF and put some TX-4 on his card.


----------



## MacClipper

Got the Asus EAH6850 BIOS from a friend but can't do the crossflash since even the latest ATIFlash does not recognise any HD6850 adapters at all. :lol:


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## Azz_lub

Im having some problems with my 6870, i can't get any output at all (even in the bios) from my bottom DVI port, or the HDMI port.

Any suggestions?


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Azz_lub* 
Im having some problems with my 6870, i can't get any output at all (even in the bios) from my bottom DVI port, or the HDMI port.

Any suggestions?

1. I would start with reseating it and make sure the pci-e power is putting out the right output.
2. Plug it in to another computer.
3. If the first 2 didn't work check your mobo manufacturer for a possible update (doubt it at this point though)

4. RMA!

Also check your monitor. You never know.


----------



## KBcobra

Another here


----------



## koven

ehhh, the vantage scores are a bit lower than i expected... i get the same scores on my OC'd 460, i thought the 6870 > 460


----------



## Yvese

Quote:


Originally Posted by *koven* 
ehhh, the vantage scores are a bit lower than i expected... i get the same scores on my *OC'd* 460, i thought the 6870 > 460


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 









You're getting about 1.3 frames more than me but I have a very good rig also.

34.6fps Average
17.8 Minimum
80.4 Maximum
873 Score

It could be my motherboard since it's a mATX which could have reduced some performance.
Also you have your HDDs in Raid 0 which could also be the difference.

My OC: 1000/1175
Had to increase volts to reduce artifacts.


----------



## Chisharpe

Anyone know if we can voltage tweak yet?


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
You're getting about 1.3 frames more than me but I have a very good rig also.

34.6fps Average
17.8 Minimum
80.4 Maximum
873 Score

It could be my motherboard since it's a mATX which could have reduced some performance.
Also you have your HDDs in Raid 0 which could also be the difference.

My OC: 1000/1175
Had to increase volts to reduce artifacts.

That run was at 925/1101 @4.0GHz i7 920


----------



## koven

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Yvese* 









ehh the vantage run a few posts above is oc'd to 1ghz

nevermind though, dont want to crap on this thread

i'm seriously debating 6870 cfx , but waiting for 69xx first


----------



## freakb18c1

can someone run 3DMark 06 please at stock clocks.


----------



## Marc-Olivier Beaudoin

Just finished the upgrade for my brother build with a gigabyte 6850.

And some pics from the old card he had in the build that i swapped over time. pretty funny









temps are 41C a 1.15V on stock . with CCC auto fan at around 25-30%


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *freakb18c1* 
can someone run 3DMark 06 please at stock clocks.

Here is a stock run of 3dmark06


----------



## freakb18c1

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
Here is a stock run of 3dmark06










thank you +1

whats the 920 clocked at in this run?


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *freakb18c1* 
thank you +1

whats the 920 clocked at in this run?

I actually had it clocked at 4.0GHz but the GPU is stock clocks on that run. If you want me to do a stock CPU run I can. Awesome card so far, cant wait till some voltage tweaks come out.


----------



## freakb18c1

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
I actually had it clocked at 4.0GHz but the GPU is stock clocks on that run. If you want me to do a stock CPU run I can. Awesome card so far, cant wait till some voltage tweaks come out.

no thats fine i just wanted an idea what this card can do. thanks again


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
I actually had it clocked at 4.0GHz but the GPU is stock clocks on that run. If you want me to do a stock CPU run I can. Awesome card so far, cant wait till some voltage tweaks come out.

its so awesome that my cheap worth right now only $200 CF 5770 even on stock beats the crap out of it so far =P

It makes me still.. not wanting to upgrade.. since I will under perform.. with a single 6870 compared to right now on 5770's... but duhh CF 6870 is a monster.. but too much money.. selling my CF does not even get me a single 6870


----------



## PopcornMachine

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
Here is a stock run of 3dmark06










Interesting. My best ever run of 3dmark06 with my 4830 crossfire was 23027, with my 920 at 3.9GHz.

Based on this and other info, one 6870 would do better than my two cards and use a lot less juice. That is, until I have the need for a 2nd 6870.









Thanks for the info.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PopcornMachine* 
Interesting. My best ever run of 3dmark06 with my 4830 crossfire was 23027, with my 920 at 3.9GHz.

Based on this and other info, one 6870 would do better than my two cards and use a lot less juice. That is, until I have the need for a 2nd 6870.









Thanks for the info.

Your Welcome my friend, I have another 6870 on order so I can have CF again. Cant wait till it arrives. Take care.


----------



## ZealotKi11er

Looks like most people get a Sapphire card.


----------



## Chisharpe

@Stock Clocks in Crossfire


----------



## skyneon

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ZealotKi11er* 
Looks like most people get a Sapphire card.

Yes, looks like it. I wonder why not Asus tho?


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyneon* 
Yes, looks like it. I wonder why not Asus tho?

because the sapphire cards were actually in stock


----------



## alienguts

I bought asus. can't wait for em, they should ship out today and get here monday or tuesday I guess.


----------



## skyneon

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
because the sapphire cards were actually in stock

makes sense


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Asus Crossfire Review


----------



## Ihatethedukes

Got the dual fan sapphire 6850. It's as fast as the single 480 I have at most real world things I do once OCed.

Doing 950/1100 easily on stock voltage (of course because we don't have vcontrol yet)


----------



## Name Change

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
its so awesome that my cheap worth right now only $200 CF 5770 even on stock beats the crap out of it so far =P

It makes me still.. not wanting to upgrade.. since I will under perform.. with a single 6870 compared to right now on 5770's... but duhh CF 6870 is a monster.. but too much money.. selling my CF does not even get me a single 6870

In what do your 5770's beat a 6870 in ?.. 6870 should beat them pretty easily..

I feel like ordering Asus Hd 6870.. not sure tho.. taxes in shipped $300 cad.. rawrs what to do lol..


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyneon* 
makes sense









:d


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Name Change* 
In what do your 5770's beat a 6870 in ?.. 6870 should beat them pretty easily..

what planet do you live?
CF 5770 beats a 5850 and in many cases beats, equals & sometimes reaches a 5870... which a Single overclocked to 1k 6870 does not

Come on everyone POST your 1k overclocked 6870 Vantage performance GPU score.. so that you can see what I mean... by the way as well in gaming it beats it.. go read some CF 5770 reviews

even on a minimal overclock of simply 900/1300 I get 18,440
you guys on single 6870 1k only get around 176XX


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Coming from a pair of 5770 XXX cards my 6870 beats them in games and benchmarks for the most part. At the price I sold my 5770's for it was worth it for me. In a few days I will have another 6870 for CF so I am very excited.

Like Vantage the 5770's beat, Heaven 2.1 my 6870 beats the CF 5770's. In the games I play the 6870 comes out the winner.


----------



## Name Change

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
what planet do you live?
CF 5770 beats a 5850 and in many cases beats, equals & sometimes reaches a 5870... which a Single overclocked to 1k 6870 does not

Come on everyone POST your 1k overclocked 6870 Vantage performance GPU score.. so that you can see what I mean... by the way as well in gaming it beats it.. go read some CF 5770 reviews

even on a minimal overclock of simply 900/1300 I get 18,440
you guys on single 6870 1k only get around 176XX

Planet earth somewhere u may wanna visit sometime.. Oh noes not vantage.. show me some game benches.. or sthu...


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
Anyone know if we can voltage tweak yet?

I tweaked my voltage using ASUS Smart Doctor. It comes with the ASUS 6870.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
That run was at 925/1101 @4.0GHz i7 920

Lower clocks too? Hmmm, the mobo and HDD is really holding me back.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

I am not knocking CF 5770's as they are a good combo for the price vs preformance.


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
I tweaked my voltage using ASUS Smart Doctor. It comes with the ASUS 6870.

Lower clocks too? Hmmm, the mobo and HDD is really holding me back.

waiting for sapphire trixx then


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Name Change* 
Planet earth somewhere u may wanna visit sometime.. Oh noes not vantage.. show me some game benches.. or sthu...









read the max FPS... which includes CF 5770 & it does show single 6870

http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/up...10/10/RE52.png
http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/up...0/mafia-22.png
http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/up...10/10/avp2.png
http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/up...0/10/HAWX2.png

http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/up...0/unigine4.png
http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/up...k-vantage2.png

http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/up...metro20331.png (we equal)

Then Imagine what would be CF 5770 overclocked to 1k???? =P
You GOT SERVED

plain and simple $200 of used CF 5770's beat a single 6870 no matter what
but ofcourse that is with current drivers.... pretty certain your drivers will mature... and then on that day.. I will order a 6870... since its obvious on that moment it would be worth me giving up my cf 5770 since it would be an upgrade on performance.... but currently it under performs


----------



## Chisharpe

mate them benchmarks are ****. proper low. 120 frames in resi 5. I got 174. 3dmark of 26 i got 28 in crossfire. ****ty review


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
mate them benchmarks are ****. proper low. 120 frames in resi 5. I got 174. 3dmark of 26 i got 28 in crossfire. ****ty review

Are you dumb or something.. those tests are using the same computer hardware settings for each card tested... PLUS you are CF 6870 - those scores are single 6870

You run a different hardware(overclocked settings) than the test LOL so you will get a different score on everything

Vantage P: CF 5770 @ 900/1300 (stock is 850/1200) = 18,440
single 6870 @ 1000/1101 = 17634

Imagine CF 5770 at 1000/1400 =P


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
Are you dumb or something.. those tests are using the same computer hardware settings for each card tested... PLUS you are CF 6870 - those scores are single 6870

You run a different hardware(overclocked settings) than the test LOL so you will get a different score on everything

clearly but an i7 950 @3.6 and a [email protected] 4.0 isnt gonna produce 50 more frames im sorry but no.

i wont comment on this anymore as its more about an owners club than comparing between other cards


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

OK I got my i7 water block bolted back on. CPU is at 4.0GHz. HD 6870 stock settings. I got to get some stuff done.... I will start OCing the card later


----------



## tianh

Alot of people are telling me to wait for aftermarket coolers on the 6870 cards before buying (ie. DirectCU and Vapor-X) Should I wait, or am I safe getting the asus eah6870?

Thanks!


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
clearly but an i7 950 @3.6 and a [email protected] 4.0 isnt gonna produce 50 more frames im sorry but no.

i wont comment on this anymore as its more about an owners club than comparing between other cards









Wow... you keep being dumb.. even if it were showing 50 more frames..... the CF 5770 is still beating it LOL


----------



## Ihatethedukes

I see that most people in here are living in lala land where whatever they believe is the truth. A 1ghz 6870 won't beat a stock 5870? .... wow.... If you have 5770's already a 6850 or 6870 isn't all that great a buy but anyone hopping on 5770 CF new now either got a deal of a century or is an idiot.

As for my gigabyte 6850: it OCs to 960/1200 on stock volts and fan profile. 70C max temp in furmark.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ihatethedukes* 
I see that most people in here are living in lala land where whatever they believe is the truth. A 1ghz 6870 won't beat a stock 5870? .... wow.... If you have 5770's already a 6850 or 6870 isn't all that great a buy but anyone hopping on 5770 CF new now either got a deal of a century or is an idiot.

As for my gigabyte 6850: it OCs to 960/1200 on stock volts and fan profile. 70C max temp in furmark.

not only that CF 5770.. in some case beats a 5870.. that is what they aren't understanding









forgot to say that is very nice temps for that clock


----------



## GTR Mclaren

yeah the 5770 is still a great card...36fps in BC2 at 1080p with all the setting at max

Im waiting for the 6950


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
Wow... you keep being dumb.. even if it were showing 50 more frames..... the CF 5770 is still beating it LOL


Was I knocking the 5770 no I was knocking thier review.

Did I say the 6870 was faster than a 5770 crossfire... No

So just shut it


----------



## Mit Namso

Since I have a month old EAH5670 1GB, and I get another one for $110, and I'm poor, I guess I better skip over the better 5000s, and later jump to the 6000s

The 6850/6870 aren't much ahead anyway right, just refinements with lower starting price right?


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Chisharpe*


Was I knocking the 5770 no I was knocking thier review.

Did I say the 6870 was faster than a 5770 crossfire... No

So just shut it


I'm very sorry I assumed extremely wrong your past posts... for that you are very well welcome to come over and kick my butt 100 times & even shove a pineapple up my bum ... just like hitler got in the movie Little Nicky


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mit Namso*


Since I have a month old EAH5670 1GB, and I get another one for $110, and I'm poor, I guess I better skip over the better 5000s, and later jump to the 6000s

The 6850/6870 aren't much ahead anyway right, just refinements with lower starting price right?


Yes, since you only own 1 5670(or even if you had cf 5670)- going to a 6850 or 6870 is an upgrade for you... so you better upgrade to them... you gotta save a bit more $$$ :/


----------



## WorldExclusive

Comparing crossfired cards to a single card gives me the giggles.
How about comparing CF vs CF or CF vs SLI. Buying two cards to beat one is silly at best.
Buy the faster single card, then CF that card when you get more money.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
Comparing crossfired cards to a single card gives me the giggles.
How about comparing CF vs CF or CF vs SLI. Buying two cards to beat one is silly at best.
Buy the faster single card, then CF that card when you get more money.

You still are not getting it right?

CF 5770 right now used only costs $200-$220(shipped)
A single 6870 is $240(without shipping)

see the difference now?


----------



## PinkSlippers

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
You still are not getting it right?

CF 5770 right now used only costs $200-$220(shipped)
A single 6870 is $240(without shipping)

see the difference now?

Very true, I've got the Xfire 5770's and they're beating a single 6870 no problem.


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
You still are not getting it right?

CF 5770 right now used only costs $200-$220(shipped)
A single 6870 is $240(without shipping)

see the difference now?

You're still comparing one card versus two. Two of anything is most likely better than one. What's next, Tri-Fire 5770s so it can beat a single 6970? I know many people are cost sensitive but you have to look at it as less clutter, heat, power consumption, better upgrade path and higher resale value.

A 6870 is not a good value because two 5770s can beat it?
What about something closer in price, can 5770CF beat 6850CF? or GTX 460 SLI 768MB?

If two 5850s beat the 6970 at the same price point, the 6970 wouldn't be a good value?
One card > Two cards


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
You're still comparing one card versus two. Two of anything is most likely better than one. What's next, Tri-Fire 5770s so it can beat a single 6970? I know many people are cost sensitive but you have to look at it as less clutter, heat, power consumption, better upgrade path and higher resale value.

A 6870 is not a good value because two 5770s can beat it?
What about something closer in price, can 5770CF beat 6850CF?

If we are looking at price and performance, 6850CF is a better option than 5770CF.
Now that's how to make a proper comparison.

CF 5770 only cost $200 shipped - beats 5850 & also beats 5870 sometimes
6850 $180(without shipping) - does not even beat a 5850
CF 5850 $360 - Beats by a large margin a single 5870.. which a CF 5770 will not

A CF 5770 in no way its comparable between CF 6850 / CF 6870.... a CF 5770 is like a single 5850 that sometimes with luck beats a 5870..... and a CF 6850 / 6870 is much much much more than a single 5870

So please understand what we are talking here.... and the reality.. a CF 5770 current owner.. will go more for an upgrade of a CF 6870 more likely than a CF 6850...... which comes the issue... you can only currently sell your used CF 5770 for only $200... which Will Not give you enough $$$ to buy a single 6870 - that would mean the user will need to bring in a bit more money to buy it & he will be *underperforming* until he manages to buy a 2nd 6870.. which will cost all together $480 without shipping....

can you understand now what I mean of comparing CF 5770 vs single 6870 - get it clear there is no way of comparing CF 68XX VS CF 57XX.. so don't mention something so stupid as your whole last post.

The other thing why are we comparing CF 5770 VS a single 6870 - because many people still believe that a single 6870 or even overclocked to 1k that it will beat a CF 5770... which obviously we confirmed its Wrong

to be clear it is a proper comparison (single 6870 vs CF 5770) - they both beat 5850's


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
CF 5770 only cost $200 shipped - beats 5850 & also beats 5870 sometimes
6850 $180(without shipping) - does not even beat a 5850
CF 5850 $360 - Beats by a large margin a single 5870.. which a CF 5770 will not

A CF 5770 in no way its comparable between CF 6850 / CF 6870.... a CF 5770 is like a single 5850 that sometimes with luck beats a 5870..... and a CF 6850 / 6870 is much much much more than a single 5870

So please understand what we are talking here.... and the reality.. a CF 5770 current owner.. will go more for an upgrade of a CF 6870 more likely than a CF 6850...... which comes the issue... you can only currently sell your used CF 5770 for only $200... which Will Not give you enough $$$ to buy a single 6870 - that would mean the user will need to bring in a bit more money to buy it & he will be *underperforming* until he manages to buy a 2nd 6870.. which will cost all together $480 without shipping....

can you understand now what I mean of comparing CF 5770 vs single 6870 - get it clear there is no way of comparing CF 68XX VS CF 57XX.. so don't mention something so stupid as your whole last post.

The other thing why are we comparing CF 5770 VS a single 6870 - because many people still believe that a single 6870 or even overclocked to 1k that it will beat a CF 5770... which obviously we confirmed its Wrong

I see price is a big issue and I understand. I also understand that two 5770s are worth $200 bucks which can't buy a 6870. *I also understand why the cards are being compared and your current rig outperforms a 6870 which is great, I honestly agree with you on that, the people that say differently are wrong.* But you can't deny that it takes two cards to beat one. 1vs1 is the proper comparsion every time. Two 5770s were worth over $320 earlier this year compared a recently released $239 card.

I'll ignore the stupid comment, I'm too grown up for that now.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 





I always like the reviews that guy gives


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
I always like the reviews that guy gives

Yes he is doing a bunch more comparison videos, should be interesting.


----------



## utnorris

Well, for whatever reason I cannot get Eyefinity to work. I used a DP to DVI adapter, it sees the third card and I can activate it, but once I try to make a group it only allows me to do two cards. Currently using the two DVI connections and the Display port with the adapter, very frustrated at this. Not sure what else to try, anyone know what might be the issue? I am using two cards, but all three displays are connected to one card so that CF could be enabled, but even with CF disabled, still no way of putting all three into one group.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## utnorris

Ok, got ti figured out, it has to be an active DP adapter, no way around it. No problem, just ordered 2 miniDP to DP cables since my Dell's have DP. Hopefully have Eyefinity working next week.


----------



## Lunchbox21984

mines here and install, ill get to benchmarking later. Yes the Lunchbox said Benchmarking, lol, im normally not one to do benchmarks, but i want to see what this bad boy can do.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

I started at 1000/1150 @ 4.0GHz and ended at 1030/1180 @ 4.2. 1040/1180 crashed on vantage. Enjoy.


----------



## KBcobra

How did you get past 1000mhz?


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Go to programs/msi afterburner
find MSIAfterbruner.cfg and open it up in notepad

[ATIADLHAL]
EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0 <----- change it to 1

Save it. Exit afterburner and restart it.

Even with an MSI card I still had to change that.


----------



## PopcornMachine

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Go to programs/msi afterburner
find MSIAfterbruner.cfg and open it up in notepad

[ATIADLHAL]
EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0 <----- change it to 1

Save it. Exit afterburner and restart it.

Even with an MSI card I still had to change that.

Nice info. But what were your temps during these runs?

Thanks.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Never went over 58c with 71% fan speed. I do have a 200mm 110cfm fan.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103072
Room temps were 24-25c. I also opened up the card and added TX-4 on gpu.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *utnorris* 
Ok, got ti figured out, it has to be an active DP adapter, no way around it. No problem, just ordered 2 miniDP to DP cables since my Dell's have DP. Hopefully have Eyefinity working next week.

I had mentioned you way earlier in my very 1st reply to your original question about it.... Active Display adapter









http://www.overclock.net/11140303-post221.html

Quote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by utnorris
Ok, so I am having a stupid moment. Nowhere in CC do I see where to setup Eyefinity. I have two XFX cards with the three monitors plugged into the DVI ports on the first card and the third monitor in the first DVI on the second card. Am I doing something wrong? Also, does CF disable multimonitors? When I enable it, I only get one monitor, I am assuming this is normal, like SLI on Nvidia?
-end Quote

Do you have Desktop & Displays in your CCC ?

Just mess with it & it should work..... but from past experiences.. I think you need an *active display adapter*(that must be your main display, all the rest use the other ports) to do Eyefinity... but since obvious I don't have your card... and it has more ports so no clue


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

This is idle... between 36-37c


----------



## CJRhoades

Guess what I finally got?


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

@ CJRhoades - congratz.... let her rip!!!!!!!!!


----------



## utnorris

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CJRhoades* 
Guess what I finally got?


































Is that an active or passive miniDP adapter? And is it to HDMI or DVI?


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Go to programs/msi afterburner
find MSIAfterbruner.cfg and open it up in notepad

[ATIADLHAL]
EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0 <----- change it to 1

Save it. Exit afterburner and restart it.

Even with an MSI card I still had to change that.

Thanks for the tip +Rep

I'm able to tweak the voltage in ASUS Smart Doctor but I'm limited to 1000MHz.
I wonder if there's a way to go past 1000 in this program also. I can finally acheive a 20% OC if possible.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
Thanks for the tip +Rep

I'm able to tweak the voltage in ASUS Smart Doctor but I'm limited to 1000MHz.
I wonder if there's a way to go past 1000 in this program also. I can finally acheive a 20% OC if possible.

I could be wrong... but can you up the voltage in Smart Doc, apply it then change the speeds in afterburner? I think I did that on a HD5850 once.

Thx for the +rep


----------



## selfsurf

so, what's the average temperature @ load? and are they loud @ 80% fan speed? just wondering if i should wait for non reference coolers...


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
I could be wrong... but can you up the voltage in Smart Doc, apply it then change the speeds in afterburner? I think I did that on a HD5850 once.

Thx for the +rep









I tried but my PC froze. I can't run both at the same time, the fan speed goes crazy when both are running too.

As for the temp @ load never goes above 61c at stock and 68c @1000MHz.
Fan doesn't go above 50%.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
I tried but my PC froze. I can't run both at the same time, the fan speed goes crazy when both are running too.

As for the temp @ load never goes above 61c at stock and 68c @1000MHz.
Fan doesn't go above 50%.

That sucks!!!! I personally never liked smart doc. Afterburner is too easy but atleast you can change the V.

Change the thermal grease. I never went past 58c in vantage with fan at 70%.
Anything over 50% is load as crap on these cards. It is loader than my Evga GTX 295 was.


----------



## PopcornMachine

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Never went over 58c with 71% fan speed. I do have a 200mm 110cfm fan.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103072
Room temps were 24-25c. I also opened up the card and added TX-4 on gpu.

Cool. 58c is very impressive. And I have a CoolerMaster Megaflow in my case too.


----------



## CJRhoades

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
@ CJRhoades - congratz.... let her rip!!!!!!!!!

Thanks. It's running great so far. Twice as fast as my 5770 was.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *utnorris* 
Is that an active or passive miniDP adapter? And is it to HDMI or DVI?

The black one with a short cord is passive mini to full size DP. The large black cord is just a standard HDMI 1.4 cable.


----------



## toyz72

just got my sapphire 6870 tonight. i'll post pictures friday night after work. i did not expect this card to be this big and heavy,lol.


----------



## CJRhoades

Quote:



Originally Posted by *toyz72*


just got my sapphire 6870 tonight. i'll post pictures friday night after work. i did not expect this card to be this big and heavy,lol.


Heh, thats exactly what I thought when I opened mine. I couldn't believe how big it was.


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:



Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP*


That sucks!!!! I personally never liked smart doc. Afterburner is too easy but atleast you can change the V.

Change the thermal grease. I never went past 58c in vantage with fan at 70%.
Anything over 50% is load as crap on these cards. It is loader than my Evga GTX 295 was.


I'm only running my fan @ 50% for now, if I increase it to 70% like yours I can get it down to 58c on stock clocks. I'm not keeping the card that long, swapping out for a GTX 580 if it's released this year, so I'm not changing the TIM on the card becuase of that. I agree it would help.

Couldn't get my current clock on stock volts, had to rasie it to reduce the red dot artifacts.


----------



## sarngate

So my Sapphire lady and a Kettle had a fight to the death, and Ms. Sapphire lost:



















It looks like some kind of futuristic bomb !


----------



## Yoko Littner

What is faster? 6870 crossfireX or 5870 crossfireX?


----------



## sarngate

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


What is faster? 6870 crossfireX or 5870 crossfireX?


6870 Crossfire is 10-20% faster IIRC.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


6870 Crossfire is 10-20% faster IIRC.


Sometimes right up the 480 SLIs backside







Awesome scaling, and if 69xx cards scale that well.. even more awesome


----------



## Yoko Littner

are useriours??????

Thats it! im pulling the trigger once i get my 500$ im buying a pair!!

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


6870 Crossfire is 10-20% faster IIRC.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


are useriours??????

Thats it! im pulling the trigger once i get my 500$ im buying a pair!!


Cool








Make sure you post pics here







Hardware pr0n is always welcomed


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Voltage adjustment anyone????
http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.ph...1&postcount=34
Almost ready!!!!!!!!


----------



## JediCow

Anyone else here that owns the 6850 find the fan a bit louder then what they expected?


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Hey for all you guys with the 6850s..... have fun. Plz let me know how it works.
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=331543

Note: Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 2 starts to support voltage adjustment on HD 6850 series cards.


----------



## MacClipper

Enjoy!

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner...up210Beta2.zip


----------



## un-nefer

Still doesn't support voltage adjustment on Asus EAH5850 DirectCU (non reference)


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *un-nefer*


Still doesn't support voltage adjustment on Asus EAH5850 DirectCU (non reference)










buu that stinks.. hopefully they release another update soon so that they give you support


----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MacClipper*


Enjoy!

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner...up210Beta2.zip











It's not working for me, same as before, no voltage control....


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TheBear*


It's not working for me, same as before, no voltage control....


Doesn't support 6870s yet


----------



## tsm106

I'd been waiting on Amazon to update their pricing. They finally did on one card, yay. Got a pair, free ship, and nooo Newegg tax.


----------



## lethal

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JediCow* 
Anyone else here that owns the 6850 find the fan a bit louder then what they expected?

Not on the Sapphire card (non reference). I find it ridiculously quiet, especially compared to the card it replaced.. an 8800GT.


----------



## tsm106

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
So my Sapphire lady and a Kettle had a fight to the death, and Ms. Sapphire lost:



















It looks like some kind of futuristic bomb !

Hey nice Visiontek!


----------



## freakb18c1

anybody here running xfire 6870's ?

if so please run a 3DMARK 06 on stock clocks.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *freakb18c1* 
anybody here running xfire 6870's ?

if so please run a 3DMARK 06 on stock clocks.

Take a look here.


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
That run was at 925/1101 @4.0GHz i7 920

I found out why your lower clocked 6870 was beating my higher clocked 6870.

The 10.10c and 10.10a/b drivers I was running yield less performance and more stuttering than the original 10.10 drivers, here are the results:










Much Better








I gained 4fps higher average and a significant increase in min and max fps by switching drivers.
The BFBC2 CTD I kept getting also stopped with the original 10.10 drivers.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
I found out why your lower clocked 6870 was beating my higher clocked 6870.

The 10.10c and 10.10a/b drivers I was running yield less performance and more stuttering than the original 10.10 drivers, here are the results:










Much Better








I gained 4fps higher average and a significant increase in min and max fps by switching drivers.
The BFBC2 CTD I kept getting also stopped with the original 10.10 drivers.

Crap I have been running 10.10c. Does it just affect DX11?


----------



## mtcn77

Come on guys, upload all your heaven and vantage benchmarks on hwbot.org. The ATi community needs you to bolster the results pages.


----------



## Pao

My 4850 will be on my doorstep when I get home!


----------



## MacClipper

Stock GA HD 6850 BIOS backup or actually all the tools you need to play with the HD 6850 BIOS and more... as compiled by me.








Ziddu

As usual, YMMV.


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Crap I have been running 10.10c. Does it just affect DX11?

I'm not sure if it applies to DX10/9 but I notice much smoother gameplay with the original 10.10 drivers in DX11.
I don't recommend Hotfix 10.10 drivers unless you needed it for a specific game.


----------



## chuxanator

here is mine


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive* 
I'm not sure if it applies to DX10/9 but I notice much smoother gameplay with the original 10.10 drivers in DX11.
I don't recommend Hotfix 10.10 drivers unless you needed it for a specific game.

Thx. I think I will uninstall it and stick with original for now. I want to do some Heaven benchmarks plus I do play some Dirt 2


----------



## Dtrain

Here's a Link to the MSI Afterburner 2.0 Beta That will work with the 6850(I don't have a 6870 to test it on) Figured I'd post it here and in the Driver section since you guys are the ones with the Cards.
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner...up210Beta2.zip


----------



## KBcobra

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Go to programs/msi afterburner
find MSIAfterbruner.cfg and open it up in notepad

[ATIADLHAL]
EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0 <----- change it to 1

Save it. Exit afterburner and restart it.

Even with an MSI card I still had to change that.

Thanks







Now I got this


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KBcobra* 
Thanks







Now I got this









Awesome!!!!!!!!

I want to see how high you can go with that water cooling. The card seems to love cool temps.


----------



## KBcobra

that was my max without a voltage increase.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KBcobra* 
that was my max without a voltage increase.

Gotcha! You still have room on the memory.







. Impressive on the temps.

Hey have you thought about taking the rest of the heatsink off and running aftermarket memory heatsinks?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KBcobra* 
Thanks







Now I got this









Wow very nice card, please do some runs with voltage


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Hey Razi3l - can plz put our names in shining lights??? I wanna feel special and feel like I am part of the club too


----------



## KBcobra

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Gotcha! You still have room on the memory.







. Impressive on the temps.

Hey have you thought about taking the rest of the heatsink off and running aftermarket memory heatsinks?

If someone can show me how to increase voltage I will go more. Ive thought about it but I get decent temps on the vregs as we speak right now.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KBcobra* 
If someone can show me how to increase voltage I will go more. Ive thought about it but I get decent temps on the vregs as we speak right now.

The guy than made MSI Afterburner should have a beta out soon that does 6870s. He release a beta yesterday that does the voltage on the 6850s.

You should be able to increase the memory clock speeds to 1150Mhz without a problem. It should increase your Vantage gpu scores but 200+ points ( i think







).


----------



## KBcobra

Haha try 400 more


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KBcobra* 
Haha try 400 more

















sweet!!!!! I think mine maxed out at 1180MHz. I would increase it by 10MHz at a time till something happens.... then back down by 5MHz.


----------



## KBcobra

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 







sweet!!!!! I think mine maxed out at 1180MHz. I would increase it by 10MHz at a time till something happens.... then back down by 5MHz.

take her apart and pencil mod her.


----------



## Razi3l

*All lists updated, please forgive my delay.*

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KBcobra* 
take her apart and pencil mod her.

They may support memory voltage adjustment like the 5870s so let's wait for the next official build of Afterburner


----------



## Chisharpe

Damn we need voltage control man


----------



## Ikthus

Can any 6870 owners comment if they're experiencing any bugs with SC2 using 10.10? Just sold off my sig cards and might be coming back to ATI but I don't want to deal with the cursor bug again.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
They may support memory voltage adjustment like the 5870s so let's wait for the next official build of Afterburner









Yes don't void the warranty







.... yet


----------



## TechRex

I Might get 2 6870s in crossfire, but I'm scared of drivers :'(. My motherboard only supports crossfire.....


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TechRex* 
I Might get 2 6870s in crossfire, but I'm scared of drivers :'(. My motherboard only supports crossfire.....

I'm sure 6870 owners should be happy to help. I should be getting mine sometime next week so i can't help much (yet) :c


----------



## Pao

Got mine.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pao* 
Got mine.

Added


----------



## alienguts

on tuesday I'll be sporting an OCed 6850 CrossFireX


----------



## Razi3l

Just found a review of the XFX 6850 Black Edition at Fudzilla. 940Mhz on stock volts is pretty awesome. Hopefully XFX learnt their lesson and this will have voltage tweaking once Afterburner is updated.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Just found a review of the XFX 6850 Black Edition at Fudzilla. 940Mhz on stock volts is pretty awesome. Hopefully XFX learnt their lesson and this will have voltage tweaking once Afterburner is updated.

Voltage control is working for my 6850. Has this already been noted?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Voltage control is working for my 6850. Has this already been noted?

It does?.. I had a feeling since all reference/non-reference cards so far seem to use the same/similar voltage controller i think. But awesome news


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
It does?.. I had a feeling since all reference/non-reference cards so far seem to use the same/similar voltage controller i think. But awesome news









I have seen them on other sites change voltage on 6850.... Unwinder is working on 6870s.... so.... we wait


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
I have seen them on other sites change voltage on 6850.... Unwinder is working on 6870s.... so.... we wait









Oh yea i did.. forgot about that >_<
But yea maybe manufacturers are using better voltage controllers so fulfill our needs (eg. XFX) ?


----------



## SkillzKillz

I'm using MSI Afterburner Version 2.1.0 Beta 2. Voltage control is enabled for the HD 6850s.

Unforunately I might have a bad overclocker, but I've just started. >.<

EDIT: I think just with horrible case and airflow, my card just gets too hot and the benchmark shuts down. I probably won't be able to find my max OC under current conditions.


----------



## CJRhoades

Hmm... I'm having an issue with the lower DVI port on my 6870. The monitor I have connected to it doesn't support DVI so I'm using the DVI to VGA adapter and I'm not getting any video on that monitor.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CJRhoades* 
Hmm... I'm having an issue with the lower DVI port on my 6870. The monitor I have connected to it doesn't support DVI so I'm using the DVI to VGA adapter and I'm not getting any video on that monitor.

I hope that the DVI port on your card that it isn't faulty :/


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

I tried that new beta afterburner and it wouldnt let my card run at 100% usage when benchmarking or gaming, I reverted back and everything is a ok..


----------



## aaronmonto

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
I hope that the DVI port on your card that it isn't faulty :/

I know I saw Linus from NCIX using a 6870 on 3 TV's, so it should work. Perhaps faulty, perhaps incorrectly configured in Eyefinity.


----------



## aaronmonto

Also, I've gt a few vids of gameplay, montages, and the like. Sorry about the commentary.












I'm loving this card.


----------



## Pao

After burner is only letting me go up to 850MHz, what am I missing?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Pao*


After burner is only letting me go up to 850MHz, what am I missing?


Enable Unofficial Overclocking.

Go to your MSI Afterburner folder, open MSIAfterburner.cfg with Notepad, then edit EnableUnofficialOverclocking from 0 to *1*. Save and overwrite as All File Types.


----------



## Pao

Thank you.









+


----------



## CJRhoades

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


I hope that the DVI port on your card that it isn't faulty :/


I'm thinking that's the issue. I'm not really that worried by it though. I just threw my trusty 4650 into my PCI-e x4 slot to power the second monitor. Working great.


----------



## SkillzKillz

XFX HD 6850 running stock 775mhz/1000mhz undervolted @ 0.987v

VID = 1.149










15 minutes Furmark stable


----------



## utnorris

Ok, so I have a weird issue. I have two XFX HD6870's on an EVGA x58 SLI MB. Whichever GPU is considered the second GPU, regardless if it is in the second or the third slot, it will go to 100% usage even in 2D, such as the desktop. I also have no control over it via the CC panel. This happens regardless if I am in CF mode or not. I reinstalled the drivers, that didn't work. Checked it while the drivers were uninstalled so just the MS generic drivers were installed and got the same thing. Could this be a MB issue or a PSU issue? As I said, the problem does not follow the GPU, so whichever is in the first slot runs normally. Any ideas?

System specs:
EVGA x58 SLI (Older model second generation black one) Latest Bios
I7 930
Enermax Revolution 950watt PSU
OCZ Reapers
2 x HD6870's
CC 10.10
W7 x64
no overclock

Thanks.


----------



## Electroneng

Here is a GPU-Z screen of my cards and pretty much a stock run on Vantage. Having an issue setting up a custom Fan profile. Afterburner 2.1 Beta 2 cannot handle it! The First card follows my custom fan profile but my second card will not follow it at all. Tried everything so far with no success! Guess I have to wait until the 6870 is fully supported by MSI Afterburner. Catalyst control Center is what I am using and setting a manual fan speed on both cards.

Asus stock speed in Vantage(set my Sapphire to this also) is faster then my 5850's that I had with a 28% Overclock and mature drivers! Will play with more benchmarks shortly!

Razi3l, please remove pending from my owners listing! Thanks


----------



## Noir

I now have proof










Add me


----------



## Razi3l

Alrighty updated


----------



## sarngate

I'm just twiddling my thumbs and hoping that a tool for changing 6870 voltages hits soon, max temp of 65C at 1000/1200 but the voltage just isn't high enough !


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


I'm just twiddling my thumbs and hoping that a tool for changing 6870 voltages hits soon, max temp of 65C at 1000/1200 but the voltage just isn't high enough !


If you can do 1000/1200 at stock volts that's pretty cool. I think with some voltage you may be able to go higher.


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


I'm just twiddling my thumbs and hoping that a tool for changing 6870 voltages hits soon, max temp of 65C at 1000/1200 but the voltage just isn't high enough !


Me 2,

is it not false advertising to put trixx included on the box and it not be included.


----------



## Sabregod

Guys, I'm new here







I'm about to get Asus 6870; Just wondering what is highest/most stable settings at stock volts


----------



## tenkirulez

MSI 6870

Should have had 2, but one wasn't working so I had to RMA that one







.


----------



## Silvos00

Wasn't sure if this was the right place to post this, but I figured you guys might know. Google wouldn't tell me, but do you guys know why they did away with the ATI name?


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
Me 2,

is it not false advertising to put trixx included on the box and it not be included.

One could probably claim so. I just checked my 6870 and there is nothing on the box anywhere that states Trixx is not included in the box. I expected there to be a disclaimer but there doesn't seem to be one.

Not that anybody would have the time or money to make a big deal out of it.









I just want my volt mod ! I'm about to push a little further and see just how far i can get stable, the temps seem to be a big part of the OC potential with these cards, more so than my 4890 anyway.


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Silvos00* 
Wasn't sure if this was the right place to post this, but I figured you guys might know. Google wouldn't tell me, but do you guys know why they did away with the ATI name?

AMD decided that using the core brand of AMD across all of their products elicited a better response from users and potential buyers than using the ATi brand.

Every GPU AMD produces will now have the AMD name, and may also have Radeon or Vision as part of the sub-branding. ATi is gone.


----------



## LemonCake

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
I'm just twiddling my thumbs and hoping that a tool for changing 6870 voltages hits soon, max temp of 65C at 1000/1200 but the voltage just isn't high enough !

Thats why the Asus Cards are good, you get the Voltage Tweak standard. Its really worth the extra money.


----------



## Pao

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LemonCake* 
Thats why the Asus Cards are good, you get the Voltage Tweak standard. Its really worth the extra money.









OR wait a week and afterburner will be able to do it for you.

The premium wont make sense at that point.


----------



## LemonCake

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pao* 
OR wait a week and afterburner will be able to do it for you.

The premium wont make sense at that point.

I dont know about other cards but my Asus does max volts of 1.35v on smart doctor, but only around 1.30v on afterburner.


----------



## Silvos00

I don't think I ever bought an ATI product made by ATI, but I was just a little surprised. I don't know if I like this decision lol...first video card was an ATI.


----------



## Pao

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LemonCake* 
I dont know about other cards but my Asus does max volts of 1.35v on smart doctor, but only around 1.30v on afterburner.

There are ways of changing the values you can edit in AfterBurner.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Silvos00* 
I don't think I ever bought an ATI product made by ATI, but I was just a little surprised. I don't know if I like this decision lol...first video card was an ATI.

Regardless of who the vendor is that picked the cooler, or maybe fiddled with the PCB, the core is still made by ATi(AMD). It's always an ATi(AMD)


----------



## Riou

AMD got rid of ATI because AMD is going to release Fusion CPUs which have a GPU in the same die as the CPU.

In the long run, it is better to simplify branding. ATI was gone when they were sold back in 2005.


----------



## LemonCake

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pao* 
There are ways of changing the values you can edit in AfterBurner.

Regardless of who the vendor is that picked the cooler, or maybe fiddled with the PCB, the core is still made by ATi(AMD). It's always an ATi(AMD)









oops


----------



## LemonCake

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pao* 
There are ways of changing the values you can edit in AfterBurner.

Regardless of who the vendor is that picked the cooler, or maybe fiddled with the PCB, the core is still made by ATi(AMD). It's always an ATi(AMD)









How?


----------



## kpo6969

I'm uprading soon to the 6870 (I hope) but one major stumbling block. Specifically card length, either not stated, incorrect, or conflicting specs. Am I correct to assume the reference card is *9.75"* ? I've seen some that state anywhere from *10.24"* to *11"* to a foot long. I have *11.0" maximum* flush-up against my hard drive cage (immovable and side-mounted).
Any specs and brand would be appreaciated and I would hate to have to settle on a 6850 and second-guess myself for the next year. Thanks


----------



## Pao

Start out by seeing if the config edit that skillzkillz mentioned a page or two back makes any difference. Let me know.


----------



## Riou

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kpo6969* 
I'm uprading soon to the 6870 (I hope) but one major stumbling block. Specifically card length, either not stated, incorrect, or conflicting specs. Am I correct to assume the reference card is *9.75"* ? I've seen some that state anywhere from *10.24"* to *11"* to a foot long. I have *11.0" maximum* flush-up against my hard drive cage (immovable and side-mounted).
Any specs and brand would be appreaciated and I would hate to have to settle on a 6850 and second-guess myself for the next year. Thanks

Just under 10 inches according to this video:


----------



## LemonCake

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pao* 
Start out by seeing if the config edit that skillzkillz mentioned a page or two back makes any difference. Let me know.

yeah sorry I dident see that its late over here like 530am. I had to do that just so I could change the voltage, and the max was around 1.3v. I remember cause I wanted to use afterburner cause smartdoc is annoying but I worked out I get bigger overclock with smartdoc cause I can go higher volts.


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LemonCake* 
How?

Vendors such as Asus, Sapphire and MSI do not change the core components of the graphics card, the Core and the Memory in particular. What they can change are things like the PCB layout, voltage controllers and the cooler.


----------



## LemonCake

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
Vendors such as Asus, Sapphire and MSI do not change the core components of the graphics card, the Core and the Memory in particular. What they can change are things like the PCB layout, voltage controllers and the cooler.

Fair enough but all im saying is I can go higher volts on smartdoctor then msi afterburner. Lots of other cards dont have the voltage tweak, I think its quite good. What is the max volts you can go on yours? im just curious.


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LemonCake* 
Fair enough but all im saying is I can go higher volts on smartdoctor then msi afterburner. Lots of other cards dont have the voltage tweak, I think its quite good. What is the max volts you can go on yours? im just curious.









No idea, but there are other tools than Afterburner which allow voltage tweaking, such as Trixx (The Sapphire equivalent.)


----------



## mtcn77

The best way to overclock these cards is to use asus smart doctor to dial in 1.35 on the voltage menu, then close that program(since the graphics card will lock if you use 2 voltage regulating programs at the same time) and open msi afterburner, or gputool. That's the preferred method afaik.


----------



## nehad85

What bout 6850? Will you be able to do volt tweaks? I know it's not reference but does that affect it any way? Any user reviews will be appreciated... All I see is 6879 lol


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mtcn77* 
The best way to overclock these cards is to use asus smart doctor to dial in 1.35 on the voltage menu, then close that program(since the graphics card will lock if you use 2 voltage regulating programs at the same time) and open msi afterburner, or gputool. That's the preferred method afaik.

I'd rather wait for another option than have to flash a BIOS to my brand new card, regardless of the risk factor.


----------



## mtcn77

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
I'd rather wait for another option than have to flash a BIOS to my brand new card, regardless of the risk factor.

Wait, I didn't say flash any bios. It works or it doesn't. If Asus Smartdoctor doesn't support your card, just wait until MSI afterburner does in due time.


----------



## Ikthus

Only cost me $160 + tax!

Hopefully this will keep me satisfied till the 69XX/580 comes out


----------



## tianh

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ikthus* 









Only cost me $160 + tax!

Hopefully this will keep me satisfied till the 69XX/580 comes out









Where at?


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

In my GPU z and I have the newest version it shows me my highest memory clock as 283, it dont go any higher for some reason, afterburner shows the right readings. Furmark shows it only as 283 also. Could some check to see if there GPUz does this and furmark also and let me know.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

As you can see I have ffurmark running and it only hits 283.5 GPU load is 0


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mtcn77* 
Wait, I didn't say flash any bios. It works or it doesn't. If Asus Smartdoctor doesn't support your card, just wait until MSI afterburner does in due time.

I thought it was common knowledge you can't use Asus Smart Doctor with Sapphire cards.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## sarngate

Okay, so some pictures of the card with it's new Cooler:

Ready to go on:









Memory Heatsinks applied:









This comparison made me laugh, i think the Stock cooler feels like me standing next to a body-builder.









Here it is all set-up. If you're looking for a cooler which is 100% compatible with the 6870 and 6850 then the Accelero Twin Turbo is a great choice.








One of the problems with cooling the memory with aftermarket coolers is that the heatpipes tend to cover the bottom set of VRAM chips. The key is to have a heatsink such as the one in my second picture, front and centre.

And a screenshot of the temperature and stable OC


----------



## Behemoth777

Nice! I was thinking about getting that cooler for my 6870.


----------



## Epitope

Thanks I have been wondering if the accelero works on the 6870. I'm even considering trying it passive since my ft02 has such good airflow. If it doesn't I can always put the fans on.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sarngate* 
Okay, so some pictures of the card with it's new Cooler:

Hehe that looks great!

I wonder why isn't there a 6870 version of this 6850... which pretty much has the same idea of your cooler: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-348-_-Product


----------



## Tweeky

GeForce GTX 480 3,547
Quadro 6000 3,066
Tesla C2050 2,951
GeForce GTX 470 2,951
Radeon HD 6850 2,874
Radeon HD 6870 2,848
Radeon HD 5870 2,634
Radeon HD 5970 2,550
Quadro 5000 2,535
GeForce GTX 465 2,442
Radeon HD 5850 2,425
GeForce GTX 460 2,322

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Epitope* 
Thanks I have been wondering if the accelero works on the 6870. I'm even considering trying it passive since my ft02 has such good airflow. If it doesn't I can always put the fans on.

I just tried it with the fans off and the temperatures in Furmark at Stock Clocks were rising continuously until 85C, at which point i plugged the fan back in !

However, at 25% fan speed they are so quiet that my Hard Drive is actually louder, and they keep the load temp at a nice 60C.

But i would definitely recommend them, the heatsinks are really nice too, i've gotten 1220Mhz stable and i'm pretty sure the reason for instability after that is lack of voltage.


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
Hehe that looks great!

I wonder why isn't there a 6870 version of this 6850... which pretty much has the same idea of your cooler: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-348-_-Product









I believe that AIB's don't yet have permissions to release modified 6870 designs.


----------



## un-nefer

I'd like to throw out a challenge to someone with an AMD 965BE win7 x64 rig who has just got a 6870









use AMD 10.10c drivers
clock your 965BE down to 3.6ghz (x18 multi)
set your ram to 1333 and timing to 8 8 8 24 32 1T
set your nb freq to 2400
set your ht freq to 2000
set your 6870 to stock speeds 900/1050
run 3D Mark 06, 3D Mark Vantage, and Aquamark
post screenshot, which also include the usual gpu-z/cpu-z/temps
Think your 6870 has what it takes to trounce a 5850 running at the same speed - 900/1050 - then give it a go









Here are my results 5850 for comparison:

Aquamark3









3D Mark06









3D Mark Vantage


----------



## LemonCake

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


I'd rather wait for another option than have to flash a BIOS to my brand new card, regardless of the risk factor.


ughh as I said Get a Asus, its worth it.


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate;11169625And a screenshot of the temperature and stable OC  
[IMG*

http://oi52.tinypic.com/5066x.jpg[/IMG]


When you change the Config file in Afterburner so you can go beyond 1000MHz, does your idle rise to your OC clocks?

Mine goes from 100MHz to 1000-1050MHz when I change the value from 0 to 1 in the Config file.
The memory reach max clocks also. When I change the value back to 0, the card idles normally.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *un-nefer*


I'd like to throw out a challenge to someone with an AMD 965BE win7 x64 rig who has just got a 6870









clock your 965BE down to 3.6ghz (x18 multi)
set your ram to 1333 and timing to 8 8 8 24 32 1T
set your nb freq to 2400
set your ht freq to 2000
set your 6870 to stock speeds 900/1050
run 3D Mark 06, 3D Mark Vantage, and Aquamark
[8]post screenshot, which also include the usualy gpu-z/cpu-z/temps
Think your 6870 has what it takes to trounce a 5850 running at the same speed - 900/1050 - then give it a go









Here are my results 5850 for comparison:


You need to upgrade your driver to 10.10c(it actually improves your scores - and its as well the same latest drivers for 6870 users) so that its possible to make an accurate comparison in scores. And by the way you need to run your 5850 on stock speeds... for it to be correct

it doesn't make sense comparing an overclocked 5850 with a stock 6870


----------



## mtcn77

Some comparable Hwbot.org entries, the hd6850's are very weird with the results they produce.


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


You need to upgrade your driver to 10.10c(it actually improves your scores) so that its possible to make an accurate comparison in scores. And by the way you need to run your 5850 on stock speeds... for it to be correct


My point is not to compare stock v stock - they can be found all over the net.

I want to compare both cards at THE SAME exact speeds - 900/1050.

Also, I know I should upgrade - but again, this isn't about what my rig can do, so much as how the 5850 compares to the 6870 at the exact same speeds









I'll redo my benchmarks using 10.10c and repost them - but it would be great if someone who owns an rig running win7 x64 and an AMD 965BE with their new 6870 could set their rig up as outlined in the steps I posted and post some benchmarks for comparison.


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mtcn77*


Some comparable Hwbot.org entries, the hd6850's are very weird with the results they produce.


Thanks for taking the effort to post those from hwbot.

The only prob is that they are not 6870s running syock 6870 speeds 900/1050 - and they are also not running on AMD 965BE rigs at 3.6g - they're all 4ghz or so.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mtcn77*


Some comparable Hwbot.org entries, the hd6850's are very weird with the results they produce.


I think CPU speed varies the gpu scores.... like yours is at 3.7ghz... the amd is at 4.14ghz... I'm just assuming comparing like when in gaming when you are overclocked over 4ghz you get an increase of about 5 - 10fps difference.... at least that is what I can notice on my 965.. from stock to overclocked 4ghz


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *un-nefer*


Thanks for taking the effort to post those from hwbot.

The only prob is that they are not 6870s running syock 6870 speeds 900/1050 - and they are also not running on AMD 965BE rigs at 3.6g - they're all 4ghz or so.


I am certain he wasn't posting for you.. he was just posting seeing odd gpu scores differences on two different rigs with 6850 overclocked the same


----------



## mtcn77

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


I am certain he wasn't posting for you.. he was just posting seeing odd gpu scores differences on two different rigs with 6850 overclocked the same


Whoot! Catfight xD
Yes, I was posting to his challenge. Either the cards are of different make, or 100mhz(x4) memory overclock can be vital for these cards(also including the 400mhz cpu oc).


----------



## WorldExclusive

Finally broke 1000 Score in Heaven Benchmark
Almost hit 40fps but that can be obtained with minor tweaks.

ASUS 6870
Core: 1035 (15%)
Memory: 1155
Volts: 1.35v
Temp: 78C Max @ 70% Fan

Any clock beyond this I started to get serious red dot artifacts and didn't want to risk damaging the card.

Used ASUS Smart Doctor to increase the volts, then closed it out and saved the voltage setting.
Opened MSI Afterburner and OC'd from there. 
Modded Afterburner Config File to increase core clock beyond 1000MHz.
Thanks to the people that recommended this technique.










I like Heaven better because it's DX11 instead of 3DVantage which is DX10. I tried running the trial version but I can't post my results to the Internet, I keep getting an error. I do have a code from my R3E board but I can't find it. If I do find it, I'll post the Vantage score also.


----------



## Chopxsticks

OK, kinda bumbed here, my 6870 is not scoring what I felt it should be, is something bottle necking my system? I run 3dmark vantage and scored a little over 14k, its the trial version and I cant figure out how to run it again to post a pic.

Now the bummer thing is my buddys 460 1gig is scoring him 18k, and on top of that he is getting a 55k score in the cpu range... which I swear is off because he has a mid range i7 at 3.8ghz

What am I doing wrong here fellas?


----------



## dezshiz

Is he using Phsx?


----------



## nub

Found an interesting post on another forum. First full cover block available for 6870/6850 may be from Aquagratix. The engineering sample they have looks very nice.
http://www.realredraider.com/vbullet...ad.php?t=37348


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


You need to upgrade your driver to 10.10c


ok just finished upgrading to 10.10c and redoing the benchmarks.

If someone could take up the challenge HERE, that would be appreciated.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mtcn77*


Whoot! Catfight xD
Yes, I was posting to his challenge. Either the cards are of different make, or 100mhz(x4) memory overclock can be vital for these cards(also including the 400mhz cpu oc).


I thought you weren't posting to his challenge because you mentioned this line "the hd6850's are very weird with the results they produce."

So I thought you were simply posting that the 6850's give odd scores =P 
My bad then


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *un-nefer*


ok just finished upgrading to 10.10c and redoing the benchmarks.

If someone could take up the challenge HERE, that would be appreciated.


Could I join in.. even if I have a CF 5770?

Don't worry I will downclock to your asked settings on CPU (3.6 x18), NB 2400, HT 2000, Ram (1333 8-8-8-24 1T) & GPU 900/1050(well I hope i can pull down my memory if I can't I'll leave it stock 1200) & do all the runs Aquamark 3, 3DMark06 & Vantage


----------



## WorldExclusive

Slam Dunk

CPU: i7 930 4.2GHz
GPU: ASUS 6870 
Core: 1040
Memory: 1160
Voltage: 1.35v
Temps: 79C @ 60% Fan


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive*


Slam Dunk


ehehhe that definitely is a slam dunk!


----------



## Razi3l

Very nice score there WE


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


ehehhe that definitely is a slam dunk!











Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Very nice score there WE










Thanks.

I wonder if I'm beating a stock 5870.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive*


Thanks.

I wonder if I'm beating a stock 5870.


No clue we need to find someone with a similar hardware to yours or the same... and overclocked the system the same way... minus ofcourse the 5870(must be at stock)... he needs to run it at the same resolution & same settings you used

Go to the 5870 club thread & look around and PM a user you see with similar hardware to yours.. tell him the settings he needs to use to run the test


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


Could I join in.. even if I have a CF 5770?

Don't worry I will downclock to your asked settings on CPU (3.6 x18), NB 2400, HT 2000, Ram (1333 8-8-8-24 1T) & GPU 900/1050(well I hope i can pull down my memory if I can't I'll leave it stock 1200) & do all the runs Aquamark 3, 3DMark06 & Vantage


Sure mate, np, the more the better. As long as you use the same settings and speeds then that will be fine.

It would also show exactly what each of the cards can do clock for clock


----------



## shadow19935

Well i get my Sapphire HD 6870 Delivered tomorrow a day before my birthday.


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


No clue we need to find someone with a similar hardware to yours or the same... and overclocked the system the same way... minus ofcourse the 5870(must be at stock)... he needs to run it at the same resolution & same settings you used

Go to the 5870 club thread & look around and PM a user you see with similar hardware to yours.. tell him the settings he needs to use to run the test


Will do. Here is the AvP Bench at the same settings:

Quote:



AvP D3D11 Benchmark Report
==========================

**************************************************
* Report Created: 2010-10-31 @ 06:54:07
**************************************************
* Executable Build: V1.03, Apr 19 2010
**************************************************

*DX11 Hardware Detected*

Using Default Video Settings:

Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Texture Quality: 2
Shadow Quality: 3
Anisotropic Filtering: 16
SSAO: ON
Vertical Sync: OFF
DX11 Tessellation: ON
DX11 Advanced Shadows: ON
DX11 MSAA Samples: 1

Benchmark Summary:

Number of frames: 5599
Average Frame Time: 18.7ms
*Average FPS: 53.4*

Use command-line option '-logframetime' to report performance frame-by-frame.


Using DX11 benches only for now.


----------



## soulsearcher

i m confused btw 5850 and 6870....................


----------



## soth7676

Quote:



Originally Posted by *soulsearcher*


i m confused btw 5850 and 6870....................










So are alot of people....


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:



Originally Posted by *soulsearcher*


i m confused btw 5850 and 6870....................










Since 6870CF matches and in some cases beats 5870CF at stock clocks, also beating a 5850 in every game at stock clocks, makes the 6870 a better choice. More features, faster and better CF scaling if you decide to CF in the future.

The Gold standard to me right now is GTX 480 SLI. My next setup has to beat that.
I'm hoping 6950CF can do it cheaper and cooler.


----------



## soulsearcher

i dont have any idea to CFX 5850 or 6870

btw my mobo have 2 pcie slot but 1 is x16 and other 1 is x4............


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *soulsearcher*


i dont have any idea to CFX 5850 or 6870

btw my mobo have 2 pcie slot but 1 is x16 and other 1 is x4............










Then don't x4 will bottleneck it ._.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive*


Since 6870CF matches and in some cases beats 5870CF at stock clocks, also beating a 5850 in every game at stock clocks, makes the 6870 a better choice. More features, faster and better CF scaling if you decide to CF in the future.

The Gold standard to me right now is GTX 480 SLI. My next setup has to beat that.
I'm hoping 6950CF can do it cheaper and cooler.


Yup its correct a Cf 6870 is better than CF 5850 & CF 5870, since the scaling of both a 6850 & 6870 is hugely great.

Hehehe 6950 CF would sound pretty nice... lets hope those 69XX bring some more awesomeness to the red team


----------



## XtremeBlackout

Ok here is my GPU-Z screenshot.But my CCC won't open,I've tried reinstalling so many times.


----------



## Houly

Hope I will get my next week Π_Π

Sent from Desire with MIUI


----------



## soulsearcher

i should go with 5850 or 6870 (i will not CF)

my config

procy............amd 965be(stock)
ram..............gskill ripjaws 1600mhz cl6 ddr3
mobo............asus m4a785td-v evo
psu...............corsair vx 550


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *XtremeBlackout*


Ok here is my GPU-Z screenshot.But my CCC won't open,I've tried reinstalling so many times.










very odd... did you have previously another ATI card? If not.. its okay you can still try this

Maybe you would have to wipe more seriously after uninstalling the Catalyst package from control panel... you will need Driver Sweeper & CCleaner

follow all this long crap.... but it works(it does fix the no CCC issue)
Control Panel > ATI Catalyst... change - choose uninstall *Select everything of ATI
reboot when asked
Upon desktop, run Driver Sweeper... click ATI.. analyze *clean
reboot when asked... but when starting up the computer start pressing F8 or F9 
Enter in Safe Mode
Go to Drive C: > And erase the AMD or ATI folder
Then go to Device Manager... Displays
Right-click your Card > Update Driver.. select Browse files.. then choose VGA driver (do not choose anything related to ATI) .... then close it... re-run Driver Sweeper again click ATI.. analyze *clean if anything.. if nothing comes up.. no worries.. restart your computer
Now this time you will be on desktop with no glass aero effects







in other words you appear to be running default VGA drivers
Now run CCleaner... Registry... fix / remove (do not back up anything) everything it finds.. do this 3 times until nothing is found.. then restart the computer

Finally.... now you may install the latest driver.. hopefully this time CCC will work.

sorry for the long boring extreme process... but it may work to fix your CCC not opening/starting issue


----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *soulsearcher*


i should go with 5850 or 6870 (i will not CF)

my config

procy............amd 965be(stock)
ram..............gskill ripjaws 1600mhz cl6 ddr3
mobo............asus m4a785td-v evo
psu...............corsair vx 550


6870, 5-10% faster, better in tesselation 20+%...


----------



## XtremeBlackout

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


very odd... did you have previously another ATI card? If not.. its okay you can still try this

Maybe you would have to wipe more seriously after uninstalling the Catalyst package from control panel... you will need Driver Sweeper & CCleaner

follow all this long crap.... but it works(it does fix the no CCC issue)
Control Panel > ATI Catalyst... change - choose uninstall *Select everything of ATI
reboot when asked
Upon desktop, run Driver Sweeper... click ATI.. analyze *clean
reboot when asked... but when starting up the computer start pressing F8 or F9 
Enter in Safe Mode
Go to Drive C: > And erase the AMD or ATI folder
Then go to Device Manager... Displays
Right-click your Card > Update Driver.. select Browse files.. then choose VGA driver (do not choose anything related to ATI) .... then close it... re-run Driver Sweeper again click ATI.. analyze *clean if anything.. if nothing comes up.. no worries.. restart your computer
Now this time you will be on desktop with no glass aero effects







in other words you appear to be running default VGA drivers
Now run CCleaner... Registry... fix / remove (do not back up anything) everything it finds.. do this 3 times until nothing is found.. then restart the computer

Finally.... now you may install the latest driver.. hopefully this time CCC will work.

sorry for the long boring extreme process... but it may work to fix your CCC not opening/starting issue


Yes I had a 4850.I'll still try it








Weird thing is i can install the Display Driver but the CCC give me a package failure and then won't open after install.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *XtremeBlackout*


Yes I had a 4850.I'll still try it








Weird thing is i can install the Display Driver but the CCC give me a package failure and then won't open after install.


I hope the steps work.. if not.... hmm random question which Catalyst Driver are you using? the latest is 10.10c ( http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles...10cHotfix.aspx ) .. if you are trying that one and having that issue.. then try the official 10.10 ...

one of them has to work for you... if none does... then Catalyst by it self has borked in your OS







Then you will need real contact support from AMD or your Brand of your graphic cards website support for help on the issue


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:



Originally Posted by *soulsearcher*


i should go with 5850 or 6870 (i will not CF)

my config

procy............amd 965be(stock)
ram..............gskill ripjaws 1600mhz cl6 ddr3
mobo............asus m4a785td-v evo
psu...............corsair vx 550


I gave you CF results so you can pick the better single card. You may decide to CF in the future so you want the best single card now. 5850CF is average at best, I wasn't impressed when I had it, my single GTX 480 was a better performer.

6870>5850
6870CF>5870CF>5970>5850CF

I think that says it all.


----------



## Behemoth777

Is anyone else having difficulty overclocking the core frequency on the 6870? i can only get about 950mhz before it starts artifacting in furmark. Also, increasing the voltage through smart doctor ups the temps quite a bit. Haven't really played with it too much but I don't see these cards getting much over 1000mhz on the core unless under water or with better cooling.


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Behemoth777*


Is anyone else having difficulty overclocking the core frequency on the 6870? i can only get about 950mhz before it starts artifacting in furmark. Also, increasing the voltage through smart doctor ups the temps quite a bit. Haven't really played with it too much but I don't see these cards getting much over 1000mhz on the core unless under water or with better cooling.


Did you see my results?

Quote:



ASUS 6870
Core: 1035 (15%)
Memory: 1155
Volts: 1.35v
Temp: 78C Max @ 70% Fan

Used ASUS Smart Doctor to increase the volts, then closed it out and saved the voltage setting.
Opened MSI Afterburner and OC'd from there. 
Modded Afterburner Config File to increase core clock beyond 1000MHz.
Thanks to the people that recommended this technique.


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WorldExclusive*


Did you see my results?


That's quite a lot of volts. And 70% fan speed is unbearable for anything other than benchmarking.

What's the farthest you could get on auto fan speed?


----------



## WorldExclusive

I never use auto fan speed. It always end in a very hot card.

I use AB fan profiles, 35% idle, 50% full load. That result was only for benching.
I game around 975/1150 @ 50% fan with stock volts.

Here is the other results:

Quote:



ASUS 6870
Core: 1040 (15.5%)
Memory: 1160
Volts: 1.35v
Temp: 79C Max @ 60%


As you can see, I got faster, lowered the fan by 10% and the temp only increased 1c.

Note: ASUS Smart Doctor is not as stable as MSI Afterburner. You will need to increase volts to go pass 950MHz in Smart Doctor. Use Afterburner to increase your clocks past 950MHz on stock volts.

The reason why the volts are so high is because Smart Doctor isn't as efficient when compared to Afterburner. The 6870 is stubborn once you pass 1030, increasing the volts into the 1.3-1.5 range isn't uncommon. Once MSI updates AB I should get better results on less volts hopefully.


----------



## soulsearcher

thanx buddy so 6870 ON THE WAY.......!!!!!


----------



## Samir91

Heres mine guys, XFX HD6870


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Hopefully by Tue I will have my second 6870 in. I will post some new benchmark for everyone. Hopefully there will be a new oc tool. I tested 2 cards out yesterday. one sapphire and my msi on a friends i7 system. When I did the unofficial support it would crash when I made changes on AB 2.0 and the newest beta. I used ccc but was stuck at 1000MHz core on the 6870s.

Here are a few scores. One with 2 6870s and the other with one GTX 295 slightly oc'ed.


----------



## superj1977

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
Yup its correct a Cf 6870 is better than CF 5850 & CF 5870, since the scaling of both a 6850 & 6870 is hugely great.

Hehehe 6950 CF would sound pretty nice... lets hope those 69XX bring some more awesomeness to the red team

No,check my score in my sig i get 33k with 5870 crossfire which is higher than a 6870 crossfire score.


----------



## Name Change

Vantage means nothing.. Games benches is where the 6850/6870 shines..


----------



## superj1977

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Name Change* 
Vantage means nothing.. Games benches is where the 6850/6870 shines..

Awesome...but benchmarks are used as an indication of a graphics cards power,well known and used by almost the entire of this forum.

I do understand that the 6870 has the advantage of being able to deal with tesselation in a lot better maner than the 5870 and thats where it has the edge.

If you where playing crysis or some other dx10 game the 5870 would be infront in terms of higher fps.


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
Yup its correct a Cf 6870 is better than CF 5850 & CF 5870, since the scaling of both a 6850 & 6870 is hugely great.

I'm still waiting on a decent crossfire review, where all cards use the same exact crossfire drivers and profiles and they clock the 5850 and 5870 at the same gpu/mem freq as the 6870.

Then and only then will we see if the 6870 is faster or not









Surely there is someone in here with an AMD965BE and a 6870 who will take up the challenge HERE and prove the 6870 is better then a 5850.

If the 6870 is such a great card as everyone in here is making out, then it should be an easy challenge to win. The fact that no one has taken up the challenge suggests that the 6870 is actually slower


----------



## Name Change

Quote:


Originally Posted by *superj1977* 
Awesome...but benchmarks are used as an indication of a graphics cards power,well known and used by almost the entire of this forum.

I do understand that the 6870 has the advantage of being able to deal with tesselation in a lot better maner than the 5870 and thats where it has the edge.

If you where playing crysis or some other dx10 game the 5870 would be infront in terms of higher fps.


I guess i'm not one of them, I look more into game benches not a vantage score or a 3dmark 06.. They mean something but if you base what you buy on them your silly unless all you do is benchmark go for score etc.. Thats cool.. But games is where I determine what I buy..

In CrossfireX the cheaper 6870 matches or beats 5870 in games..


----------



## superj1977

Quote:


Originally Posted by *un-nefer* 
I'm still waiting on a decent crossfire review, where all cards use the same exact crossfire drivers and profiles and they clock the 5850 and 5870 at the same gpu/mem freq as the 6870.

Then and only then will we see if the 6870 is faster or not









Surely there is someone in here with an AMD965BE and a 6870 who will take up the challenge HERE and prove the 6870 is better then a 5850.

If the 6870 is such a great card as everyone in here is making out, then it should be an easy challenge to win. The fact that no one has taken up the challenge suggests that the 6870 is actually slower









http://www.overclock.net/ati/852583-...ossfire-2.html

http://www.overclock.net/ati/850691-...owners-45.html

http://www.overclock.net/11176514-post486.html

Confirmation in all of these here,quick search by anyone willing to spend 2 minutes doing will show that 5870 is more powerfull than the 6870(at least in dx10) and even though the 6870 has excellent scaling,sadly its still not enought to beat a 5870 crossfire vantage score ....at the moment.

The highest i have seen 6870 crossfire score is 30k in vantage and my 5870 crossfire vantage results in my sig(link to picy) bring 33k and i could get more as well(yes both cards were overclocked,same core)


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:


Originally Posted by *superj1977* 
Confirmation in all of these here,

That doesn't actually confirm anything - this is OCN, we need proper comparisons









Quote:


Originally Posted by *superj1977* 
quick search by anyone willing to spend 2 minutes doing will show that 5870 is more powerfull than the 6870...

Again, I'm not interested in who has the highest score - I can find that on HWBot.

What I was hoping to provide, with the help of someone who has a 6870, is a more beneficial comparison of clock for clock performance - with both cards at the exact same GPU/MEM speeds.

That is far more useful to OCN members as they can then use that to purchase cards that will perform to their expectations


----------



## superj1977

Quote:


Originally Posted by *un-nefer* 
That doesn't actually confirm anything - this is OCN, we need proper comparisons









Again, I'm not interested in who has the highest score - I can find that on HWBot.

What I was hoping to provide, with the help of someone who has a 6870, is a more beneficial comparison of clock for clock performance - with both cards at the exact same GPU/MEM speeds.

That is far more useful to OCN members as they can then use that to purchase cards that will perform to their expectations









I understand and agree with you that any benchmarks should be done fairly like you say,clock for clock core and mem.

Well if you need anyone to run a benchmark with the 5870 then just pm me i will be happy to help,crossfire will be bit difficult atm as my ud7 is in for RMA


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Drivers not optimized yet for the 6870. Remember when 5XXX series was released?


----------



## superj1977

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Drivers not optimized yet for the 6870. Remember when 5XXX series was released?

Yes,very very true.

A few new driver releases will without doubt begin to make more of the 6870


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:


Originally Posted by *superj1977* 
I understand and agree with you that any benchmarks should be done fairly like you say,clock for clock core and mem.

Well if you need anyone to run a benchmark with the 5870 then just pm me i will be happy to help,crossfire will be bit difficult atm as my ud7 is in for RMA









agreed and np mate. My problem is I haave an AMD 965be rig, so for fair comparison, you'd also need to use a similar AMD rig running as per the instructions HERE, otherwise the results will be skewed.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Drivers not optimized yet for the 6870. Remember when 5XXX series was released?

Yes, but the 5xxx series were a totally new GPU - the 68xx are just rehashed Juniper (57xx) GPU's


----------



## WorldExclusive

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Name Change* 
Vantage means nothing.. Games benches is where the 6850/6870 shines..

I agree, Vantage is a generation behind. They should have released their DX11 benchmark a long time ago. Vantage is not going to fully test all the features of a DX11 card. The 5870 obviously will have more DX10 horsepower but when it comes to tessellation it lags behind, Put the 5870CF under Heaven compared to 6870CF and then we'll have a proper comparison, or any other DX11 benchmark.

I'm originally from the [H]forum and we test real world gameplay, not Vantage scores. Heaven is the farthest I would go so show what my PC can do. Asking for a clock for clock comparisons and testing under specific conditions is too much to ask from a OCN member. There's enough articles out there to piece information together.

The standard is a stock 5870. Can a OC'd 6870 reach 5870 performance at a cheaper price point, not that the 6870 is better than the 5870. If stock card A beats stock card B, stock card A better overall, no matter how high the B card can OC.


----------



## superj1977

"*Asking for a clock for clock comparisons and testing under specific conditions is too much to ask from a OCN member.*"
Can you be a little more clear on what you mean here please.

Yes im sure the 6870 has better tesselation capabilitys.


----------



## Electroneng

The 6870 is newer technology and performs on par (benchmarks appear 50-50) with the 5870. Much cheaper, newer technology, and on par with release drivers! Not to mention, shorter, to fit in more mid tower cases! I love the 5870 but technology has advanced!


----------



## superj1977

What sort of benchmarks have you run on you 6870 crossifre? id like to know if you dont mind.


----------



## KBcobra

Quote:


Originally Posted by *un-nefer* 
Yes, but the 5xxx series were a totally new GPU - the 68xx are just rehashed Juniper (57xx) GPU's









The 5000 series are basically a die shrink. Their was nothing new about them.


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KBcobra* 
The 5000 series are basically a die shrink. Their was nothing new about them.









It was my understanding that the 57xx series (Juniper GPU) were a die shrink and rehash of the 48xx series, however the 58xx series (Cypress) was redesigned to suit 40nm and provide dx11 support.

Am I wrong to be thinking that?


----------



## soth7676

The 5000 series where new.... the 5700 series where a 128 mem interface as compared to 4800 series where it is a 256 bit....

The 5800 and 5970 series have 256 bit memory interfaces instead... New features were DX11 support(4800 series was DX10.1) and features like Eyefinity...


----------



## CJRhoades

Anyone else having trouble installing the 10.10c hotfix? The installer quits on me (stops responding) before it ever finishes.


----------



## un-nefer

I used ATI catalyst uninstall to uninstall all ati drivers, then when it asked to reboot, I said later and used driver sweeper to analyse and remove all ati drivers. Once driversweeper was done I rebooted.

Then I installed 10.10 catalyst driver package, 10.10 catalyst sb driver and 10.10 crossfire profiles. Once all that was done I rebooted again.

Once rebooted, I installed the 10.10c catalyst driver package straight over top.

A reboot (for good measure) and everything works fine. YMMV though.


----------



## XtremeBlackout

Yay got it to work.I just did a reinstall of the drivers (after cleaning/deleting them) and then when I was installing I changed the Dircectory from ATI Technologies to ATI. I still got an error "Install Package Failed" but now CCC works


----------



## Freakn

Sold my 5770's today so I'll be going you once I pick up my 6870 today.

Is there any difference between Gigabyte/Sapphire/HIS/Powercolor that really stands one before the rest?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Freakn*


Sold my 5770's today so I'll be going you once I pick up my 6870 today.

Is there any difference between Gigabyte/Sapphire/HIS/Powercolor that really stands one before the rest?


Not really, now. Gigabyte has a 3-year warranty while HIS, Sapphire and PowerColor offer 2 (not sure on PC). That's about it, really


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## Freakn

Well I just picked up my gigabyte 6870



























I'll get it hooked up after work and see how it runs


----------



## Freakn

I decided to slip home at lunch to install the card

Did a quick run through one if the river based missions BFBC2 and lap of DIRT 2 with ALL settings max'd out and I must say I'm very impressed. They weren't benchies but much smother than crossfire oc'd 5770's


----------



## MacClipper

Quote:

Sapphire have the Beta Version of the Trxxx up:

Check out this URL for download

Sapphire Technology - TriXX Tweak Utility
Finally!

PS: Can someone mirror this?


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacClipper* 
Finally!

PS: Can someone mirror this?

Too bad i'm not going to have my PC until Saturday, looks like the rest of you will get a jump on me with the overclocking !


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacClipper* 
Finally!

PS: Can someone mirror this?

Oh and:

http://rapidshare.com/files/42842310...5086643502.zip


----------



## Shinjo

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Freakn* 
I decided to slip home at lunch to install the card

Did a quick run through one if the river based missions BFBC2 and lap of DIRT 2 with ALL settings max'd out and I must say I'm very impressed. They weren't benchies but much smother than crossfire oc'd 5770's

yeah, it's a very nice GIGABYTE card, I also have one too, the tables below are some benchmarks.


----------



## jammo2k5

Got mine yesterday but i havent had time to play as i was knackerd but i shall be overclocking today when i get home from university







(at 6PM







)


----------



## MaxFTW

Wondering what model to get, Most of them seem to have no vents at the front, The XFX 6850 has front vents but 6870 is the same as the others :/

Reason i want to have a vented one is coz i have a 140mm Scythe slipstream for cooling the card, Gets rid of the hot air at the bottom too.


----------



## jammo2k5

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MaxFTW*


Wondering what model to get, Most of them seem to have no vents at the front, The XFX 6850 has front vents but 6870 is the same as the others :/

Reason i want to have a vented one is coz i have a 140mm Scythe slipstream for cooling the card, Gets rid of the hot air at the bottom too.


Looks like you'll a) have to wait for a 6870 non reference b) buy a 6850 c) buy a new cooler for a 6870 when they are release and put up with the reference cooler now.

I honestly like the reference coolers from ATI never had a problem with any of them.


----------



## MaxFTW

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jammo2k5* 
Looks like you'll a) have to wait for a 6870 non reference b) buy a 6850 c) buy a new cooler for a 6870 when they are release and put up with the reference cooler now.

I honestly like the reference coolers from ATI never had a problem with any of them.

Thinking about getting a HIS card :/ Comes with MW2 even though i already own it but dunno who i can sell that to









I think the Reference coolers are fine too but it may of helped just to add some ventilation at the front :/


----------



## Freakn

Does any know what the max safe voltage is on the 6870. My vddc is 1.175

And Trixx works on my gigabyte card


----------



## sendblink23

^^^^^ I wanna know that too about *voltage


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Freakn*


Does any know what the max safe voltage is on the 6870. My vddc is 1.175

And Trixx works on my gigabyte card


Yea Trixx should be working. I assume that with Trixx, Sapphire will now allow overclocking as an exception in their warranty?.. I hope so. And custom coolers, please







Anyways the max should probably be whatever is in Trixx. i'm guessing it's 1.35v too like 5000 cards.

*-List updated-*


----------



## Chisharpe

I cannot wait to get home to see what I can get with trixx


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Chisharpe*


I cannot wait to get home to see what I can get with trixx


Yea totally, post back your results


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Chisharpe*


I cannot wait to get home to see what I can get with trixx


I got it last last night. My max oc was 1030/1180 without it. I did a few Vantage/Heaven runs with it at 1070/1180. I might be able to go faster. I will post the scores when I get home ( working hard right now







). I also get my second card in today but I will through some scores up for sure for everyone for reference and rep+.









Does anyone know if changing the voltage on the core changes voltage on the memory or has no affect? I am imagining no but the voltage control is different from others I have seen b4.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP*


I got it last last night. My max oc was 1030/1180 without it. I did a few Vantage/Heaven runs with it at 1070/1180. I might be able to go faster. I will post the scores when I get home ( working hard right now







). I also get my second card in today but I will through some scores up for sure for everyone for reference and rep+.









Does anyone know if changing the voltage on the core changes voltage on the memory or has no affect? I am imagining no but the voltage control is different from others I have seen b4.


Extra core voltage doesn't give memory more voltage afaik. I'm wondering if the next official Afterburner release will support memory overvolting like it does with the 5870s now (I really hope so).


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Extra core voltage doesn't give memory more voltage afaik. I'm wondering if the next official Afterburner release will support memory overvolting like it does with the 5870s now (I really hope so).


Awesome. I kinda figured it didn't. 
I have to change the TIM on my card as soon as I get it and make sure it clocks (hopefully) near the same as my first. I am hoping for some good numbers. I am hoping AMD releases some better optimized Catalysts for this cards.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Just saw on guru3D Unwinder will probably release new beta for Afterburner with voltage control for HD6870s. The TriXX beta does not support crossfire


----------



## PopcornMachine

_trixx are for kids_


----------



## nardox

Received my 2 Asus 6850s this morning, haven't opened it yet but I will upload some pics later
count me in!


----------



## Chisharpe

Can't use trixx just bsod after I change anything. Brilliant...


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
Can't use trixx just bsod after I change anything. Brilliant...

Make sure Afterburner doesnt have anything set in the background or better yet exit out of it if enabled.


----------



## ibfreeekout

Just got my 6870 in the mail today! Time to update my Rig and such as well.


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:



Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP*


Make sure Afterburner doesnt have anything set in the background or better yet exit out of it if enabled.


Crashes as soon as I hit apply







got to be software related


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout*


Just got my 6870 in the mail today! Time to update my Rig and such as well.


What brand is it?

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Chisharpe*


Crashes as soon as I hit apply







got to be software related


Yea make sure Afterburner isn't running at all, and make sure clocks are at stock, and hit reset and ccc or exit it, because i used to have this problem with my 5850s. If i went over the CCC limits, it would hang up and i would have to close CCC before overclocking. Im not sure if that happens now with the new cards but try it anyway


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


What brand is it?


It's the Sapphire brand. Got a nice deal for it on Amazon (ordered it Sunday night and got it about an hour ago for $243 - that's including the shipping).


----------



## Chisharpe

Will give it a try


----------



## tsm106

EK will release the new 68xx waterblocks on the 5th. I can't wait.


----------



## Electroneng

It will be nice to see how fast you guys on water can take these!


----------



## Yoko Littner

I ordered my 6870's!

What should i do to prove it?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Electroneng*


It will be nice to see how fast you guys on water can take these!










Yea but i doubt they will go all that far maybe another 100Mhz? Unless they give it even more voltage, over 1.35v i mean.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


I ordered my 6870's!

What should i do to prove it?


When you get 'em just post screenshot w/ GPUz or some pics? We all love hardware pr0n


----------



## Yoko Littner

alright will do. keep some attention on my end :0

Ill have emm in here and my hardware pr0nz in less then 3 days.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


alright will do. keep some attention on my end :0

Ill have emm in here and my hardware pr0nz in less then 3 days.


I think your mobile atom will appreciate them LOL

nahh but really what build of yours is going to have those cards?


----------



## Razi3l

Bump for a graphic in original post. I've not used photoshop in well over a year, so it's crappy.. it will do for now.


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Bump for a graphic in original post. I've not used photoshop in well over a year, so it's crappy.. it will do for now.


Hey, the graphic isn't that bad. It's better than anything I could do, i'm lousy in photoshop.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Behemoth777*


Hey, the graphic isn't that bad. It's better than anything I could do, i'm lousy in photoshop.










I'm not all that good either


----------



## tsm106

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Electroneng*


It will be nice to see how fast you guys on water can take these!










I just got a reply from frozencpu. They will have them in stock. I'll be getting a pair for sure.


----------



## Chisharpe

Most I'm getting on air in crossfire cards right next to each other is 1140 core 1180 mem. At 1.25v with a bearable fan speed as any higher doesn't yield anymore clocks. I'm thinking these cards need water for decent clocks.


----------



## Yoko Littner

gunman 000 Version 2.0 final production model in 'my system's'

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
I think your mobile atom will appreciate them LOL

nahh but really what build of yours is going to have those cards?


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner* 
gunman 000 Version 2.0 final production model in 'my system's'

yummy that system will love it indeed


----------



## Yoko Littner

All of those parts are from their release date's.

It is currently dissmantled and in part's.

Im awaiting deleivry of my chassy and graphics system

my goal with the 6870's are 1000MHZ core clock. and 30k 3dmark vantage.

and for the hell of it a PPU added as well

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
yummy that system will love it indeed


----------



## onnetz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout* 
Just got my 6870 in the mail today! Time to update my Rig and such as well.










off topic but 14+ volts? I hope hwmonitor is wrong.


----------



## michintom

Add me!
Just got my 1st Sapphire 6850 and the 2nd one should be here tomorrow








1st one here.


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:


Originally Posted by *onnetz* 
off topic but 14+ volts? I hope hwmonitor is wrong.

I never even bothered to check that out. I'm pretty sure it is reporting something wrong because it says that two of my hard drives are running at 52 C at all times, even if they aren't spinning


----------



## PopcornMachine

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout* 
I never even bothered to check that out. I'm pretty sure it is reporting something wrong because it says that two of my hard drives are running at 52 C at all times, even if they aren't spinning 

It's probably HWMonitor reporting wrong, but it wouldn't hurt to check your PSU with a tester. Would hate see anything happen to your new card.


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PopcornMachine* 
It's probably HWMonitor reporting wrong, but it wouldn't hurt to check your PSU with a tester. Would hate see anything happen to your new card.









I literally just checked the BIOS right now and it is running at a nice 12.05v. I'll be buying a second 6870 sometime after xmas if I get enough money for one and I'll need a new power supply for that so I'll be doing a good bit of research for one. Thanks for pointing that out for me though guys; never would have bothered looking for that on my own.


----------



## nardox

here comes the pics!
my rig will be down for a few days as I sold my motherboard and bought another one, I will post some benches after I receive the new mobo later this week.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout* 
I literally just checked the BIOS right now and it is running at a nice 12.05v. I'll be buying a second 6870 sometime after xmas if I get enough money for one and I'll need a new power supply for that so I'll be doing a good bit of research for one. Thanks for pointing that out for me though guys; never would have bothered looking for that on my own.

I think your PSU is actually capable of handling a CF 6870

Its my TX850 and I can quadfire 5770's but I've only tested trifire 5770's, although i have tested CF 5770 + 9800GTX+ + HD4650 and having all of them with external monitors... so I'm assuming you should be fine on your TX650 for CF 6870


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 









what settings on the card?


----------



## gonX

I'm in







XFX 6850. Pretty good card, not really a huge upgrade for my 8800GT though. Still digging it, though.

Does anyone else have issues with voltage changes on their card? If I try to up my voltage using MSI Afterburner I get pixel errors on my screen - almost like the "snow" you see on older TV's. I haven't tried letting it stay for more than a few seconds in spite of frying my card


----------



## toyz72

sorry so late..here's mine


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
what settings on the card?









It was 1020/1130..


----------



## nehad85

Just got my xfx 6850!!!







but it's louder than my asus 4870







and I thought that was loud


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

New Afterburner is out 2.1 Beta 3 with v tuner for 6870.
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner...up210Beta3.zip

Every time I do unofficial it locks up and BSoD... got 2 cards but can't go over 1000 core.


----------



## alegelos

i got offered 2 Asus 6870 for 440 usd. Fake or real? :S


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alegelos* 
i got offered 2 Asus 6870 for 440 usd. Fake or real? :S

Considering that is about 40-60 bucks lower than new, I would be sceptical.


----------



## ShortySmalls

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alegelos* 
i got offered 2 Asus 6870 for 440 usd. Fake or real? :S

they about $250 new so possibly real


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alegelos* 
i got offered 2 Asus 6870 for 440 usd. Fake or real? :S

where at?


----------



## alienguts

two 6870s should be about 490 I'm pretty sure.

just installed my 6850s - can only overclock one of the video cards.
also - in dev mgr one video card shows as AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series and the other as ASUS EAH6850 Series.

they're the same card, and I can see they're linked.

I can use smartdoctor to overclock the primary adapter, but I donno how to control the linked adapter.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alienguts* 
two 6870s should be about 490 I'm pretty sure.

just installed my 6850s - can only overclock one of the video cards.
also - in dev mgr one video card shows as AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series and the other as ASUS EAH6850 Series.

they're the same card, and I can see they're linked.

I can use smartdoctor to overclock the primary adapter, but I donno how to control the linked adapter.

it should work on both.. are you sure the crossfireX is actually enabled?
If anything I think the bottom button on the right side you can choose which card you are overclocking with smartdoctor... if not well set the voltage with Smartdoctor and do the overclock with CCC you can switch cards on which you want to do overclocking in overdrive(on the card name tab)


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

OK I received my second card and this is my vantage at 4.2GHz w/turbo. I cannot do unofficial support so voltage is useless since I cannot go past 1000MHz









@ Razi3l - can you add me as a 2x owner plz







Thx!!!


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

OK weird thing happened again. I ran 3DMark 06 with AB 2.1 Beta 3 and my scores were crap. I uninstalled it and installed AB 2.0. With AB 2.0 my frames were up there. Anyone else has this issues on 3DMark06 or DX9 Benchmarks and AB 2.1 Beta X?
4.2GHz w/Turbo on









Heaven 2.1 4.0GHz w/Turbo on


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
I think your PSU is actually capable of handling a CF 6870

Its my TX850 and I can quadfire 5770's but I've only tested trifire 5770's, although i have tested CF 5770 + 9800GTX+ + HD4650 and having all of them with external monitors... so I'm assuming you should be fine on your TX650 for CF 6870

I think it would be close. One card recommends a 500 watt PSU, and in some of the benchies I've seen it uses around 295 watts on full load. I just don't want to risk anything seeing as I'm running an overclocked Phenom II X4 955 as well. I need a modular PSU anyway XD


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout* 
I think it would be close. One card recommends a 500 watt PSU, and in some of the benchies I've seen it uses around 295 watts on full load. I just don't want to risk anything seeing as I'm running an overclocked Phenom II X4 955 as well. I need a modular PSU anyway XD

Just buy the 2nd card.. if it doesn't run with your current PSU.. then simple buy the new PSU =P

Yeah Modular will be much nicer


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
OK weird thing happened again. I ran 3DMark 06 with AB 2.1 Beta 3 and my scores were crap. I uninstalled it and installed AB 2.0. With AB 2.0 my frames were up there. Anyone else has this issues on 3DMark06 or DX9 Benchmarks and AB 2.1 Beta X?
4.*41*GHz w/Turbo on









fixed


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
fixed

It is setup at 4.2GHz in bios. Turbo on kicks it to 4.41GHz but not all cores. 3DMark Orb calls it 4.2GHz so I go by that







.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
It is setup at 4.2GHz in bios. Turbo on kicks it to 4.41GHz but not all cores. 3DMark Orb calls it 4.2GHz so I go by that







.

hehehe my bad .. pass me some turbo


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
hehehe my bad .. pass me some turbo









LoL no prob.... I wish I could do 4.41 without the turbo. It would be fly


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
I'm in







XFX 6850. Pretty good card, not really a huge upgrade for my 8800GT though. Still digging it, though.

Does anyone else have issues with voltage changes on their card? If I try to up my voltage using MSI Afterburner I get pixel errors on my screen - almost like the "snow" you see on older TV's. I haven't tried letting it stay for more than a few seconds in spite of frying my card









It may be a bad card, actully. Sounds like it's artifacting. Try turning up the fan to 100% then apply some voltage. Can you provide a screenshot/validation please









Quote:


Originally Posted by *nehad85* 
Just got my xfx 6850!!!







but it's louder than my asus 4870







and I thought that was loud

Screenshot/validation please









Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
New Afterburner is out 2.1 Beta 3 with v tuner for 6870.

Every time I do unofficial it locks up and BSoD... got 2 cards but can't go over 1000 core.

Exit CCC and then try.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Razi3l - can you add me as a 2x owner plz







Thx!!!

Done


----------



## the.hollow

Got my XFX 6850 last week ..just now getting around to posting here. Ordering another for Crossfire this friday.

Edit: Just did the XFX bios fix for fan control. Now running cool n quiet finally.


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
New Afterburner is out 2.1 Beta 3 with v tuner for 6870.
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner...up210Beta3.zip

Every time I do unofficial it locks up and BSoD... got 2 cards but can't go over 1000 core.

Turn off power saving mode for your cards in windows registry. Google it


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
Turn off power saving mode for your cards in windows registry. Google it

Thank you. I will try that and as Razi3l suggested turning of CCC altogether too.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
It may be a bad card, actully. Sounds like it's artifacting. Try turning up the fan to 100% then apply some voltage. Can you provide a screenshot/validation please









Yeah it's definitely artifacting. It's behaving really weird - the first 5 to 10 seconds after entering a game, my card artifacts like crazy, even on stock clocks. But after the few seconds, it's like it has never happened.
I went to do some experimenting - increasing the voltage while I had some 3D application running (such as ATiTool), and the artifacts would not appear. Even when I closed ATiTool, it would be perfectly fine. But if I changed the settings while I had nothing running, it would look really messed up.

Also when I have my cursor at the clock/tray area, my cursor artifacts like crazy and vibrates. Even if I add another monitor to the right of my main monitor it will only do it in that area of the screen. I even reinstalled Windows and it's still doing it.

I kinda hope it's a bad card since I originally wanted to get a 6870, but the place I bought it from were out of stock with 6870's. So if I can return it, that'd be awesome.

Thanks guys


----------



## Chisharpe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Thank you. I will try that and as Razi3l suggested turning of CCC altogether too.

Turning off ccc for me stopped crossire. The windows registry thing is called ul.. Something. Anyways it was a problem with the 58 cards and seems to be the same with the 68 cards in crossfire.


----------



## H4rd5tyl3

My XFX 6870 comes in tomorrow, add me to the list!


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
Turning off ccc for me stopped crossire. The windows registry thing is called ul.. Something. Anyways it was a problem with the 58 cards and seems to be the same with the 68 cards in crossfire.

Gotcha. I know were to find it. Thanks. I will try it when I get home this afternoon and run a few more bm's.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
Is anyone else having difficulty overclocking the core frequency on the 6870? i can only get about 950mhz before it starts artifacting in furmark. Also, increasing the voltage through smart doctor ups the temps quite a bit. Haven't really played with it too much but I don't see these cards getting much over 1000mhz on the core unless under water or with better cooling.

For now my 6850 has only been stable up to 930mhz. I'm quite disappointed. I'll keep trying to see if I can bump it up to 950mhz+

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
I'm in







XFX 6850. Pretty good card, not really a huge upgrade for my 8800GT though. Still digging it, though.

Does anyone else have issues with voltage changes on their card? If I try to up my voltage using MSI Afterburner I get pixel errors on my screen - almost like the "snow" you see on older TV's. I haven't tried letting it stay for more than a few seconds in spite of frying my card









My card never artifacts, it only crashes when its unstable. But I have noticed that increasing the voltage does virtually nothing for stability.


----------



## Chisharpe

10% overclock on core. full volts as I cba to mess about. fan speed on auto to see how high the temps got 77C was the highest

60fps is good enough for me


----------



## Houly

Entry









XFX HD6870


----------



## Razi3l

Updated. Man i can't wait for my 6870, more delays... should be getting it sometime next week..


----------



## detta

Quote:


Originally Posted by *razi3l* 
ah ok, take a look here.

but this test was run with no anti aliasing which means the test isnt accurate .turn on the aa and the high end cards shine!

The 5870 will most definitely smoke the 6870 in 3dmark 06 with all settings maxed as opposed to not running aa.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *detta* 
but this test was run with no anti aliasing which means the test isnt accurate .turn on the aa and the high end cards shine!

The 5870 will most definitely smoke the 6870 in 3dmark 06 with all settings maxed as opposed to not running aa.

The 6870 actully does ok with AA though the 5870 is a more powerful card for sure. 3DMark 06 isn't really that much of a good test for GPUs though, vantage is much better, but then again it's just a synthetic benchmark. Games are where it's at


----------



## SuspendingBJ

Hey Guys,

Just purchased the Gigabyte HD 6870 off of newegg. Should have it here on friday but Ive been going frantic online trying to find a waterblock for this thing.

I currently have a swiftech MCW60 on my HD4850. Id like to find an adapter that allows that to work on the HD6870 or more importantly, I would like to find a full size waterblock for the whole card. So far the only thing I can find is the EK waterblock set to release on 11/5. Is that my only option or is there anything else out there?

Thanks for any help


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SuspendingBJ* 
Hey Guys,

Just purchased the Gigabyte HD 6870 off of newegg. Should have it here on friday but Ive been going frantic online trying to find a waterblock for this thing.

I currently have a swiftech MCW60 on my HD4850. Id like to find an adapter that allows that to work on the HD6870 or more importantly, I would like to find a full size waterblock for the whole card. So far the only thing I can find is the EK waterblock set to release on 11/5. Is that my only option or is there anything else out there?

Thanks for any help

I would personally just wait because EK make some awesome blocks really, and it's full cover while atm i think there are GPU-only blocks out so VRMs are left "exposed"









It's only about a week or so


----------



## SuspendingBJ

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
I would personally just wait because EK make some awesome blocks really, and it's full cover while atm i think there are GPU-only blocks out so VRMs are left "exposed"









It's only about a week or so









Yeah. I could preorder the EK block and it starts shipping this friday. I just wanted to find something I could have overnighted and receive in time to install this weekend. Are you aware of any other full cover blocks coming out? EK was all i found and will most likely buy but I like to compare.


----------



## SuspendingBJ

I found another one outside of EK since the EK waterblock pre-orders are sold out through their online store.

https://www.koolance.com/water-cooli...roduct_id=2003

Got myself on a notification list for Koolance's full size waterblock. ill let you all know how things go when I finally get everything. Want to OC this as far as possible so ill be back and Ill post pictures to be added to the list as well


----------



## alienguts

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
10% overclock on core. full volts as I cba to mess about. fan speed on auto to see how high the temps got 77C was the highest

60fps is good enough for me

***? 1.281v only 77C max? use furmark

OH! you only ran it for like 15 seconds.

MIN 40 MAX 76 TOTAL FRAMES 864

please don't spread this bad information.


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *alienguts*


***? 1.281v only 77C max? use furmark

OH! you only ran it for like 15 seconds.

MIN 40 MAX 76 TOTAL FRAMES 864

please don't spread this bad information.


Auto ramps up the fan speeds pretty early. I get about the same temps - 82c instead of 77c with my modified speeds.


----------



## alienguts

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
Auto ramps up the fan speeds pretty early. I get about the same temps - 82c instead of 77c with my modified speeds.

do you also run your stability test for 15 seconds and call it max temp?

5 minutes peaks my graph - and I know that my cards automatically downclock the GPU if they're not happy with the temps. happens to be about 82C-86C that this happens.


----------



## Chisharpe

Did I state any different that was just for the benchmark. I wasn't statin they were my max temps for the overclock? Just what I got for crysis

You need to be less trigger happy my friend


----------



## alienguts

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chisharpe* 
Did I state any different that was just for the benchmark. I wasn't statin they were my max temps for the overclock? Just what I got for crysis

You need to be less trigger happy my friend

oh sorry I've been playing metro 2033... maybe I'm just not familiar with this crysis benchmark. whats it good for if it doesn't tell you max temps.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alienguts* 
do you also run your stability test for 15 seconds and call it max temp?

5 minutes peaks my graph - and I know that my cards automatically downclock the GPU if they're not happy with the temps. happens to be about 82C-86C that this happens.

Uh, no. I let it run for a couple of minutes until I see it (edit: the temperature) not moving any more.


----------



## alienguts

haha but of course. apologies about being a jerkberger on that one... nevermind... for some reason I felt like that guy was saying his max temp was 77C at those volts but I guess I read into it too deeply.


----------



## michintom

Anyone having problems with crossfire?
My 2nd card is doing this...


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *michintom* 
Anyone having problems with crossfire?
My 2nd card is doing this...









I have seen that happen on my 5770's before.. but it wasn't any issue.. since I had Everest reporting my actual clocks of both of my cards... its just ccc acting stupid sometimes on some drivers.

Use TriXX, MSI Afterburner for overclocking/monitoring or Everest to monitor the clocks of the cards... ignore the reading clocks from CCC.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *michintom* 
Anyone having problems with crossfire?
My 2nd card is doing this...









You have to edit the registry, look for ULPS I believe or look it up, it will fix the issue.


----------



## michintom

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
You have to edit the registry, look for ULPS I believe or look it up, it will fix the issue.

No idea how to do that. When I run games both cards run fine and it keeps running. I'm using the MSI software to monitor my temps now


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *michintom* 
No idea how to do that. When I run games both cards run fine and it keeps running. I'm using the MSI software to monitor my temps now









Go to registry and disable Ulps:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\ControlSet001\\Control \\Cl ass\\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}]

and change "EnableUlps" to 0 under the 0000 and 0001 or 0003 keys.


----------



## un-nefer

Quote:


Originally Posted by *michintom* 
No idea how to do that.

Post a screenshot of GPU-Z for each gpu to show if ULPS is active on your rig/cards.

If it is active, you need to disable it in the registry:

open start/orb menu and enter "regedit" in the search box and press enter
if prompted, click "yes" to open the registry editor
when the registry editor opens, select/highlight "Computer" at the top of the left column and then when it is selected/highlighted, click "Edit" in the top menu and then click "Find" - or just press "Ctrl + f"
When the "Find" window opens, make sure all three "look at" options are selected, and in the "Find what:" box, enter:
enableulps
click the "Find Next" button to search the registry
If it is found, change the value from 1 to 0 to disable ULPS, then click "Find Next" again to continue searching the registry
Repeat the last step until no more matches are found in the registry, then close the registry editor and reboot your PC
Done - open GPU-Z and notice that ULPS will no longer be active
Basically ULPS, ultra low power state, can cause the second card to idle down into ULPS (ie. pretty much turn off) and that then causes problems when in crossfire configuration when windows tries to use that second card - which then ends with a BSOD/crash.

Disabling ULPS will ensure both cards are enabled and running as they should when in crossfire configuration.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

P30,000+


----------



## CLeeFESQ

I'm in y'all.









Unfortunately I'm having major driver issues.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
P30,000+

very nicely done!! =)


----------



## superj1977

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
Go to registry and disable Ulps:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\ControlSet001\\Control \\Cl ass\\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}]

and change "EnableUlps" to 0 under the 0000 and 0001 or 0003 keys.

Missing info.
You then need to go to edit and press next(or f3) then repeat steps for next registry entry for enableulps and then again after modifying registry and so on until all enableulps entrys are all at 0 value.

Theres 3 -4 entries from what i can remember.

You must then reboot for this to take effect,this still works and must be done to get the best performance from crossfire.

EDIT:
[EX3]Cobra_XP thats a nice score there,but you gota beat my almost 34k surely







its in my sig....


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
P30,000+

Nice score








Is that the maximum your cards can do?

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CLeeFESQ* 
I'm in y'all.
Unfortunately I'm having major driver issues.

Added, what kind of issues?


----------



## xXmondoXx

how can i flash the bios ?

atiflash doesnÂ´t find any card ?!

atiwinflash wont start


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *xXmondoXx* 
how can i flash the bios ?

atiflash doesnÂ´t find any card ?!

atiwinflash wont start

I don't know but do they support these new cards yet?


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *xXmondoXx* 
how can i flash the bios ?

atiflash doesnÂ´t find any card ?!

atiwinflash wont start

Nobody has yet flashed the bios on any 68XX cards lol

But pretty sure soon... someone will find a way, or atiflash is going to get updated


----------



## xXmondoXx

i flashed the biosfix from xfx

i test the atiflash from xfx with another biosfile later


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *xXmondoXx*


i flashed the biosfix from xfx

i test the atiflash from xfx with another biosfile later


Cool, but how did you make it work.. you wrote:
"atiflash doesnÂ´t find any card "

Or were you doing something wrong before?









I just wrote that before because on guru3d they were trying it on a review.. and they said it was not possible yet to flash with another brand... I guess you found a way


----------



## gonX

How do you guys get TriXXX running on non-Sapphire cards, let alone find a download for it? I can't get my hands on it since Sapphire's site says you need to have a Sapphire HD 6800 series card to download it.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


How do you guys get TriXXX running on non-Sapphire cards, let alone find a download for it? I can't get my hands on it since Sapphire's site says you need to have a Sapphire HD 6800 series card to download it.


It's still BETA, and pretty buggy from what i read, same for MSI Afterburner.. I think with most people saying that they max out the voltage but it doesn't help stability, that may be a software issue.. maybe it's not applyin the voltage set.. which is probably a bug. Just wait it out Afterburner should be updated soon


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


How do you guys get TriXXX running on non-Sapphire cards, let alone find a download for it? I can't get my hands on it since Sapphire's site says you need to have a Sapphire HD 6800 series card to download it.


Someone did upload a mirror on xtremesystem.org forums: http://rapidshare.com/files/42842310...5086643502.zip

try it out to see if it works... I've seen some non-sapphire users using it


----------



## gamingowiz

I can see myself buying this card... but I'm waiting to see what the 69xx cards are like and the price of them first... if this card is 280 AUD... the next card up should be something like 340 - 440 AUD XD and I can see the specs being a lot better too. 
I think all you guys that have purchased this card replacing anything over the 5770 or the 260/460 are going to be reaaaaaaaal reaaaaaaal disappointed... It's going to be funny ^_^


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gamingowiz*


I can see myself buying this card... but I'm waiting to see what the 69xx cards are like and the price of them first... if this card is 280 AUD... the next card up should be something like 340 - 440 AUD XD and I can see the specs being a lot better too. 
*I think all you guys that have purchased this card replacing anything over the 5770 or the 260*/460 are going to *be reaaaaaaaal reaaaaaaal disappointed*... It's going to be funny ^_^


Lolwut?... Going from a 5770 or a GTX 260 to this is amazing, about twice the performance (more or less) and much more efficient. Anybody who went from a GTX 460 to this is an idiot though (unless maybe a 768mb).. though i've moved from a 470 to a 6870 but that's only because it's a sexy card i don't care about the performance







I think the next one up (6950) will be priced more around $350 with the 6970 $450 (US prices).


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


It's still BETA, and pretty buggy from what i read, same for MSI Afterburner.. I think with most people saying that they max out the voltage but it doesn't help stability, that may be a software issue.. maybe it's not applyin the voltage set.. which is probably a bug. Just wait it out Afterburner should be updated soon










I know about that. The beta versions of MSI Afterburner has the voltage control in it, and works fine. I was looking for TriXXX earlier though - which I now seem to have gotten. Thanks for the link


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


How do you guys get TriXXX running on non-Sapphire cards, let alone find a download for it? I can't get my hands on it since Sapphire's site says you need to have a Sapphire HD 6800 series card to download it.


All the 6870s are the same. They just have a different sticker on the bottom. I think only Asus bothered to change the bios and added the Asus name so it would work with there "smart doctor" software.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Nice score








Is that the maximum your cards can do?


For now







. I have been using the first 10.10 driver. I noticed everyone got faster using 10.10c so I might get a few more points. TriXX gets wacky. I am going to play with AB 2.1 B3 a bit but it has some DX9 issues.


----------



## TheBear

I OC'ed my card 1000/1175Mhz 24/7... Made profile in Afterburner, 1.200V is enough for 1000Mhz.



I played Crysis Warhead 1920x1080, Enthusiast, 4xAA, and here are max. temperature (fan is fixed 39%, not too loud imo).


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Has anyone tried putting some small drops of thermal grease directly in the middle of the memory modules? I did that on my R5770 when I added copper heatsinks. I got about 20 more MHz out of them but they seemed to run cooler.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP*


Has anyone tried putting some small drops of thermal grease directly in the middle of the memory modules? I did that on my R5770 when I added copper heatsinks. I got about 20 more MHz out of them but they seemed to run cooler.


You should most definitely try it out bro


----------



## sarngate

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sendblink23*


Someone did upload a mirror on xtremesystem.org forums: http://rapidshare.com/files/42842310...5086643502.zip

try it out to see if it works... I've seen some non-sapphire users using it


That's my upload, you can find it a page back. Flippin' Xtremesystem people taking credit.


----------



## XtremeBlackout

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TheBear*


I OC'ed my card 1000/1175Mhz 24/7... Made profile in Afterburner, 1.200V is enough for 1000Mhz.



I played Crysis Warhead 1920x1080, Enthusiast, 4xAA, and here are max. temperature (fan is fixed 39%, not too loud imo).




I oc'd mine to 990/1100 very milde but my card is 50 C in idle and 68 C in load,are you using the stock/reference cooling?


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


That's my upload, you can find it a page back. Flippin' Xtremesystem people taking credit.










Go into that forum and ask for your credits then








I just google searched and the very first link that appeared was from that forum heheheee

The OP of this thread should place your link on the 1st page


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Some nice scores so far, very impressed with my 6870. I can push it pretty far without any voltage adjusting. I only OC mine when benchmarking or gaming. I am, well later today going to change the thermal paste.
Glad to see people posting scores and helping out


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

NEWEGG HAS A PROMO - http://promotions.newegg.com/neemail...E0-_-PromoWord $25.00 - $26.00 OFF OF DESKTOP CARDS AND THE NEW 6800 SERIES CARDS, AWESOME DEAL.

PROMO CODE - EMCZZYR24 10% INSTANT SAVINGS.


----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *XtremeBlackout*


I oc'd mine to 990/1100 very milde but my card is 50 C in idle and 68 C in load,are you using the stock/reference cooling?


Yes, fan in IDLE is Auto, OCed I set it to 39% it's enough to cool card, I can OC to 1050Mhz Core but it's really not necessary...


----------



## jprovido

how come my 6870's 1000mhz idle. why is it not underclocking when idle?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


how come my 6870's 1000mhz idle. why is it not underclocking when idle?


Because they have enabled unofficial overclocking in Afterburner afaik. So while their "new" overclocks are set it will idle at those clocks. Simple solution is to save a profile then just reset to default


----------



## jprovido

nvm fixed it already


----------



## jprovido

I can't adjust fan speed on my second card (I have a crossfire configuration). is it normal?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


how do I fix it again? it does not work










Well to fix it, just exit CCC and then hit "reset" in Afterburner, and then start CCC again and it should be ok =). If AMD didn't put silly limits it would all be fine *sigh*

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


I can't adjust fan speed on my second card (I have a crossfire configuration). is it normal?


What are you trying it in? Afterburner or CCC?


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TheBear*


I OC'ed my card 1000/1175Mhz 24/7... Made profile in Afterburner, 1.200V is enough for 1000Mhz.



I played Crysis Warhead 1920x1080, Enthusiast, 4xAA, and here are max. temperature (fan is fixed 39%, not too loud imo).




Those are the exact clocks I was able to get at stock voltages (don't want to take any risks with it just yet XD) So far running very well. Very stable and I keep the fan between 35% and 45% fan speed, depending on how much I'm using it.


----------



## jprovido

Quote:



Originally Posted by *razi3l*


well to fix it, just exit ccc and then hit "reset" in afterburner, and then start ccc again and it should be ok =). If amd didn't put silly limits it would all be fine *sigh*

what are you trying it in? Afterburner or ccc?


ccc


----------



## jprovido

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout*


Those are the exact clocks I was able to get at stock voltages (don't want to take any risks with it just yet XD) So far running very well. Very stable and I keep the fan between 35% and 45% fan speed, depending on how much I'm using it.


I can't adjust the voltage on mine on afterburner. they seem to be locked.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


ccc



Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


I can't adjust the voltage on mine on afterburner. they seem to be locked.


Exit Afterburner then restart CCC and then try, it _should_ work. I had an issue like this with my 5770 CF it would not let me do anything to the second card while AftB was open because of "Unofficial overclocking". As for voltages, AftB is still beta so wait out for the proper release i guess


----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout*


Those are the exact clocks I was able to get at stock voltages (don't want to take any risks with it just yet XD) So far running very well. Very stable and I keep the fan between 35% and 45% fan speed, depending on how much I'm using it.


My card is stable on 990Mhz @ default Voltage, but fr 1000Mhz I need that little extra voltage







On max. Voltage it runs 1050Mhz but thats high voltage for every day use it's good for bencmarking, for every day I think 1000Mhz is good clock, 10+% better performance in games...


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TheBear*


My card is stable on 990Mhz @ default Voltage, but fr 1000Mhz I need that little extra voltage







On max. Voltage it runs 1050Mhz but thats high voltage for every day use it's good for bencmarking, for every day I think 1000Mhz is good clock, 10+% better performance in games...


Yeah I was able to get it running at 1200 Memory but it started to slow down a bit too much because of too little voltage so I backed it down to 1175 and it's been fine ever since. I figured this card would be a poor overclocker after reading the reviews but that was definitely not true XD


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
NEWEGG HAS A PROMO - http://promotions.newegg.com/neemail...E0-_-PromoWord $25.00 - $26.00 OFF OF DESKTOP CARDS AND THE NEW 6800 SERIES CARDS, AWESOME DEAL.

PROMO CODE - EMCZZYR24 10% INSTANT SAVINGS.

Holy crap. 6870s for $216 and 6850s for $162!

Why is this only in America!


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Exit Afterburner then restart CCC and then try, it _should_ work. I had an issue like this with my 5770 CF it would not let me do anything to the second card while AftB was open because of "Unofficial overclocking". As for voltages, AftB is still beta so wait out for the proper release i guess









I can't fix it


















core voltage control is blank







im using 10.10c btw


----------



## xXmondoXx

so guys

here is my personaly Crossfire review

its in german sorry

but u see the pics and numbers









OCF Review XFX HD6850 Crossfire


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *xXmondoXx* 
so guys

here is my personaly Crossfire review

its in german sorry

but u see the pics and numbers









OCF Review XFX HD6850 Crossfire










*Looks at crysis*
dat scaling. lol.
Thanks for sharing.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jprovido* 
I can't fix it


















core voltage control is blank







im using 10.10c btw

That's because you're using the wrong version of MSI Afterburner. You need to download version 2.1.0 Beta 3.


----------



## CLeeFESQ

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Added, what kind of issues?

10.10 wouldn't install, claiming "install package failure". I have it running now, but it still claimed "install package failure" so that was weird. Now I'm trying to get MLAA using 10.10d hotfix and it does the same thing, but doesn't work. Same "install package failure". I did everything one would do when getting a new card (uninstall, driver sweeper) but it still gave me the "package failure". On the second run of driver sweeper for some reason when I rebooted all of my (x86) program files where missing drivers and none of them would work properly. I'm pretty sure that was driver sweepers fault. So now I'm stuck without MLAA and a zombie 10.10 CCC and remnants of my (x86) files scattered around my hard drive. The card is performing as it should with the zombie CCC but I'd really like to try the MLAA.


----------



## xXmondoXx

so guys

my atiflash from xfx can flash the hd6850 but when its flashed with an rbe edited bios it want boot in windows, when the switch from bootscreen to desktop comes, the monitor get blackscreen


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *xXmondoXx* 
so guys

my atiflash from xfx can flash the hd6850 but when its flashed with an rbe edited bios it want boot in windows, when the switch from bootscreen to desktop comes, the monitor get blackscreen



Try booting in VGA mode instead:
How to boot into VGA mode


----------



## xXmondoXx

and then ??

i will test it


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
That's because you're using the wrong version of MSI Afterburner. You need to download version 2.1.0 Beta 3.

thanks I FIxed it








now another problem lol. I can't OC pass 1000mhz on my GPU clock. how do I fix this? sorry I have to many questions


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *xXmondoXx* 
and then ??

i will test it

If it works, reinstall your driver.
If not, restore your BIOS. I hope you made a backup.


----------



## xXmondoXx

doesnÂ´t start in vga mode

i think its a problem with RBE


----------



## xXmondoXx

have no trouble with flashing

i flash in dos


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


thanks I FIxed it








now another problem lol. I can't OC pass 1000mhz on my GPU clock. how do I fix this? sorry I have to many questions










Go into the MSI Afterburner folder in Programs, open the msi afterburner CFG file in notepad and change EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0 change the 0 to a 1 save and exit. Restart afterburner and fixed..


----------



## Razi3l

I was just reading through Tom's "Best graphics card for the money" article and read something that made me lol.

Quote:



While a couple of *GeForce GTX 470 cards in SLI will demonstrate better performance than a pair of Radeon HD 6870s*, power usage should be some 200-300 W less for the Radeons under load conditions. This might not be much of an issue for folks with solid power supplies but it is something to keep in mind.


Have they actully seen any Crossfire 6870 benchmarks?.. The only games the 6870s lose in is Anno 1404 and MW2, which are not exactly demanding :| Every graphcis card review/article at Tom's is BS lol.


----------



## jprovido

Quote:



Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds*


Go into the MSI Afterburner folder in Programs, open the msi afterburner CFG file in notepad and change EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0 change the 0 to a 1 save and exit. Restart afterburner and fixed..


ahhhh after doing this now my computer crashes when I use Afterburner..


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


ahhhh after doing this now my computer crashes when I use Afterburner..










Try exiting CCC first, and end the process (for CCC not the driver service).


----------



## jprovido

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Try exiting CCC first, and end the process (for CCC not the driver service).


I did this. windows still crashed..


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


ahhhh after doing this now my computer crashes when I use Afterburner..










Also change EnableULPS to 0 in regisrty will help with crossfire if you have it.
This was my problem trying to run AB or TriXX.


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Also change EnableULPS to 0 in regisrty will help with crossfire if you have it.
This was my problem trying to run AB or TriXX.

I do have HD6870 crossfire. How do I this?


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jprovido* 
I do have HD6870 crossfire. How do I this?

go into registry and search for EnableULPS. Mine were in folders 0000,0001,0002,0003, 0004 and 0005. Change the hex value (by double clicking on it) from 1 to 0 on all of them. Just the EnableULPS in those folders. After you do this on all folders reboot pc and unofficial oc should work.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *un-nefer* 
Post a screenshot of GPU-Z for each gpu to show if ULPS is active on your rig/cards.

If it is active, you need to disable it in the registry:

open start/orb menu and enter "regedit" in the search box and press enter
if prompted, click "yes" to open the registry editor
when the registry editor opens, select/highlight "Computer" at the top of the left column and then when it is selected/highlighted, click "Edit" in the top menu and then click "Find" - or just press "Ctrl + f"
When the "Find" window opens, make sure all three "look at" options are selected, and in the "Find what:" box, enter:
enableulps
click the "Find Next" button to search the registry
If it is found, change the value from 1 to 0 to disable ULPS, then click "Find Next" again to continue searching the registry
Repeat the last step until no more matches are found in the registry, then close the registry editor and reboot your PC
Done - open GPU-Z and notice that ULPS will no longer be active
Basically ULPS, ultra low power state, can cause the second card to idle down into ULPS (ie. pretty much turn off) and that then causes problems when in crossfire configuration when windows tries to use that second card - which then ends with a BSOD/crash.

Disabling ULPS will ensure both cards are enabled and running as they should when in crossfire configuration.

This person did a better explaination than me


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
go into registry and search for EnableULPS. Mine were in folders 0000,0001,0002,0003, 0004 and 0005. Change the hex value (by double clicking on it) from 1 to 0 on all of them. Just the EnableULPS in those folders. After you do this on all folders reboot pc and unofficial oc should work.

found mine on 0000, 0015, 0016, 0017. thanks. ima try if it's working now


----------



## jprovido

wow it's working flawlessly now. thanks! +rep


----------



## jprovido

I've noticed my gpu clocks are not downclocking at idle anymore. this is normal right?


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jprovido* 
wow it's working flawlessly now. thanks! +rep

Thank you for the rep but un-nefer deserves some credit too for a better explaination than I gave you







.

Please post some benchmarks when you can. I am too lazy to take the cards out and put them in my AMD.

Have fun!!!


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jprovido* 
I've noticed my gpu clocks are not downclocking at idle anymore. this is normal right?

They should still downclock. My second card downclocks when it wants to but usually doesn't. My first one downclocks normally. I also get a weird usage spike with my second gpu.


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
They should still downclock. My second card downclocks when it wants to but usually doesn't. My first one downclocks normally. I also get a weird usage spike with my second gpu.

awww. mine doesn't downclock anymore. ahhhhh


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jprovido* 
awww. mine doesn't downclock anymore. ahhhhh

Mine don't underclock at all unless 900/1050. I never overclock unless I benchmark. Crossfire at normal clocks plays everything fine.


----------



## xXmondoXx

15min ago i burned my tagan 580w

q9450 4GHz and 6850 crossfire @ 1,25V vgpu @ 1100/1200









tomorow i buy a new one and go on with it


----------



## TheBear

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jprovido* 
awww. mine doesn't downclock anymore. ahhhhh

make two profiles in Afterburner, one with defautl card clocks and other OC clocks. Go to Afterburner settings and set default profile for 2D and OC profile 3D and your cards will go on default clocks when 2D and downclock to 100/300... And when you launch game it will activate 3D profile with overclocked settings.


----------



## Freakn

After a bit of playing I've been able to get a few 1/2 hr sessions of BFBC2 & DIRT 2 with 1000/1125 using 1.3v.

Gonna push a little higher and see how I go. Really need this thing under water as the standard fan is so damn loud.


----------



## xXmondoXx

two singlecard results

3dmark06 8i think the cpu limits)
and vantage


----------



## worx

I just got an Asus 6870 using Catalyst version 10.10... do you guys have any alt tab problems where you're in windows then you try to alt tab back into your game and it takes a long time or doesn't even switch back into the game screen at all?


----------



## CLeeFESQ

Anyone running a 6870 with 10.10d?


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

here is modded 10.10d - http://85.12.17.139/showthread.php?t=331759


----------



## CLeeFESQ

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
here is modded 10.10d - http://85.12.17.139/showthread.php?t=331759

Going to try and install this. It's my only hope.


----------



## CLeeFESQ

Quote:



Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds*


here is modded 10.10d - http://85.12.17.139/showthread.php?t=331759


You solved all of my issues! Rep for you good sir!


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Afterburner 2.1 Beta 4 with voltage increase to 1.30
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner...er210Beta4.zip

I am personally going to wait till they work out the DX9 bugs on AB. I use AB 2.0 for clocking and TriXX for voltage










edit -the DX9 performance bug seems to be fixed


----------



## Razi3l

Updated.


----------



## Zerkk

Just ordered 2 XFX 6850's. Was going to go sapphire but they uped the price today so I figured I might as well get the lifetime warranty, never owned XFX so it should be interesting. I'll have them by Monday with verification.


----------



## tsm106

Just placed my order for a pair of EK 68x0 waterblocks, rubs hands together...


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tsm106*


Just placed my order for a pair of EK 68x0 waterblocks, rubs hands together...


Where?!


----------



## tsm106

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Behemoth777*


Where?!











Call up frozencpu and when Buckey answers... or you could pm me for the code when ordering.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Those 10.10d modded drivers are very good, 10+ FPS in BBC2 and Medal of Honor. Better points in Benchmarks also.


----------



## CLeeFESQ

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
Those 10.10d modded drivers are very good, 10+ FPS in BBC2 and Medal of Honor. Better points in Benchmarks also.

Yup. Can't say enough about the creator. Fixed my issues and gave me better performance. He/she needs to work for AMD.


----------



## jprovido

I'm loving my HD6870 CF. A lot faster than my HD5970 even if it's overclocked. what really impressed me was the performance in Crysis and Heaven 2.1. even with 8x AA at max settings crysis was great compared to my HD5970 that would really struggle(not playable imo). it's performance on heaven is on a different level. much more smoother and far less stuttering than my HD5970


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CLeeFESQ* 
Yup. Can't say enough about the creator. Fixed my issues and gave me better performance. He/she needs to work for AMD.

+1 fixed my underclocking issues, second gpu bugs etc. quite sad really. a single person was able to fix problems that the whole team of AMD employees can't do.


----------



## Noir

Wow so the modded drivers are HAT good. better try it then.


----------



## xXmondoXx

the modded drivers better for hd6850 to ??


----------



## samuel002

Add me to the list!!


----------



## jprovido

add me as well


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *xXmondoXx* 
the modded drivers better for hd6850 to ??

In my experience, yes.


----------



## SamOwens

Very nice card. I have had it for three days. Neweeg raised the price $5 but have a coupon code to get that $5 off. Sheeeeesh


----------



## kpo6969

Add me please.


----------



## CJRhoades

Dunno how so many are managing 1000MHz core on stock volts. I have to up the voltage to 1.25 just to do a Vantage run at 1000MHz without everything locking up or crashing. Guess I just got unlucky.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CJRhoades* 
Dunno how so many are managing 1000MHz core on stock volts. I have to up the voltage to 1.25 just to do a Vantage run at 1000MHz without everything locking up or crashing. Guess I just got unlucky.

I managed 1030 on my first card and 1020 on my second without voltage change... its just luck of the draw.


----------



## Yoko Littner

6870 CrossfireX farcry 2 result's for all of you. to show you the power of em











Uploaded with ImageShack.us

And here is the setting's.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Razi3l

*Lists updated*

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner* 
6870 CrossfireX farcry 2 result's for all of you. to show you the power of em









Nice scores, run the first level of Metro 2033, bench it with Fraps








That background reminds me of Borderlands


----------



## Yoko Littner

How do i benchmark and show metro?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner* 
How do i benchmark and show metro?

Get fraps and hit F12 or w/e to bench..


----------



## Yoko Littner

when i screenshot and paist into piant. all that pops up is a black screen,


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


when i screenshot and paist into piant. all that pops up is a black screen,


Lol








You run the bench for x minutes
go into the fraps folder, there is a benchmarks folder in that. results are saved in an excel document i think.. make sure you tick MinMaxAvg in fraps window so it records that


----------



## Riou

Sapphire 6850 and 6870.









The 6870 has a hologram on the box unlike the 6850's regular print. The 6870 box is also very big (almost the size of an Asus RoG motherboard box.)










Both boxes opened:










6850 & 6870 next to each other:










The 6870 feels much heavier in the hand compared to the the 6850.

Top of the 6870:










Top of the 6870:










Some notes: The Sapphire 6870 has a HDMI 1.4a cable. The 6850 box had a longer 3 slot Crossfire cable whereas the 6870 had the regular 2 slot Crossfire cable.

Very fast and cool cards.


----------



## Razi3l

^Added


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

just a driver issue.


----------



## sarngate

Okay guys, just got my desktop back for the first time since Trixx was released, i'll be overclocking today and i'm going to see if i can get close to 1100 on the core. Wish me luck.


----------



## Yoko Littner

1100? Yeah.... that will be hard. max im seeing 1070. of course i dont feel like over volting mine. so i OC on stock voltage. im at 950 core and 1150 memory.


----------



## sarngate

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


1100? Yeah.... that will be hard. max im seeing 1070. of course i dont feel like over volting mine. so i OC on stock voltage. im at 950 core and 1150 memory.


Accelero should help, i'm maxing out at 64C load, 30% fan speed. Currently i'm at 1020/1200 stable. 80Mhz to go !


----------



## sarngate

This is so frustrating ! 1045 stable in Furmark but Trixx has the voltage limited to 1300mV. If i could put this thing up to 1375mV or so i might have a shot.









Temperatures were maxing at 76C too, so there's some headroom if you're using an aftermarket cooler.


----------



## Yoko Littner

64C lol? much to hot..

Get some airflow.


----------



## jammo2k5

Im getting 1000 core and 1100 mem on a measly 1.2v and its hellaenough for me, i can only hope the second card i get in january is as good as this one


----------



## sarngate

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


64C lol? much to hot..

Get some airflow.


Have you seen the case i am using ?









Also, you think 64C with fan speed at 30%, full load in Furmark is too hot ? Seeing as the Stock cooler only manages 64C in Furmark with fan speed at 100% i don't see a problem.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...0series/18.htm


----------



## samuel002

I'll try to get a new one which is going to be asus... but anyone getting crashes? I been trying to overclock the card and I got a error AMD has stop responding but it will restore in like 5-10 seconds did anyone got that?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Riou*


Sapphire 6850 and 6870.









The 6870 has a hologram on the box unlike the 6850's regular print. The 6870 box is also very big (almost the size of an Asus RoG motherboard box.)

Both boxes opened:

6850 & 6870 next to each other:

The 6870 feels much heavier in the hand compared to the the 6850.

Some notes: The Sapphire 6870 has a HDMI 1.4a cable. The 6850 box had a longer 3 slot Crossfire cable whereas the 6870 had the regular 2 slot Crossfire cable.

Very fast and cool cards.










Wow, finally someone that has both cards. I think the OCN community would greatly appreciate an in-house review between the HD 6850 and HD 6870. I'm particularly interested in the max overclocks of each card.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *samuel002*


I'll try to get a new one which is going to be asus... but anyone getting crashes? I been trying to overclock the card and I got a error AMD has stop responding but it will restore in like 5-10 seconds did anyone got that?


Yeah that means it's not stable. It's a frustrating process to go through, lol


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


How do i benchmark and show metro?


Actually Metro 2033 has it's own benchmarking utility. You have to go into the program files to look for the executable but once you find it just load up the settings you want and let it run the test a few times.


----------



## xXmondoXx

anyone have an alternative adress ti the 10.10d modded driver ? guru3d forum doesnt work for me, cant connect ? :/


----------



## tpi2007

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CJRhoades* 
Hmm... I'm having an issue with the lower DVI port on my 6870. The monitor I have connected to it doesn't support DVI so I'm using the DVI to VGA adapter and I'm not getting any video on that monitor.

Same problem here. Anybody with solutions or explanations check out this thread: http://www.overclock.net/ati/853952-...d-monitor.html


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *H4rd5tyl3* 
I just got my 6870 the other day. I put it in my rig, ran it for an hour or so. Had flashbacks of dealing with ATI drivers when I had my 4890's. Then I uninstalled it and packed it back up. For sale it goes! I'm not hating on ATI or knocking it down or anything. I just prefer Nvidia drivers much more to ATI.

lol no proof of purchase and no pics or description of driver issues.

Obvious troll is obvious and g.t.f.o.


----------



## samuel002

Yeah that means it's not stable. It's a frustrating process to go through, lol[/QUOTE]

how long should i test it for? i don't even know how long should i test it for is it like overclocking a CPU? test for 12 hours?


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## reisya

add me please


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *samuel002*


how long should i test it for? i don't even know how long should i test it for is it like overclocking a CPU? test for 12 hours?


Testing for 15 minutes in Furmark/Kombustor is good enough. After that just play your favourite games.

It's different than a CPU in that if you can play your games without any problems then you've successfully achieved your end goal.


----------



## jprovido

ive found an intresting thread. why do you guys think?
http://www.overclock.net/ati/861194-...f-5870-cf.html


----------



## reisya

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


ive found an intresting thread. why do you guys think?
http://www.overclock.net/ati/861194-...f-5870-cf.html


i vote 6870 cf, power consumption less than 5870 cf for sure








that's worth for me


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *reisya*


add me please










Done


----------



## GForceXIII

add me









so, is my card bottlenecking with a thuban?
or is it because of the res?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GForceXIII*


add me

so, is my card bottlenecking with a thuban?
or is it because of the res?


Added. Your card is fine with the Thuban and your res is a bit small. Your vantage score seems lower than some other peoples, maybe it's because they are running the hotfixes and you're on plain 10.10 or something? You should try to OC your CPU more, 4Ghz is easy with the recent AMD CPUs, as long as temps are ok for you. Remember that 60*c is the max or something


----------



## GForceXIII

I'm using 10.10d.

I would OC it to 4 GHz, but at 3.5 it's already hitting 61 on prime lol.
it's hot here.

Then I guess my cpu is bottlenecking the card on 1280x1024. if only I had a full HD monitor, I would bench it on H mode.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GForceXIII*


I'm using 10.10d.

I would OC it to 4 GHz, but at 3.5 it's already hitting 61 on prime lol.
it's hot here.

Then I guess my cpu is bottlenecking the card on 1280x1024. if only I had a full HD monitor, I would bench it on H mode.


Yea 1280x1024 is a bit small. This card would be perfect at 1080p but don't worry, your CPU isn't really bottlenecking it that much


----------



## GForceXIII

I really need a new LCD...lol

btw, thanks for adding me


----------



## trebor31

Add me please









Powercolor 6850 OC


----------



## Deathschyte

Quote:



Originally Posted by *reisya*


add me please










hey om...
wait up...









@ TS..
count me in too...








Sapphire HD 6850 in my HTPC's Rig...




























love this lil' beast sooo much...


----------



## reisya

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Deathschyte*


hey om...
wait up...









@ TS..
count me in too...








Sapphire HD 6850




























love this lil' beast sooo much...










master overclock HD6850 come


----------



## Deathschyte

Quote:



Originally Posted by *reisya*


master overclock HD6850 come



















sshh...shut it...
where's your 1000 / 1200 ss om...?...


----------



## reisya

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Deathschyte*


sshh...shut it...
where's your 1000 / 1200 ss om...?...










in my dream







lol


----------



## CJRhoades

Anyone else needing lots of volts just to make 1GHz stable? It's taking 1.3v here.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CJRhoades* 
Anyone else needing lots of volts just to make 1GHz stable? It's taking 1.3v here.

Actually I changed drivers and now I can get past 1GHz with ease.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CJRhoades* 
Anyone else needing lots of volts just to make 1GHz stable? It's taking 1.3v here.

My 6850 is just stable at 1005 at max voltage, but I get all sorts of weird issues when I increase the voltage (regardless of frequency), so I'm not doing that.


----------



## worx

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Testing for 15 minutes in Furmark/Kombustor is good enough. After that just play your favourite games.


Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
I cant get mine stable past 1GHz no matter how many volts I use. It will crash and bsod or the driver will stop responding. Sucks, luck of the draw I guess.


How are you guys checking for stability? I ran my 6870 at 950mhz core in Furmark for 15 minutes without any artifacts but when I was playing Left 4 Dead 2 last night it randomly turned off my PC and restarted. Is it the graphics card crashing? Also when I alt tab back into a game it stutters/freezes with a black screen for like 3-5 seconds then goes back into the game. Anyone else having this problem?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *worx* 
How are you guys checking for stability? I ran my 6870 at 950mhz core in Furmark for 15 minutes without any artifacts but when I was playing Left 4 Dead 2 last night it randomly turned off my PC and restarted. Is it the graphics card crashing? *Also when I alt tab back into a game it stutters/freezes with a black screen for like 3-5 seconds then goes back into the game. Anyone else having this problem?*

Doesn't that normally happen with Source games? :v
You should run Crysis or Bad Company 2 at least, to test stability. Left 4 Dead isn't exactly stressing your GPU.


----------



## worx

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Doesn't that normally happen with Source games? :v
You should run Crysis or Bad Company 2 at least, to test stability. Left 4 Dead isn't exactly stressing your GPU.

So it's the game itself? I also tried alt tabbing in starcraft 2 but it still takes a while for it to alt tab back into the game. Is this only a problem with ATi / AMD cards or does Nvidia have this problem too?


----------



## gonX

nVidia has it too. It's because the game restarts the rendering engine.


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *worx* 
So it's the game itself? I also tried alt tabbing in starcraft 2 but it still takes a while for it to alt tab back into the game. Is this only a problem with ATi / AMD cards or does Nvidia have this problem too?

This is a problem with the game. I get the same problem on my sig rig with team fortress 2 always. Other games work perfectly fine, cs:s, sc2, and oblivion for example.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GForceXIII* 
I'm using 10.10d.

I would OC it to 4 GHz, but at 3.5 it's already hitting 61 on prime lol.
it's hot here.

Then I guess my cpu is bottlenecking the card on 1280x1024. if only I had a full HD monitor, I would bench it on H mode.

Yeah overclocking to 4ghz(hey its just a Bench run it will not kill your CPU) will give you the extra points on the GPU... you have to realize as well most people here who have posted their vantage score... they have their card overclocked to 1k... so obviously that brings 1k to 2k more scores on the GPU

In other words your score on your current settings is perfectly on how it should be for your card at stock


----------



## GForceXIII

yeah, I just noticed that too. every vantage run is with an overclocked card.
So my scores are okay.


----------



## CJRhoades

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
Actually I changed drivers and now I can get past 1GHz with ease.

What did you switch to?


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

I was using those modded drivers and went back to 10.10d and now I can go 1050/1200 with alittle extra voltage. I also bumped up my IOH pci e voltage and it seemed to make it more stable.

I see newegg got the XFX 6870 Black Edition for $289.99 US..


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds*


I was using those modded drivers and went back to 10.10d and now I can go 1050/1200 with alittle extra voltage. I also bumped up my IOH pci e voltage and it seemed to make it more stable.

I see newegg got the XFX 6870 Black Edition for $289.99 US..


Hopefully the BE can hit 1.1ghz core?? Doubt it though.


----------



## i_hax

I'll be joining this club in the next day or two. MSI 6870 on it's way via express shipping...

It's unfortunate I won't see a huge difference (+50%) from my current card, but it's failing and I figured I'd replace it with something that isn't a jet-engine-sounding space heater. The heat output of an overvolted GTX 280 is insane.

Can't wait!


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *i_hax*


I'll be joining this club in the next day or two. MSI 6870 on it's way via express shipping...

It's unfortunate I won't see a huge difference (+50%) from my current card, but it's failing and I figured I'd replace it with something that isn't a jet-engine-sounding space heater. The heat output of an overvolted GTX 280 is insane.

Can't wait!


6870 is louder, lol...


----------



## CJRhoades

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


6870 is louder, lol...


I can't hear my 6870 at all over my case fans, and those are pretty quiet.


----------



## jprovido

Quote:



Originally Posted by *CJRhoades*


I can't hear my 6870 at all over my case fans, and those are pretty quiet.


coz they're at auto. try bumping it to 50% and above it's freakin loud







)


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:



Originally Posted by *CJRhoades*


I can't hear my 6870 at all over my case fans, and those are pretty quiet.


I can only hear my 6870 if I turn the fans above 45%. It's bearable up until about 55% however. Then again I usually have some metal music on or headphones on so I don't hear it anyway XD. I don't turn my computer off when I go to sleep though so that makes me wish I had a water-cooling setup...


----------



## CJRhoades

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


coz they're at auto. try bumping it to 50% and above it's freakin loud







)



Quote:



Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout*


I can only hear my 6870 if I turn the fans above 45%. It's bearable up until about 55% however. Then again I usually have some metal music on or headphones on so I don't hear it anyway XD. I don't turn my computer off when I go to sleep though so that makes me wish I had a water-cooling setup...


Yea its loud when turned up but is there any point in doing so? My card stays cool with the fan at 40% even when overclocked. I can't hear 40%.


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:



Originally Posted by *CJRhoades*


Yea its loud when turned up but is there any point in doing so? My card stays cool with the fan at 40% even when overclocked. I can't hear 40%.


To be honest I just leave mine on Auto in MSI Afterburner unless I'm at one of our club's LAN events. The max temp I reach on Auto is 82 C, which is more than fine. At LAN's I generally bump it up to 55%-65% since it's so loud that I won't even hear the card running XD


----------



## alienguts

derrrrb, messing around with crossfire setting in catalyst - now display is stuck darker while in windows. durrb durrrrrrrrrrrb reformat again, just reformatted huurrrb durrrbbbbb catalyst woe is thine catalyst.


----------



## nehad85

Guys I have the 6850 and I'm really happy with it but I get crappy benchmark with mafia ii with physx on I wanted to get this fusion mb so I cud run a ok physx card but I read that nvidia doesn't allow it nemore so can anyone tell me how I can run physx with my amd card ... Not that I play ne games that require it but it bugs me that my new card can't handle it


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nehad85*


Guys I have the 6850 and I'm really happy with it but I get crappy benchmark with mafia ii with physx on I wanted to get this fusion mb so I cud run a ok physx card but I read that nvidia doesn't allow it nemore so can anyone tell me how I can run physx with my amd card ... Not that I play ne games that require it but it bugs me that my new card can't handle it


Hmm okay but what Nvidia gpu do you have connected on your computer.. to have it dedicated for PhysX... you don't do that with the ATI card alone

here is the link to the mod.. that is if you do have a 2nd GPU Nvidia card to be able to use it: http://www.overclock.net/ati/591872-...ows-7-ati.html

*woops just realized you meant to use the onboard nvidia gpu from the motherboard... no clue if it works.. but try it out
*fixed link, I inserted the wrong one, now its corrected


----------



## GForceXIII

Quote:



Originally Posted by *alienguts*


derrrrb, messing around with crossfire setting in catalyst - now display is stuck darker while in windows. durrb durrrrrrrrrrrb reformat again, just reformatted huurrrb durrrbbbbb catalyst woe is thine catalyst.


Why not just reset the Catalyst to default settings?


----------



## jprovido

I need new drivers. my Starcraft 2 keeps hanging on my HD5970. now I've changed to 6870 crossfire it's still freezing. amd makes good cards but drivers are horrible.


----------



## nehad85

I have a 4870 1gb sitting can dedicate that to physx while my 6850 does the rest? How will I make it work?


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GForceXIII*


Why not just reset the Catalyst to default settings?


I feel bad for that guy.. he should have simply done that and it would have been fixed lol


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nehad85*


I have a 4870 1gb sitting can dedicate that to physx while my 6850 does the rest? How will I make it work?


ATI IS NOT NVIDIA ... PhysX is from NVDIA
In other words buy an nvidia card

I told you clearly before you need a 2nd GPU *Nvidia* card as for dedicated PhysX
As well if you went in the link I posted you it will literally tell you that lol


----------



## Nautilus

My ASUS 6870 will be arrived in less than 24 hours.


----------



## ZeroVision

Ordered 2x6850 for less then 300 euro's, could have waited for 69xx but the price is 200 more euro's and thats to much for me







. Also the 6850 are nice clockers.


----------



## i_hax

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


6870 is louder, lol...


Any review will say otherwise.

Stock GTX280 wattage is eclipsed only by the 480, and noise level is near the top of the scale too. Mine is overvolted and runs 90% fan speed to keep under 80C. It's loud, it's inefficient, and it can heat an entire room... the 6870 is the opposite.


----------



## Zerkk

Man my cards got delayed and wont be here until tomorrow








Hurry up UPS!


----------



## tsm106

Wow, scaling comparison of 6870s vs gtx580s

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...ossFire/8.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/N...580_SLI/8.html

I can see why they left the 6870s out of the 580 review. 480 dollar setup compares well to 1k dollar setup, right?


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *tsm106* 
Wow, scaling comparison of 6870s vs gtx580s

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...ossFire/8.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/N...580_SLI/8.html

I can see why they left the 6870s out of the 580 review. 480 dollar setup compares well to 1k dollar setup, right?

6870CF raped the gtx 580. look at gtx 580SLI vs. HD6870CF performance wasn't even that far considering the price. that's what I call bang for buck


----------



## Razi3l

Haha yea that's pretty awesome. GTX 580 scaling is pretty disappointing, and 6870s scale amazingly well (especially compared to previous Radeon cards). Although scaling should improve for the 580 with mature drivers, it won't be _all_ that much. Not bad though, but it's not like the 6870s can compete like that in all games








2 mid-ranged cards vs 2 high-end cards, just a shame you can't Tri/Quad SLI them but there would be lots of driver issues and stuff too


----------



## jonjryjo

Finally got my card last night! Woot Woot







. Gonna post GPUz screenshot later so I can be added to the list. Also installed 10.10 and gonna install the 10.10d hotfix when I get home. Haven't tried gaming yet, but I did play around with the heaven2.1 benchmark @1600x900 w/ extreme tessellation and it was pretty damn smooth. My previous card was a 9800GTX+... this is better by leaps and bounds, ATI FTW!


----------



## alienguts

ok so my 6850s, like I said before, are putting out a display that is significantly darker than it was before. this happened after id isabled crossfirex and reenabled it in the catalyst menu. before changing that setting off then on again, it was much brighter.


----------



## tpi2007

Is anybody having these problems ?

1. Crysis and Crysis Warhead make the computer crash after a few minutes. The screen suddenly goes into standby mode, and after a while the sound gets corrupted/loops. Ctrl+Alt+Del does nothing. I must then press the reset button TWICE for it to actually reset. This is very strange. I have even updated the motherboard BIOS to the latest version F11 (one earlier version from Nov 2009 improved compatibility with ATI cards (given the date, in all probability HD 5000 series; could it be the same problem needing a BIOS fix again ?)

I'm running Catalyst 10.10d, but with the original 10.10 it's the same.

Mind you that I also have Metro 2033 and it doesn't crash, even if I set it to a resolution and quality level that stresses the GPU and CPU so much that the game is really unplayable, so I guess this is not a faulty card. Besides, Dirt 2 also runs fine, and so does Left 4 Dead 2, both at High and Ultra settings.

2. The Half-Life 2 games (including the episodes) don't show any HDR effects. I tried disabling and then re-enabling them, but nothing changes. Is it happening to anyone ? I had an 8800GT previously and it worked fine. Driver problem ? Or must Valve update some profile for it to work?


----------



## gonX

tpi2007, it could be a faulty PSU.


----------



## tpi2007

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
tpi2007, it could be a faulty PSU.


I thought about that, but wouldn't Metro 2033 showcase the same problem ?

I know my PSU is not the most capable out there, but I bought if more for efficiency than anything else.

Anyway, it's got 396w and 33A in the 12v rail. I suppose it's enough. Or it isn't ? I mean, the 8800GT I had was a Turboforce Edition from Gigabyte (factory overclocked), and it consumed more or less the same watts.

Should I run something like Furmark to be certain ?


----------



## gonX

Yeah running FurMark is a good idea. Try both without and with FX mode - my experience is that it gets hotter without, but it uses more power with it on.


----------



## tpi2007

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
Yeah running FurMark is a good idea. Try both without and with FX mode - my experience is that it gets hotter without, but it uses more power with it on.


But given that now both AMD (fully hardwired) and Nvidia (hardwaire+software) throttle these kind of applications, is it any use ?


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alienguts* 
ok so my 6850s, like I said before, are putting out a display that is significantly darker than it was before. this happened after id isabled crossfirex and reenabled it in the catalyst menu. before changing that setting off then on again, it was much brighter.

Did you try to *Restore to factory defaults inside the CCC > Options > Preferences

?


----------



## Nautilus

Quote:


Originally Posted by *tpi2007* 
Is anybody having these problems ?

1. Crysis and Crysis Warhead make the computer crash after a few minutes. The screen suddenly goes into standby mode, and after a while the sound gets corrupted/loops. Ctrl+Alt+Del does nothing. I must then press the reset button TWICE for it to actually reset. This is very strange. I have even updated the motherboard BIOS to the latest version F11 (one earlier version from Nov 2009 improved compatibility with ATI cards (given the date, in all probability HD 5000 series; could it be the same problem needing a BIOS fix again ?)

I'm running Catalyst 10.10d, but with the original 10.10 it's the same.

Mind you that I also have Metro 2033 and it doesn't crash, even if I set it to a resolution and quality level that stresses the GPU and CPU so much that the game is really unplayable, so I guess this is not a faulty card. Besides, Dirt 2 also runs fine, and so does Left 4 Dead 2, both at High and Ultra settings.

2. The Half-Life 2 games (including the episodes) don't show any HDR effects. I tried disabling and then re-enabling them, but nothing changes. Is it happening to anyone ? I had an 8800GT previously and it worked fine. Driver problem ? Or must Valve update some profile for it to work?

In which level is this happening? You know Crysis has a bug in this level where the huge alien boss gets on the carrier ship. The saves won't work and game crashes after a while.

EDIT: w00t post#2009. i'll post one more time then wait for 2011 celebrations to make it 2011.


----------



## tpi2007

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nautilus* 
In which level is this happening? You know Crysis has a bug in this level where the huge alien boss gets on the carrier ship. The saves won't work and game crashes after a while.

EDIT: w00t post#2009. i'll post one more time then wait for 2011 celebrations to make it 2011.









In Crysis Warhead it is happening at the beginning of the level "From Hell's Heart", where the player goes on a train and has to defend it from enemies. The whole train until it stops at the control tower is just fine. But when the train stops and you have to make your way to the control tower, the game crashes the whole PC. It doesn't happen always at the same spot however. Sometimes you can nearer the tower, sometimes not. I still haven't tried any other level, because I was trying to benchmark this part with fraps and it happens everytime.

Then I loaded Crysis, on a random chapter, without Fraps running, the one where your boss (forgot his name) is kidnapped by an alien and you're on your own. In that chapter the PC crashed after two minutes, I didn't even have time to get to the village down the road and there is no real action happening in there, it's just forest, with the village down the road.

I have played through Crysis and Crysis Warhead just a week ago with the 8800GT Turboforce Edition, and yes, the games crashed on me a few times, but it went back to the desktop, and I attributed that to the fact that EA doesn't care about it's customers after the first few months and patches.

Now in this case, the whole PC comes down and I have to reset it.


----------



## alienguts

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
Did you try to *Restore to factory defaults inside the CCC > Options > Preferences

?

that worked thanks hombre. I did try restore defaults just not in the options > preferences drop-pane.


----------



## tpi2007

I just ran several benchmarks of Unigine Heaven 2.1 at my monitor's max 1680x1050 with Extreme Tessellation on and no crashes whatsoever. I think this rules out a PSU fault.

Here are the results:

FPS:19.9
Scores:502
Min FPS:8.3
Max FPS:60.5

Settings

Render:direct3d11
Mode:1680x1050 fullscreen
Shaders:high
Textures:high
Filter:trilinear
Anisotropy:4x
Occlusion:enabled
Refraction:enabled
Volumetric:enabled
Replication:disabled
Tessellation:extreme


----------



## total90

hello

add me


----------



## CAHOP240

Well, I've been going crazy trying to find news on the 6970 and how it might stack up and couldn't find anything....so........I decided to do some calculations on my own.

The 6870 has 1120 shaders. So far the 6970 is rumored to have 1536 shaders. Feel free to check me if I'm wrong but I figured it would go like this:

1120 = 100% = 11.2% per core

11.2 * 1536 = ~172% or a 72% increase in performance (if core speeds and everything else is the same)

Looking at the Guru3D Review I extrapolated these numbers:

A 6870 scores *46fps* in BC2 all maxed out a 1920x1200
That means a 6970 should score about (46*1.72) = ~*79.1fps*

A 6870 scores *28fps* in Crysis:WH (enthusiast) at 1920x1200
That means a 6970 should score about (28*1.72) = ~*48.2fps*

And so on and so fourth. The math adds up when you look at 6850 performance.

6850 has 960 = ~ 85% performance of a 6870
46fps * .85 = ~ 39fps. The 6850 scored 38fps in the review. (BC2 maxed out at 1920x1200)

So if my math holds up, a 6970 should be about 72% faster than a 6870. That puts it right up there with a 5970 give or take a few frames per second. If priced right this will DEFINITELY be my next upgrade!

Let me know what you guys think.


----------



## Razi3l

Nice effort +1.
But the clocks are said to be 860MHz on the core, vs 900 of the 6870, but we don't know how fast the memory runs at.. it could be 1200MHz like the 5870, or faster.. i doubt they will make it any slower since apparently the memory still gains more performance for the 68xx cards than the core. But i reckon it should be about the performance of a 5970 / GTX 580.. but pricing and power consumption/heat (to some) will be a deciding factor.. mostly price.. unless you're a fanboy







. I _may_ actully get a 6970 depending on what that's like.. _if_ it's priced lower than the GTX 580 and about the price of a 480 (doubt it though).


----------



## sarngate

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CAHOP240* 
So if my math holds up, a 6970 should be about 72% faster than a 6870. That puts it right up there with a 5970 give or take a few frames per second. If priced right this will DEFINITELY be my next upgrade!

Let me know what you guys think.

The 5970 is only 37% faster than a 6870.


----------



## tpi2007

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CAHOP240* 
Well, I've been going crazy trying to find news on the 6970 and how it might stack up and couldn't find anything....so........I decided to do some calculations on my own.

The 6870 has 1120 shaders. So far the 6970 is rumored to have 1536 shaders. Feel free to check me if I'm wrong but I figured it would go like this:

1120 = 100% = 11.2% per core

11.2 * 1536 = ~172% or a 72% increase in performance (if core speeds and everything else is the same)

Looking at the Guru3D Review I extrapolated these numbers:

A 6870 scores *46fps* in BC2 all maxed out a 1920x1200
That means a 6970 should score about (46*1.72) = ~*79.1fps*

A 6870 scores *28fps* in Crysis:WH (enthusiast) at 1920x1200
That means a 6970 should score about (28*1.72) = ~*48.2fps*

And so on and so fourth. The math adds up when you look at 6850 performance.

6850 has 960 = ~ 85% performance of a 6870
46fps * .85 = ~ 39fps. The 6850 scored 38fps in the review. (BC2 maxed out at 1920x1200)

So if my math holds up, a 6970 should be about 72% faster than a 6870. That puts it right up there with a 5970 give or take a few frames per second. If priced right this will DEFINITELY be my next upgrade!

Let me know what you guys think.


Hehehe







good one! I also did a little speculative math a few days ago on Tom's Hardware in the article about the possible delay of the 6970, and I took the time to rewrite parts of it now that we have the GTX 580.

It goes like this:

1. If the 1536 core number is correct, there is no plausible explanation for a manufacturing problem, given that the 5870 has 1600 cores and probably a bigger die size. If AMD (unlike Nvidia) got it right the first time, why would they screw up on this one ?

Now, if we take into account the optimizations that Barts brought, where a 960 core GPU is equivalent to something like a 1340 core Cypress (a little slower than the 1440 Core HD 5850), and a 1120 core GPU is equivalent to a 1500 Cypress (slighly slower than the 1600 core HD 5870), then I could say that, on average, AMD has "gained" around 380 cores with their optimizations.

In that case, a 1536 core Cayman GPU will have more or less the performance equivalence of a hypothetical last generation 1980 core Cypress. And this makes sense, since this number, give or take, was circling around the web for a while. They just didn't take into account the performance optimizations where AMD has managed more for less.

Taking this into account, let's make a small (yet again speculative) comparison:

The 5850 has a 160 core difference to the 5870 (1440 -> 1600)

The GTX 470 has a 32 core difference to the GTX 480 (448 -> 480) and again another 32 core difference to the full 512 core GTX 580.

Now, the GTX 480 is faster than the 5870, and the GTX 470 is faster than the 5850, but slower than the 5870.

So, and given the differences in cores of these parts, and taking into account that each GPU maker makes the necessary adjustments to GPU and RAM clockspeed to give each core increase a worthwhile difference in performance, one could say that:

- 448 Nvidia cores is faster than 1440 AMD cores. But an increase in 160 cores makes the HD 5870 faster (with corresponding faster GPU and RAM clocks, as I said above, of course).

If you were to give the 5870 another 160 cores, you would probably get GTX 480 performance or slightly better.

So, say 1600+160= 1760 cores.

But now that Nvidia released a GTX 580 with the full 512 cores, then the distance would remain the same. Now, if you add another 160 cores to the AMD part: 1600+160+160 = 1920, which would put them both competing on the same level.

But 160+160 = 320. Given that AMD has gained around 380 cores in optimization, it's possibly slightly better than Nvidia.

Now if you factor in the fact that Nvidia made a few improvements to their own architecture, the math becomes more complicated.

In my opinion, it might all be down to effective GPU and RAM clockspeed.

This is why AMD was probably trying to figure out how Nvidia was going to market the GTX 580, and why very little information is known about the specs of these chips.

In fact, it's of no wonder, both companies had plans for 32nm and they had to rewrite them and adapt to another generation in the same node. And the improvments that can be made are not limitless. Now that AMD knows what the Nvidia card can do, they can finalize the BIOS, GPU and RAM clockspeed and make some last minute driver optimizations.

I think this will be closer than we might think.


----------



## CAHOP240

nvm


----------



## ThePath

Quote:



Originally Posted by *CAHOP240*


Well, I've been going crazy trying to find news on the 6970 and how it might stack up and couldn't find anything....so........I decided to do some calculations on my own.

The 6870 has 1120 shaders. So far the 6970 is rumored to have 1536 shaders. Feel free to check me if I'm wrong but I figured it would go like this:

1120 = 100% = 11.2% per core

11.2 * 1536 = ~172% or a 72% increase in performance (if core speeds and everything else is the same)

Looking at the Guru3D Review I extrapolated these numbers:

A 6870 scores *46fps* in BC2 all maxed out a 1920x1200
That means a 6970 should score about (46*1.72) = ~*79.1fps*

A 6870 scores *28fps* in Crysis:WH (enthusiast) at 1920x1200
That means a 6970 should score about (28*1.72) = ~*48.2fps*

And so on and so fourth. The math adds up when you look at 6850 performance.

6850 has 960 = ~ 85% performance of a 6870
46fps * .85 = ~ 39fps. The 6850 scored 38fps in the review. (BC2 maxed out at 1920x1200)

So if my math holds up, a 6970 should be about 72% faster than a 6870. That puts it right up there with a 5970 give or take a few frames per second. If priced right this will DEFINITELY be my next upgrade!

Let me know what you guys think.


1- From were did you get 72% ? All what you have to do is to divide 1536 by 1120

1536/1120 = 1.37, this mean 37% increase in shader power (assuming that both operate at the same clock speed)

2- 37% increase in shader power doesn't mean 37% increase in gaming performance, because shader power in not only thing that has an impact on performance. There is something called TMU, ROPs and bus width. From what I heard HD6970 has only 32 ROPs and 256-bit bus (just like HD6800). Though it is going to have 96 TMU (compared to 56 TMU for HD6870).

3- When you said that HD6850 is ~ 85% HD6870 did you take into account that HD6870 has 16% higher clock ? If not, then HD6850 should more than 85% of HD6870 when both operate at same clock speed.


----------



## solidsteel144

6970 has 37% more shaders than the 6870.

I suspect the 6970 will be around 25% faster than Cypress overall.


----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *solidsteel144*


6970 has 37% more shaders than the 6870.

I suspect the 6970 will be around 25% faster than Cypress overall.


It will be more than 25% faster I'm sure, Barts is almost fast as Cypress. And gap between mid range (Barts) and High End Cayman must be bigger.


----------



## skwannabe

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Nautilus*


My ASUS 6870 will be arrived in less than 24 hours.










Mine will be at my door steps in 48 hours


----------



## sarngate

Okay, so i've hit a complete wall with regards to overclocking and it seems obvious now that these Chips need really low temps to get anywhere close to the 1100Mhz i was hoping for.

I'm at 1050/1200 stable at the minute with Voltage maxed out in TrixX at 1300mV. If i increase the clock speed any further then i see artifacts in Furmark as soon as the temperature goes up.

I imagine that in a better case with some more extreme air cooling 1100+ would be easily possible at sensible room temperatures, but adding more voltage to this card doesn't help unless you're keeping the chip very cool.

Still, a 16% Core and 14% Memory overclock isn't too bad, just wish i had a nice Tech Bench and some more expensive cooling !


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sarngate*


Okay, so i've hit a complete wall with regards to overclocking and it seems obvious now that these Chips need really low temps to get anywhere close to the 1100Mhz i was hoping for.

I'm at 1050/1200 stable at the minute with Voltage maxed out in TrixX at 1300mV. If i increase the clock speed any further then i see artifacts in Furmark as soon as the temperature goes up.

I imagine that in a better case with some more extreme air cooling 1100+ would be easily possible at sensible room temperatures, but adding more voltage to this card doesn't help unless you're keeping the chip very cool.

Still, a 16% Core and 14% Memory overclock isn't too bad, just wish i had a nice Tech Bench and some more expensive cooling !


That's very good insight. I thought I had a poor overclocker but I'm certain now that it's just my case. It's like a fricken oven in there and jumps to 42C under load.

Highest Stable OC I achieved after 2 hours of testing was 930mhz, and after that I kept pumping up the voltage but my temps would go too high in Furmark, up to 87C. I do have a trick under my sleeve however, and it's the beautiful Canadian weather >:3

5C ambient should help me OC this beast, rofl.


----------



## Sirius

Woot my two 6870's just came in the mail! Installing ^_^


----------



## aznofazns

Can anyone with a 6870 run a quick Vantage and/or 06 run at stock clocks and show the breakdown of CPU/GPU scores? I'm getting really low scores in both benchmarks and I'm not sure if it's my CPU. *Under P15,000* in Vantage (Graphics score of 16,000, CPU score of 11,000) and *under 18,500 in 06* with my sig rig. That's with the card overclocked to *1000/1175* using Trixx. The overclock barely made any difference over stock scores.

It would especially help if someone could run the tests with a Core 2 Quad or Phenom II X4 clocked around the same as mine (3.4GHz). Or maybe underclock to stock if you have an i7? I've been messing with settings/benchmarks for 6 hours and haven't been able to find a definitive reason/solution for my terrible scores.

It would be much appreciated.


----------



## alienguts

my 6850 cf setup scored about 23700 in 3dmarks06 at stock speed.

I have a good overclock of 975/[email protected] for now, solid 20% overclock.


----------



## nubgen

Add me to the list too plz! XFX 6850 here! Seems like most people went with the 6870 over the 6850!


----------



## alienguts

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nubgen* 
Add me to the list too plz! XFX 6850 here! Seems like most people went with the 6870 over the 6850!

I definitely didn't. The 6850 is better performance to price.

http://service.futuremark.com/home.a...&resultType=14

oh yeah and add me too!


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alienguts* 
I definitely didn't. The 6850 is better performance to price.

http://service.futuremark.com/home.a...&resultType=14

oh yeah and add me too!

do a vantage run =P


----------



## Behemoth777

Just wanted to let you guys know I got my arctic cooling twin turbo plus today and installed it on my 6870. I saw an instant 5-10c drop in idle temps and a 15-20c drop in load temps, all while being completely silent. This cooler rocks









I'm going to try and oc tomorrow and see how far I can go with this new cooler.


----------



## alienguts

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sendblink23* 
do a vantage run =P

sure thing

http://service.futuremark.com/home.a...&resultType=19


----------



## gamingowiz

so what do the owners of this card think of it? still haven't come to a conclusion whether to get a 6870 or just make due with what i've got and buy a new computer chair ^_^


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gamingowiz* 
so what do the owners of this card think of it? still haven't come to a conclusion whether to get a 6870 or just make due with what i've got and buy a new computer chair ^_^

If you're satisfied then it's fine, it's not a bad card and can play most games at 1080p fine but if you want a bit more then a 68xx card would be good


----------



## MrTOOSHORT

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gamingowiz* 
so what do the owners of this card think of it? still haven't come to a conclusion whether to get a 6870 or just make due with what i've got and buy a new computer chair ^_^

From what I've read about the new cards from AMD is that a 6870 from a 5770 will be a night and day experience from a FPS standpoint.

Just get one already


----------



## GForceXIII

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MrTOOSHORT* 
From what I've read about the new cards from AMD is that a 6870 from a 5770 will be a night and day experience from a FPS standpoint.

Just get one already









yeah, especially when I use 8xMSAA....


----------



## Zerkk

Can finally be added! I haven't ran anything or attempted OCing yet, I slapped it in and played Black OPs all night. Ones going to someone else so just add me as having one for now







. I wish I had a crossfire board!


----------



## aznofazns

Does this look like a normal result in Crysis Warhead? Ran the benchmark tool at 1920x1080, all very high, no AA/AF, Frost level. Card overclocked to 990/1175. CPU overclocked to 3.4GHz.

Also, add me to the owners list!










It's a Sapphire, btw.


----------



## Behemoth777

Are you guys having trouble getting 1200mhz on the memory? Mine seemed to be stable in furmark at 1200mhz, until I started gaming and bam, my game froze and then the screen went black.


----------



## alienguts

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
Are you guys having trouble getting 1200mhz on the memory? Mine seemed to be stable in furmark at 1200mhz, until I started gaming and bam, my game froze and then the screen went black.

happened to me also at 1227 MHz, haven't tried much OCing since I got the freeze. I was at 965/1227 on 1.215v and was passing as much furmark as i wanted to without artifacts but once i loaded TF2 it froze up.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Don't bother trying Scythe Musashi coolers. I ordered 2 because the bottom card has limited room that will not let me use a 3 slot cooler. Temps were about the same in idle but about 14c+ under load.


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Don't bother trying Scythe Musashi coolers. I ordered 2 because the bottom card has limited room that will not let me use a 3 slot cooler. Temps were about the same in idle but about 14c+ under load.

Triple slot coolers all the way.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aznofazns* 
Does this look like a normal result in Crysis Warhead? Ran the benchmark tool at 1920x1080, all very high, no AA/AF, Frost level. Card overclocked to 990/1175. CPU overclocked to 3.4GHz.

Also, add me to the owners list!
It's a Sapphire, btw.

Added








It seems normal, maybe it's a bit low compared to whats in all the reviews because of the CPU?









Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
Are you guys having trouble getting 1200mhz on the memory? Mine seemed to be stable in furmark at 1200mhz, until I started gaming and bam, my game froze and then the screen went black.

Hmm.. I hope these have memory voltage tweak like the reference 5870s.. that would be awesome, come on MSI update Afterburner already!


----------



## Zerkk

Messed with bit of overclocking lastnight, got 850/1150 but haven't pushed it anymore, had a decent jump in Furmark. Hope to push it and test more tonight. As for the sound of the XFX, I can definitely hear it whined up but it's actually quieter than my 4850 and it's not a high pitched whining like it either. So far I love this card.


----------



## alienguts

nice I got mine to 951 / 1202 without any problems at 1.3v


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
Triple slot coolers all the way.









I have about 2 1/2 slots of room on my bottom card. My first choice is the cooler you have but... PSU is in the way.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## jonjryjo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds*





















Quite a nice score jump just for 20Mhz memory bump and 14Mhz core bump.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

I agree with the little bit of clock and memory for the great score improvement but I am frustrated with AMD and their poor driver support. I been dealing with this for years and I am sure I will catch some hate but yesterday I ordered a GTX 580 and 2 hours ago I sent my 6870 back to Newegg.
I wasnt overly happy with the 6870's preformance and the ability to overclock aswell. This will be my last post for I will be a proud GTX 580 owner come Monday.

Yes I understand the 6870 is a midrange card so it cant be compared to a GTX 580, I never compared the 2 either. For me its mainly the drivers that are buggy from AMD, come on how many years does it take to get right?


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

New Beta 10.10e drivers are out for those interested, sucks I sent my card back should have waited til new one comes..

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/2030..._win7_nov9.exe


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds*


New Beta 10.10e drivers are out for those interested, sucks I sent my card back should have waited til new one comes..

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/2030..._win7_nov9.exe


Changelog:

Quote:



*AMD Catalyst 10.10e Hotfix Features:*
- The AMD Catalyst Control Center now features the new AMD Catalyst AI user interface options on the ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5000 Series (the new AMD Catalyst AI options were previously only available for the AMD Radeon 6800 Series)â€
- Fixed cases where Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA) was not being correctly applied to games (very intermittently)
- OpenGL 4.1 beta support
- Support for the new Morphological Anti-Aliasing feature
- Dead Rising 2 â€" Crossfire profile (Resolves negative scaling)
- Crossfire Performance Improvement for:
* Metro 2033
* F1 2011 - (Direct X9 version)
* Fallout New Vegas
- Performance optimizations for systems with an AMD Radeon HD 6870 and AMD Radeon HD 6850 series of graphics products installed
* Aliens versus Predator performance enhancements
* Star Craft 2 performance enhancements
* OpenGL performance enhancements â€" gains can be seen in Prey, Quake Wars: Enemy Territories, and Heaven v2
- Support for additional Stereo 3D-capable displays:
* Viewsonic V3D241wm-LED
* 3D Projectors


Who seriously needs more performance in SC2? I have it maxed and it runs flawlessly. I only get real framerate drops if I start turning on forced AA.


----------



## nagle3092

HAHA my cards finally arrived today, why is it whenever I have off of work UPS doesnt come till like 7pm but when I have work they show up around 3? Conspiracy? Anyways some pics









Overall though I only did a little bit of gaming but, what games I did test didnt get more FPS than my heavy oc'ed 5850's BUT they definitly didnt have the mins that I used to get. Very satisfied for only $20 out of pocket









BTW sorry for the abysmal pics from my phone.


----------



## skwannabe

Finally I received my ASUS 6870! Please add me~ Unfortunately not having any luck with overclocking this with msi after burner..


----------



## alienguts

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
Changelog:

Who seriously needs more performance in SC2? I have it maxed and it runs flawlessly. I only get real framerate drops if I start turning on forced AA.

it was doing some weird artifact errors with me when certain units attack - like marauders. but I didn't notice it last time I played after updating.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alienguts* 
it was doing some weird artifact errors with me when certain units attack - like marauders. but I didn't notice it last time I played after updating.

So 10.10e are great drivers for CF 6850?


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skwannabe* 
Finally I received my ASUS 6870! Please add me~ Unfortunately not having any luck with overclocking this with msi after burner..










Afterburner still doesn't have voltage control for the 6xxx series.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
Afterburner still doesn't have voltage control for the 6xxx series.

Yes it does. 

Or is it fake? I didn't notice any stability when I increased the voltage in afterburner.


----------



## aznofazns

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Yes it does. 

Or is it fake? I didn't notice any stability when I increased the voltage in afterburner.

You could always check the Sensors tab in GPU-Z to see if the voltage is actually changing. Sapphire Trixx works for me, but I need insane voltage to get 1000MHz core clock. I'm at 1.281v right now.


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Yes it does. 

Or is it fake? I didn't notice any stability when I increased the voltage in afterburner.

When i dl'ed the latest version, mine had no voltage control.

I also tried trixx, and that didn't really help my oc either.

And yeah, these cards don't really oc that well past 1000mhz, if they can get to that.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aznofazns* 
You could always check the Sensors tab in GPU-Z to see if the voltage is actually changing. Sapphire Trixx works for me, but I need insane voltage to get 1000MHz core clock. I'm at 1.281v right now.

Yeah voltage fluctuates in GPU-Z. I guess these cards need more voltage on the memory.

I was really hoping for 1GHZ on 1.2v.









Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
When i dl'ed the latest version, mine had no voltage control.

I also tried trixx, and that didn't really help my oc either.

And yeah, these cards don't really oc that well past 1000mhz, if they can get to that.

You mean Version 2.1.0 Beta 4?

Beta 2 included voltage control for 6850s, Beta 3 included voltage control for 6870s, and Beta 4 includes voltage control for GTX 580s.

I've noticed 6870s clock to about 990mhz - 1035mhz and 6850s clock to 940mhz - 1000mhz. These are stable clocks, not those pointless and misleading benchmark OCs.


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Yeah voltage fluctuates in GPU-Z. I guess these cards need more voltage on the memory.

I was really hoping for 1GHZ on 1.2v.









You mean Version 2.1.0 Beta 4?

Beta 2 included voltage control for 6850s, Beta 3 included voltage control for 6870s, and Beta 4 includes voltage control for GTX 580s.

I've noticed 6870s clock to about 990mhz - 1035mhz and 6850s clock to 940mhz - 1000mhz. These are stable clocks, not those pointless and misleading benchmark OCs.

My 6870 has a slightly weaker core then, I can only get around 980mhz and after that, I start gettin small artifacting in furmark. On the stock cooler though, I could only get 950mhz.


----------



## SkillzKillz

My 6850 is a dud also. I can only do 910mhz on stock voltage, and with a voltage bump I can get to 930mhz stable. As I only tested for 1 day I may be able to reach 940/950mhz under better conditions.

But what I found interesting was that my VID is 1.149 and I can run 0.987v stock clocks 100% stable.


----------



## skwannabe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aznofazns* 
You could always check the Sensors tab in GPU-Z to see if the voltage is actually changing. Sapphire Trixx works for me, but I need insane voltage to get 1000MHz core clock. I'm at 1.281v right now.

Ya, I checked the Sensors tab in GPU-Z to see if the voltage was actually changing or not. It wasn't changing this whole time.. I left a post on the how to overclock your ATI guide thread but no reponse yet T.T

Sigh L4D2 isn't working. I posted a thread in the pc game sub forum, but its saying they don't have the ASUS 6870 in their data base. So I can't run the game with the video card.


----------



## Bassdoken

I have a 6850. I would like to join this club.








Also, what OC'ing programs do you use? Afterburner will only let me go to 850 core, which is weak.


----------



## nagle3092

Ok heres a quick comparison of my old 5850s to my new 6870s

First 5850s @ 950/1250



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Now my 6870s Stock



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

As you can see my 5850s had lower mins, and averages but they had higher max. The 6870s are also more consistent with the fps. I'm pretty happy with my purchase


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I have a 6850. I would like to join this club.








Also, what OC'ing programs do you use? Afterburner will only let me go to 850 core, which is weak.

Use Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 2 or later. Then enable Unofficial Overclocking.


----------



## skwannabe

I guess I didn't have the latest after burner. Thanks skillzkillz even though your comment was for someone else









and thank you for your avatar. I never get tired of looking at it.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Use Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 2 or later. Then enable Unofficial Overclocking.

How do I enable unofficial overclocking?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Enable Unofficial Overclocking.

Go to your MSI Afterburner folder, open MSIAfterburner.cfg with Notepad, then edit EnableUnofficialOverclocking from 0 to *1*. Save and overwrite as All File Types.

See above.


----------



## skwannabe

Quoted from How To: Overclock your ATI thread

Quote:

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:

EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0

and change it to:
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). 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.


----------



## Bassdoken

Ty. Will update with results


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
Ty. Will update with results

Looking forward to it.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Looking forward to it.









What benches should I run to compare? I don't have Vantage.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
What benches should I run to compare? I don't have Vantage.

Crysis, Aliens VS Predator, Just Cause 2, Metro 2033, etc. Anything to your liking really.

Heaven 2.1 and Stone Giant are also good synthetic benchmarks to run.

If you're just looking for stability then Furmark and MSI Kombustor work wonders.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Crysis, Aliens VS Predator, Just Cause 2, Metro 2033, etc. Anything to your liking really.

Heaven 2.1 and Stone Giant are also good synthetic benchmarks to run.

If you're just looking for stability then Furmark and MSI Kombustor work wonders.

I have none of those.








Well, I have Kombustor.








I'll just do RE5 runs, since it's easy.
Also, Stone Giant stutters like a mofo for me. Does that happen for you?


----------



## Coopa88

You can add me.










Was done at 1075 core, 1200 memory at 1.3V. Temp peaked at 61C with the stock hs/f running at 65% for the bench. This puppy is twice as loud as my old 260 GTX









I run it at 1000/1200 for gaming though.

Edit: This is using the 10.0d drivers


----------



## Bassdoken

Okay, a little update.
Whew. I'm excited.
So, I can get 950 core pretty easy. Is it cool that I'm about to test for 1ghz stability? I feel important. AFAIK, no one has done this quite yet.


----------



## Razi3l

Lists updated.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
Okay, a little update.
Whew. I'm excited.
So, I can get 950 core pretty easy. Is it cool that I'm about to test for 1ghz stability? I feel important. AFAIK, no one has done this quite yet.









You can do 950 on stock voltage?.. Nice 








I think there are a few people running at 1GHz but i'm not sure


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Lists updated.

You can do 950 on stock voltage?.. Nice








I think there are a few people running at 1GHz but i'm not sure









nah, at 1.2v
I didn't try it at stock voltage, though. But 1ghz is stable(I believe, just did a 10minute kombuster before firing up RE5). Load temp of 80C with a fan profile set to 1:1


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
nah, at 1.2v
I didn't try it at stock voltage, though. But 1ghz is stable(I believe, just did a 10minute kombuster before firing up RE5). Load temp of 80C with a fan profile set to 1:1

1GHz at 1.2v is nice, try Crysis and 3DMark Vantage. They are a bit more intense than Resi5 and Kombuster


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
1GHz at 1.2v is nice, try Crysis and 3DMark Vantage. They are a bit more intense than Resi5 and Kombuster









I don't have either of those.
What about BC2?


----------



## Bassdoken

Well, RE5 has an obvious CPU bottleneck. Still not bad, though. I feel awesome.










And here is the screenshot of GPU-Z and MSI Afterburner.


----------



## Razi3l

Very nice, BC2 would do well too. You can download the Crysis demo for free.


----------



## gonX

Erm, I do 950 MHz at stock voltage. But my card won't do 1000MHz even at 1.3v. As soon as I change voltage even just slightly my OC goes awry. Sounds a bit like my PSU is on the way out - but I can't really fault it... I bought it from Chozart (a popular member of this forum) back in 2007 which I'm sure did some pretty cool things to it as well.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
Erm, I do 950 MHz at stock voltage. But my card won't do 1000MHz even at 1.3v. As soon as I change voltage even just slightly my OC goes awry. Sounds a bit like my PSU is on the way out - but I can't really fault it... I bought it from Chozart (a popular member of this forum) back in 2007 which I'm sure did some pretty cool things to it as well.

It's not really a power hungry card. Are you sure its not the card?.. Try another PSU/card in another system?


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
It's not really a power hungry card. Are you sure its not the card?.. Try another PSU/card in another system?

I don't have another system to reliably test it in. Nor do I have another PSU. My last 8800GT didn't OC very well either.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
I don't have another system to reliably test it in. Nor do I have another PSU. My last 8800GT didn't OC very well either.

Anybody else locally?.. I think if your card can do 950 stock and then crap out with any amount of extra voltage it may as well be the PSU. Just get a replacement then if you can


----------



## gonX

I'll just get a new PSU next payday


----------



## utnorris

Ok, so I have been playing with my XFX HD6870's and unfortunately I cannot adjust the voltage with MSI AB nor can I go above 1000Mhz on the GPU and 1250 on the memory. The best I have been able to do is 1000Mhz on the GPU and 1223Mhz on the memory before I start getting stuttering during a vantage run. I am assuming this is at stock voltages since I cannot adjust that. However, I have ran into another issue besides the ones mentioned above. When I do a full Vantage run (not just GPU tests) Vantage will error out with some strange code that I haven't been able to find via Google, I will have to post it later, but it only happens on the CPU tests. I have tested my overclock via OCCT Linpack and it passed two different times. I have the latest patch of Vantage, so if anyone has any ideas any help would be great. Also, if I do the "EnableUnofficialOverclocking" mod to MSI AB, will that enable voltage adjustments also? I remember on my HD5870 I had to flash it to an Asus bios to achieve this, but it would be nice to not too have to do this.

By the way, this was my 3DMark06 run I did at 1000/1223:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=14992934

Score was 27860

So I can do full runs in 3DMark06, just not Vantage.

Here is my GPU only test in Vantage at the same test:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=2707388

GPU score was 30530.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *utnorris* 
Ok, so I have been playing with my XFX HD6870's and unfortunately I cannot adjust the voltage with MSI AB nor can I go above 1000Mhz on the GPU and 1250 on the memory. The best I have been able to do is 1000Mhz on the GPU and 1223Mhz on the memory before I start getting stuttering during a vantage run. I am assuming this is at stock voltages since I cannot adjust that. However, I have ran into another issue besides the ones mentioned above. When I do a full Vantage run (not just GPU tests) Vantage will error out with some strange code that I haven't been able to find via Google, I will have to post it later, but it only happens on the CPU tests. I have tested my overclock via OCCT Linpack and it passed two different times. I have the latest patch of Vantage, so if anyone has any ideas any help would be great. Also, if I do the "EnableUnofficialOverclocking" mod to MSI AB, will that enable voltage adjustments also? I remember on my HD5870 I had to flash it to an Asus bios to achieve this, but it would be nice to not too have to do this.

What version of MSI Afterburner are you running? You need 2.1.0 Beta 3 or Beta 4 for 6870 voltage control.


----------



## utnorris

Got a link for that one?
Thanks


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
You need to download the latest version to unlock voltage control for the HD 6800 series. The newest version is MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 4.

*Download Link*

Yep, right here.

EDIT: Link isn't working anymore. Try this:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Afterbur...load-2604.html


----------



## utnorris

Thanks, I will give that a try tonight.


----------



## skwannabe

you also have to go to settings to enable voltage control.


----------



## Robilar

Pair of Asus 6870's installed


----------



## SkillzKillz

Your camera doesn't adjust for Daylight Savings Time


----------



## Brenslick

In. 
XFX 6850, OC'd to CCC max, gonna OC further soon.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

There is a new GPU z out that fixes some bugs for the new 6850/6870.

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/


----------



## Trito

What is stock Vantage score for HD 6870? Would it be good upgrade from GTX 460?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Trito* 
What is stock Vantage score for HD 6870? Would it be good upgrade from GTX 460?

No it's about 10% increase. You would be better off with a 6950 or GTX 570.


----------



## GTR Mclaren

I hate the market

the 6850 is now 199$ and the 6870 269$...they are getting more expensive instead of cheaper

same **** happen with the 5850 and 5870...

goodbye 6870


----------



## 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.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GTR Mclaren* 
I hate the market

the 6850 is now 199$ and the 6870 269$...they are getting more expensive instead of cheaper

same **** happen with the 5850 and 5870...

goodbye 6870









I'm glad I bought early. I was going to get a 5850 last round, but then it jumped in price by kind of a lot.


----------



## Robilar

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GTR Mclaren* 
I hate the market

the 6850 is now 199$ and the 6870 269$...they are getting more expensive instead of cheaper

same **** happen with the 5850 and 5870...

goodbye 6870









The Asus 6870's are retaling for $250 as of today...

They have a factory overclock as well.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GTR Mclaren*


I hate the market

the 6850 is now 199$ and the 6870 269$...they are getting more expensive instead of cheaper

same **** happen with the 5850 and 5870...

goodbye 6870










Canadian prices dropped.


----------



## Razi3l

*Lists updated.*

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GTR Mclaren*


I hate the market

the 6850 is now 199$ and the 6870 269$...they are getting more expensive instead of cheaper

same **** happen with the 5850 and 5870...

goodbye 6870










Can't really blame AMD for that, but it sucks. Retailers just wanna make an extra buck.. so greedy :|


----------



## SkillzKillz

I love how this thread has been here for 3 weeks and OP isn't a member.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


I love how this thread has been here for 3 weeks and OP isn't a member.


Lol.

Side note: I just hit 1050 core @ 1.3v, but it doesn't have 2d clocks. So when I'm at the desktop, doing nothing, it's at 1050core. Any idea what that's about?


----------



## alienguts

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


I love how this thread has been here for 3 weeks and OP isn't a member.










lulz...

yes 6850, my price - $180, $4 shipping. a day ago its like $10 more per card... now they are sold out again and the price is up $20 from when I bought it. Now I would just get HIS 6870s, the ones that are still under $250 each shipped. Had a HIS card - it was actually pretty great for being fanless and all.


----------



## Chisharpe

How are people finding the 6870 overclocks


----------



## jammo2k5

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Chisharpe*


How are people finding the 6870 overclocks


1000/1100 at 1.2v rock solid stable and no problems so far


----------



## utnorris

Ok, so I am still getting this error:
Function:_thiscall eva:







hysics::novodex::system::system(void)

I believe it has to do with physx, but before I installed my ATI cards I did a driver sweeper run twice to remove any drivers left over from Nvidia, so I am not sure how I can fix this issue. Any ideas?


----------



## Coopa88

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Chisharpe*


How are people finding the 6870 overclocks


I have mine at 1000/1200 at 1.25v stable. I find with my card anything over 1200 memory causes worse performance. I can only get 1030 stable at 1.3v so I don't bother running it at that due to the increased temp.


----------



## 4board

Hi guys,

I recently bought a pair of XFX 6850 and have already applied the new bios from support that fixes the FAN problem (idle at > 70%). However I'm still unsatisfied with this new bios, setting the FAN at around 40-45 % in idle. So, I was thinking about creating my own FAN settings with Radeon Bios Editor, to prevent from using Afterburner.
Has one of you tried this out ?
I never used Radeon Bios Editor, so, before doing something wrong, I'd like to have some feedbacks.
Thanks


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Robilar*


Pair of Asus 6870's installed


Nice! Glad to have you a part of the team robilar.









Although, you will probably move on to bigger and badder cards soon enough.









Quote:



Originally Posted by *GTR Mclaren*


I hate the market

the 6850 is now 199$ and the 6870 269$...they are getting more expensive instead of cheaper

same **** happen with the 5850 and 5870...

goodbye 6870










I knew this would happen. That's why I grabbed mine on release day. I'll probably be able to sell this card for close to the price I paid for it in 6 months.

If I wanted to that is...









Which I won't


----------



## utnorris

So the MSI beta 1.4 allowed me to adjust the voltages and after doing the little edit trick I can go above 1000/1250. Still need to figure out the CPU error issue with Physx. I hate have to do a complete reinstall to fix this, but I may have too.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *utnorris* 
So the MSI beta 1.4 allowed me to adjust the voltages and after doing the little edit trick I can go above 1000/1250. Still need to figure out the CPU error issue with Physx. I hate have to do a complete reinstall to fix this, but I may have too.

Have you installed the latest patch for Vantage. Also your CPU might be clocked to high even if it passes prime95 it still might not be stable for Vantage, there CPU test is very demanding.


----------



## utnorris

Yeah, latest patch. The only reason I do not think it's the overclock is because I did a google and it suggest that this is an Nvidia physx issue since I had some GTX470's installed previously. I already ran driver sweeper twice, but I need to check and see if there is any Nvidia physx apps still installed.


----------



## Obakemono

Well, I could not sit on my hands any more and pulled the trigger on a pair of XFX black edition 6870s. I'll take pics once I get them here.


----------



## Yoko Littner

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Axon14

I have such an itch to grab a used 6870, but since I'm running two GTX 460 1GBs in SLI @ 800 mhz core right now, it seems like a sidegrade. Stupid bias to AMD's awesomeness.


----------



## sunnyFTW

guys i will be getting my MSI 6870 tomorrow









but pls suggest which driver should i use 10.10d or 10.10e and do i need 10.10 also?????

and whats the procedure for installing it ,its my 1st ATI card









btw i have formatted my "C" drive and no drivers r installed now


----------



## sunnyFTW

my pc config

cpu..........amd 965
mobo........asus m4a785td-v evo
ram..........gskills ripjaws 1600 mhz cl6
psu..........vx 550

is vx 550 enough for a single 6870 ???


----------



## sunnyFTW

links for 10.10d or 10.10e or any other driver which ever is best for 6870 will be appreciated


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
my pc config

cpu..........amd 965
mobo........asus m4a785td-v evo
ram..........gskills ripjaws 1600 mhz cl6
psu..........vx 550

*is vx 550 enough for a single 6870 ???*

it's more than enough


----------



## sunnyFTW

thankzzz for ur quick reply









btw help me with drivers to


----------



## Razi3l

People talk of bad ATI/AMD drivers but i can't even play games with my NVIDIA ones. Bad Company 2, World at War crash.. and now it crashes at Idle.. i've reinstalled windows AND tried various driver versions and i still crash in the games.. though the card is fine -.-
/rage

^Above just get the latest ones, Catalyst 10.11 should be out soon (it's on windows update apparently).


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Catalyst 10.11 should be out soon (it's on windows update apparently).

Not for me, I tried using windows update on my system and no new updates. 10.11 should be out soon though officially.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
Not for me, I tried using windows update on my system and no new updates. 10.11 should be out soon though officially.

Its in Optional updates... it is there - 3 of my computers that have ati did get the update - now i don't own a 6XXX so no clue if they aren't on that update


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
thankzzz for ur quick reply









btw help me with drivers to

hmm simple google 10.10e







or wait for the release of official 10.11 from amd website

10.10e: http://downloads.guru3d.com/AMD-Cata...load-2643.html


----------



## alienguts

SC2 looks bad on my crossfire - random effects and shiny things all over the place it is balls its like artifact city and random lazers and blood cover the damn screen.

i tried the modded 10.10e and installed regular 10.10e also and both did it

maybe will try wiping and reinstalling regular 10.10e.


----------



## dog5566

6870's overclock well, very stable


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *dog5566*


6870's overclock well, very stable










I can hit those clocks on my 6850.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


I can hit those clocks on my 6850.










Stable? Volts? Temps?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Stable? Volts? Temps?


I'll run Kombuster burn in/stability for (how long do you want to see it go for?), then post a screenshot.
Yes, it is stable, and the volts were close to 1.3v. I don't recall the temps.
I didn't keep it because for some reason, the core clock would stay at 1050 the whole time, and never go down to 2d clocks, which makes for a high idle and noisy idle (due to my fan profile).


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


I'll run Kombuster burn in/stability for (how long do you want to see it go for?), then post a screenshot.
Yes, it is stable, and the volts were close to 1.3v. I don't recall the temps.
I didn't keep it because for some reason, the core clock would stay at 1050 the whole time, and never go down to 2d clocks, which makes for a high idle and noisy idle (due to my fan profile).


20 minutes would impress me.

As far as I know my card doesn't like to OC. This info intrigues me. You run XFX, right?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


20 minutes would impress me.

As far as I know my card doesn't like to OC. This info intrigues me. You run XFX, right?


Yes. Alright, I'll do that in a minute. I wanna finish up posting before 20 minutes of 'down' time. lol.

I do have an XFX card, but I'd like to get an aftermarket cooler. I was looking at the Artic Silver TWIN something PLUS. It says it's compatible (with VR001)*. What is VR001?


----------



## sunnyFTW

HELP ME PLS i just brought my MSI 6870 and i m on 10.10d driver ,my pc freeze now n then for 1-2 sec ????????









is this a driver problem or any other problem ???

btw should i update my chipset driver ????


----------



## sunnyFTW

my daemon tool , fire fox and winrar is pissing me off

HELP HELP HELP


----------



## Bassdoken

Well damn. Kombuster disappointed me.







I hit print screen (since it was fullscreen), and when I pasted it into paint, it was a black screen.

















One thing I noticed is that in Kombuster, it said my voltage was 1.15v


----------



## Yoko Littner

your voltage is a bit much for a 1000MHZ core?

I can do that exact same OC with 1.25V


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Well damn. Kombuster disappointed me.







I hit print screen (since it was fullscreen), and when I pasted it into paint, it was a black screen.

















One thing I noticed is that in Kombuster, it said my voltage was 1.15v


Lol, you're supposed to use FRAPS for full-screen Kombustor.

Anyhow those are great results. I'm happy to see the temperatures are legitimate. My card reaches 87C under those circumstances before crashing. I'm pretty sure heat is causing my instability. When winter comes I'm going to freeze my PC with 0 ambient and try to OC, lmao.

For voltages you should only trust GPU-Z, which also happens to be missing from your ss.









Neverthe-less it's impressive that you can hit such a high OC with a 6850. Your card really puts the 6870s to shame, haha.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


your voltage is a bit much for a 1000MHZ core?

I can do that exact same OC with 1.25V


He's using a 6850. That's awesome. His core clock was 1050mhz.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

I havn't fine tuned the voltages but for a quick OC test at 1000/1200 I needed 1.3v. I ran the GPU Tool stability test for 30 minutes with no errors and max temp of 75c. Even though temps are "ok" is 1.3v too high for the 6870?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


I havn't fine tuned the voltages but for a quick OC test at 1000/1200 I needed 1.3v. I ran the GPU Tool stability test for 30 minutes with no errors and max temp of 75c. Even though temps are "ok" is 1.3v too high for the 6870?


1.3v and under is completely safe.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


your voltage is a bit much for a 1000MHZ core?

I can do that exact same OC with 1.25V


I have a 6850, dude. Stock clock is 775MHz, not 900MHz.









Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Lol, you're supposed to use FRAPS for full-screen Kombustor.

Anyhow those are great results. I'm happy to see the temperatures are legitimate. My card reaches 87C under those circumstances before crashing. I'm pretty sure heat is causing my instability. When winter comes I'm going to freeze my PC with 0 ambient and try to OC, lmao.

For voltages you should only trust GPU-Z, which also happens to be missing from your ss.









Neverthe-less it's impressive that you can hit such a high OC with a 6850. Your card really puts the 6870s to shame, haha.

He's using a 6850. That's awesome. His core clock was 1050mhz.


Oh. I'm a little new to this. >.>
I'll rerun it tonight, but I'll leave my window open (it gets cold at night, the decreased temps are nice) and see how stable it is for 1050MHz for longer than 20 minutes.








I'll take proper screenshots this time. lol.

Do I get some kind of award for this OC?


----------



## manitox

Oh nice tread i have buy today my sapphire Radeon 6850 from Amazon, i will benchmark and post it here!!


----------



## alienguts

6850 performance increases more with a higher memory clock than gpu clock - see what you can do!
i liking metro 2033 bench becasue it only takes a minute a run.


----------



## sniper_13

Heres my proof







everything is running at stock now i haven't taken the leap to overclock. im too scared lol. Im buying a second one soon anyways so there wont be a need to










Sniper_13


----------



## Obakemono

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/fmeu8/
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/n92ru/

Please add me to the club. 2ea 6870 XFX black editions.


----------



## Griffin

please add me to the club

VTX3D 6870

waiting on artic accellero twin turbo pro and going to overclock her!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Razi3l

Updated


----------



## slytown

Has anyone run 2560x1600 yet on X-fire with these?


----------



## skwannabe

Please add.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *skwannabe*




Please add.


hey, I have the same card and clock settings. How much voltage did your asus need to run this?


----------



## jprovido

I never thought it would be such an improvement on metro2033 compared to my HD5970. 6870CF is a beast. I got everthing maxed out except the AA and it performed like a champ. my HD5970 would cry like a little girl with that settings


----------



## skwannabe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda* 
hey, I have the same card and clock settings. How much voltage did your asus need to run this?

Voltage is at 1243 taken from msi afterburner. When I run the stability test from gpu tool I get artifacts but with furmark or msi kombustor I don't get anything. I was stable for 20 minutes with both furmark and kombustor.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skwannabe* 
Voltage is at 1243 taken from msi afterburner. When I run the stability test from gpu tool I get artifacts but with furmark or msi kombustor I don't get anything. I was stable for 20 minutes with both furmark and kombustor.

I'll have to give the other stability tests a try than too. I was getting artifacts in GPU Tool up until setting the volts to 1.3 and ran for 30 minutes without errors. So I take it, GPU Tools is more demanding than others?


----------



## sunnyFTW

can any 1 suggest me how to run 3d mark vantage on 20 inch monitor ( 1600*900) max resolution

i m getting " minimum required resolution not supported " error


----------



## sunnyFTW

btw i have got MSI 6870 yesterday ............


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW*


can any 1 suggest me how to run 3d mark vantage on 20 inch monitor ( 1600*900) max resolution

i m getting " minimum required resolution not supported " error










minimum required resolution is 1280x1024.
So you can either but it, then change the resolution to yours, or
buy a new monitor.


----------



## PKV

Been playing with oc and so far quite good. 975 / 1125 / 1.25v . I know I could go higher but , 20 minutes kombuster and been playing all my games with 4xaa rock solid. May slowly inch towards 1000 and 1200 eventually. I kind of like having voltage higher first, gives me a little early head room + temps have been real good / idle 45c


----------



## dennis_g

mine purchase:
2x xfx 6870 (my name in the top - Denys Gaydinco)


----------



## Razi3l

updated


----------



## mtcn77

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


I'll have to give the other stability tests a try than too. I was getting artifacts in GPU Tool up until setting the volts to 1.3 and ran for 30 minutes without errors. So I take it, GPU Tools is more demanding than others?


Gputool, or OCCT are the two best programs in an overclockers arsenal. I especially use occt and I have never had any program kill an overclock attempt that promptly. 
It is just like:
Climatic countdown until start(get ready!); 60s, 59s, ..., 3s, 2s, 1s, START >>> in 2 minutes 80 celcius 5770!!! 3 minutes crash(even if 5mhz beyond stability).


----------



## NrGx

Quick question: can you run 4xHD6870 in CrossfireX?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *NrGx* 
Quick question: can you run 4xHD6870 in CrossfireX?

No, there is only 1 crossfire connector. Max 2 cards for HD 68xx.


----------



## blackbalt89

I have a Gigabyte 6870, add me to the list plox!

Vaildation:


----------



## blackbalt89

just tried my hand at overclocking it.

i had it stable at 950core, 1100mem, 1.2v and 40% fans.

how does that sound to everyone else? core voltage too high for 950mhz?

wasn't really digging the 70c temps in the GPU Tool stability checker.









or are those temps normal?


----------



## dennis_g

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blackbalt89* 
just tried my hand at overclocking it.

i had it stable at 950core, 1100mem, 1.2v and 40% fans.

how does that sound to everyone else? core voltage too high for 950mhz?

wasn't really digging the 70c temps in the GPU Tool stability checker.









or are those temps normal?

ye, i think its normal







post the results


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

add me
Attachment 181087


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda* 
add me


Quote:


Originally Posted by *blackbalt89* 
I have a Gigabyte 6870, add me to the list plox!

Added


----------



## GForceXIII

Quote:



Originally Posted by *blackbalt89*


just tried my hand at overclocking it.

i had it stable at 950core, 1100mem, 1.2v and 40% fans.

how does that sound to everyone else? core voltage too high for 950mhz?

wasn't really digging the 70c temps in the GPU Tool stability checker.









or are those temps normal?


I don't even think you need a voltage bump at those clocks.
:-?


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GForceXIII*


I don't even think you need a voltage bump at those clocks.
:-?


fine by me. i just figured i'd rather overvolt it to keep things safe. if i clock back the voltage it should lower the heat right?


----------



## =JLumbs=

Im having problems with my setup i just added another 6870 so i got CF, with eyefinity. What i noticed is that i am either losing fps or at the most the same as a single 6870........

Is anyone else have this problem???????

At this time it seems that my 4870CF beats it in even at the resolution of 1920x1080.......

Im hoping its drivers.

The reason im asking is if this issue wont be solved i will most likely return it, i still have 4 days to do so.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *=JLumbs=*


Im having problems with my setup i just added another 6870 so i got CF, with eyefinity. What i noticed is that i am either losing fps or at the most the same as a single 6870........

Is anyone else have this problem???????

At this time it seems that my 4870CF beats it in even at the resolution of 1920x1080.......

Im hoping its drivers.

The reason im asking is if this issue wont be solved i will most likely return it, i still have 4 days to do so.


Did you get a hotfix for them? I think 10.10d is the best for CF (citation needed). Anyone with 6870s know which drivers are best?


----------



## =JLumbs=

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Did you get a hotfix for them? I think 10.10d is the best for CF (citation needed). Anyone with 6870s know which drivers are best?


Where do i get those drivers?.....

i just got the newest drivers from Sapphire yesterday....10.10 with no letters

Edit.. i found some by google but where should i get them from??


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *=JLumbs=*


Where do i get those drivers?.....

i just got the newest drivers from Sapphire yesterday....10.10 with no letters

Edit.. i found some by google but where should i get them from??


Google. Look in the ATI drivers and software section.


----------



## =JLumbs=

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Google. Look in the ATI drivers and software section.


which website is reputable though???


----------



## Zerkk

So I found my limit at stock voltages, 955/1150. How's everyone else with 6850's doing on stock? Also I changed the MSI cfg file to allow voltage tweaking but it's still not allowing me to tweak it.


----------



## nubgen

Hey Zerk,

My limit for XFX 6850 stock volts is 974/1150.

I have a Q6600 with your same board and ram lol but with a not as good CPU cooler. Just wondering how come you only OC to 3ghz. I can only do 3ghz max, anything faster i need a lot of more vcore and temps go way too high (75c+ prime95 small ffts). I'm thinking if it's worth it for me to get a new hsf and trouble myself installing it just for 200-400mhz OC increase.

Will 200mhz-400mhz improve my fps a lot?


----------



## aznofazns

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nubgen* 
Hey Zerk,

My limit for XFX 6850 stock volts is 974/1150.

I have a Q6600 with your same board and ram lol but with a not as good CPU cooler. Just wondering how come you only OC to 3ghz. I can only do 3ghz max, anything faster i need a lot of more vcore and temps go way too high (75c+ prime95 small ffts). I'm thinking if it's worth it for me to get a new hsf and trouble myself installing it just for 200-400mhz OC increase.

Will 200mhz-400mhz improve my fps a lot?

Overclocking your Q6600 from 3.0 to 3.4 won't boost your framerates by a whole lot in most games. In most cases, you'll still be bottlenecked by your single 6850, especially if your screen resolution is high (1080p or above).


----------



## Coopa88

Just got a second Sapphire 6870 for crossfire.










PS: You put me under the 6850 list.


----------



## Morizuno

hey guys, where can I find a reference 6850?


----------



## mjl4878

Mine runs like a champ at 950/1150 I know I can get more


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nubgen* 
Hey Zerk,

My limit for XFX 6850 stock volts is 974/1150.

I have a Q6600 with your same board and ram lol but with a not as good CPU cooler. Just wondering how come you only OC to 3ghz. I can only do 3ghz max, anything faster i need a lot of more vcore and temps go way too high (75c+ prime95 small ffts). I'm thinking if it's worth it for me to get a new hsf and trouble myself installing it just for 200-400mhz OC increase.

Will 200mhz-400mhz improve my fps a lot?

I actually just upgraded to this cooler and plan to push for 3.4 over the weekend. I couldn't OC any higher because of temps going way to high so, hopefully I can get it







.

As for the 6850, I tried 975 and it kept causing furmark to freeze up so I dropped it to 960 but i still got the same issue so she's sitting at 955 until I tweak the volts.


----------



## JG964

Add me Please, just got my card oc'ed and going but wont go stable unless at 1200 on the voltage. Working on it at the moment...










JG


----------



## worx

Just OCed my 6870... are the temps normal?


----------



## Coopa88

I'm not sure if those are normal but my two is crossfire never hit 70C under full load. That is a good OC on stock volts though. What does yours idle at? What are your ambients? Lot of factors that can increase your temps.


----------



## worx

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Coopa88* 
I'm not sure if those are normal but my two is crossfire never hit 70C under full load. That is a good OC on stock volts though. What does yours idle at? What are your ambients? Lot of factors that can increase your temps.

Ambient is about 21C, idle is around 40C. I tried increasing the memory clock to 1100mhz but I get errors in OCCT and there are line artifacts on my screen. Should I try increasing the voltage? Is the max safest 1.3v?


----------



## jprovido

how come when I max out AA on metro the game doesn't move at all? I know it's a demanding game if i get 10fps I'd understand but mine doesn't move at all lol. also in crysis when I put the AA to 8x the fps is fast but it stutters every 5 seconds. help. my cousins 5850CF is much slower but does not stutter

edit:

don't give me "game is too demanding" and "turn down AA". I know what I'm talking about and I know this is not normal. sorry


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jprovido* 
how come when I max out AA on metro the game doesn't move at all? I know it's a demanding game if i get 10fps I'd understand but mine doesn't move at all lol. also in crysis when I put the AA to 8x the fps is fast but it stutters every 5 seconds. help. my cousins 5850CF is much slower but does not stutter

edit:

don't give me "game is too demanding" and "turn down AA". I know what I'm talking about and I know this is not normal. sorry

Ok 2 questions, do you have CCC open in the system tray or in the backround at all? If so just close it, crossfire will still work with it closed. Next question, do you have CnQ on?If so disable it, after you turn that off and close CCC try running a game and see if it still stutters.


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Ok 2 questions, do you have CCC open in the system tray or in the backround at all? If so just close it, crossfire will still work with it closed. Next question, do you have CnQ on?If so disable it, after you turn that off and close CCC try running a game and see if it still stutters.


thanks +rep

I am oc'ed to 4ghz so my cnq is off. ima try running the game with CCC closed.


----------



## jprovido

still the same. it's still super slow on metro and stutters on crysis

EDIt: cryis is less than 1fps at 8xAA aahhhhh why???


----------



## gonX

You're probably running out of graphics memory jprovido. Turn down the texture settings and it should work with the same AA.


----------



## jprovido

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


You're probably running out of graphics memory jprovido. Turn down the texture settings and it should work with the same AA.


ima try it. thanks


----------



## jprovido

wow it was a memory bottleneck. kinda sucks though should've been better if 6870 had more memory. is there a way to fix this? like allocating memory to the gpu or something lol


----------



## flopper

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jprovido*


wow it was a memory bottleneck. kinda sucks though should've been better if 6870 had more memory. is there a way to fix this? like allocating memory to the gpu or something lol


no.
buy card with 2gb ram or more


----------



## jprovido

Quote:



Originally Posted by *flopper*


no.
buy card with 2gb ram or more










too bad. 6870cf could handle enthusiast with 8xAA imo(still high frame rates) oh well I guess I have to settle for 2xAA


----------



## SkillzKillz

I wonder if 2x 6850s would bottleneck at 1080p. o_o

Especially with my processor...


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


I wonder if 2x 6850s would bottleneck at 1080p. o_o

Especially with my processor...


If it's only at 3.4 GHz, probably not. 6950's would though.


----------



## Razi3l

*Lists updated.*

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


If it's only at 3.4 GHz, probably not. 6950's would though.


So a 6950 will be more powerful than 2 6850s?















I doubt it, equally fast or slower i bet.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


I wonder if 2x 6850s would bottleneck at 1080p. o_o

Especially with my processor...


I would say yes it would, because I'm at 4.0 and my cards are bottlenecked still by my cpu. I run everything at 1920x1200.


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


*Lists updated.*

So a 6950 will be more powerful than 2 6850s?















I doubt it, equally fast or slower i bet.


I thought the apostrophe would indicate that I was talking about multiple cards - which I was.


----------



## sunnyFTW

can any explain how to over volt my msi 6870 
i cant even a crysis warhead bench on 950 ,1100









btw a friend of mine having 5850 beat on stock to stock i got 39 fps and he got 42 on setting very high AA 0x 1600*900









i m on 10.10e and he is on 10.4

pls explain these too


----------



## sunnyFTW

btw we both have almost same proocy

same mobo

mobo................ asus m4a785td-v evo

i have amd 965 be

he have amd 955 be

should i change driver ???

or

is 5850 better card than 6870 ???


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW*


btw we both have almost same proocy

same mobo

mobo................ asus m4a785td-v evo

i have amd 965 be

he have amd 955 be

should i change driver ???

or

is 5850 better card than 6870 ???


Please go here http://www.overclock.net/usercp.php and fill out your system info. That will help us help you better.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


I thought the apostrophe would indicate that I was talking about multiple cards - which I was.


/facepalm i didn't notice that.


----------



## sunnyFTW

now PLS help me geeks

i m a complete noob


----------



## sunnyFTW




----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW*


can any explain how to over volt my msi 6870 
i cant even a crysis warhead bench on 950 ,1100









btw a friend of mine having 5850 beat on stock to stock i got 39 fps and he got 42 on setting very high AA 0x 1600*900









i m on 10.10e and he is on 10.4

pls explain these too


You can't even what? I believe the 5850 is faster if not very close to the 6870 so that sounds about right. You should beat him in the higher resolutions because of your memory bus width though. NVM - I thought the 6870 had a 512-bit bus. It didn't


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 









You should actully be beating the 5850. Try running it a few times, and are you sure he's running stock?


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
You should actully be beating the 5850. Try running it a few times, and are you sure he's running stock?









The 5850 is faster than the 6870. Only by a few percent though - it has more shaders, but at a lower clock. So it scales better with OC'ing than the 6870.


----------



## sunnyFTW

donno if is running on stock or not
but i cheated him

i m on 9300mhz/ 1100:|

still then his scores where 2 fps more


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
You can't even what? I believe the 5850 is faster if not very close to the 6870 so that sounds about right. You should beat him in the higher resolutions because of your memory bus width though. NVM - I thought the 6870 had a 512-bit bus. It didn't









The 5850 is slightly slower actually, I had 2 of them. Also see here, http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigaby...6870-review/17

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
now PLS help me geeks
i m a complete noob









But is his CPU overclocked? That would make some of the difference up if it is. Also what are your settings in CCC as well as his. Those can make a difference as well. Change everything to performance settings and see what you get then.


----------



## sunnyFTW




----------



## sunnyFTW

ok guru's AKA GEEKS will try in performance settings now


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
The 5850 is faster than the 6870. Only by a few percent though - it has more shaders, but at a lower clock. So it scales better with OC'ing than the 6870.











And the 5850 doesn't "scale better with overclocking", scaling is the same, but it can just overclock more than the 6870. If you do a 20% overclock on both the performance increase would be similar, for example 10% or w/e.


----------



## sunnyFTW

OMG 

i got 8 fps increase in performance mod thanku uploading pics now

thankzz man u r a life saver


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
OMG 

i got 8 fps increase in performance mod thanku uploading pics now

thankzz man u r a life saver









There is other little things you can do like close CCC before you run a game and that might net you some more fps. But glad to help.


----------



## sunnyFTW




----------



## nagle3092

You threw off your bench with that oc, I would change it back to stock like you had in the first one to see the actual difference that you got.


----------



## Razi3l

I doubt 40Mhz would give such a performance increase (7fps is a lot here). I'm guessing your previous run got a low score because of some underlying process(es). Run again at stock mate.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


I doubt 40Mhz would give such a performance increase (7fps is a lot here). I'm guessing your previous run got a low score because of some underlying process(es). Run again at stock mate.


It would still throw it off though, and you cant get a direct comparison then.


----------



## Super Coffee

Here is my Radeon 6850 next to my old 3870.
The 6850 is Sapphire and the the 3870 is a Diamond.


----------



## sunnyFTW

bothers and sisters 
i cheated on 1st bench mark

that was on the same settings 940/1090


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW*


bothers and sisters 
i cheated on 1st bench mark

that was on the same settings 940/1090










Thats not what it says in the GPU-Z screenshot you gave us. But what your saying is you oc'ed your card, ran the bench, put your card back to stock, then took a screen shot? Can I ask why would you bother doing that?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Super Coffee*


Here is my Radeon 6850 next to my old 3870.
The 6850 is Sapphire and the the 3870 is a Diamond.


Added


----------



## sunnyFTW

bcoz i was losing from 5 fps









on so called stock with 5850

me and my frnd having a cold war dude


----------



## SIR-IP

MSI Afterburner dsnt show my driver version and I cant change the voltage ! I did change the setting but its the same thing . And I did make the change to the CFG file but even after that I cant change the voltage any ideas ?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SIR-IP*


MSI Afterburner dsnt show my driver version and I cant change the voltage ! I did change the setting but its the same thing . And I did make the change to the CFG file but even after that I cant change the voltage any ideas ?


Are you using Afterburner Beta 4 or the one from the MSI site?
http://downloads.guru3d.com/Afterbur...load-2604.html

Try that one and see if it works then.


----------



## SIR-IP

let me try that ill be back . also should i update to AMD Catalyst 10.11 Or 10.10 is ok ?


----------



## nagle3092

Either one should be fine.


----------



## SIR-IP

Thanks alot man it worked , rep+


----------



## SIR-IP

Now im gonna start ocing :d


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SIR-IP*


Thanks alot man it worked , rep+


Glad to help.


----------



## SIR-IP

Now I cant pass 850mhZ whats up with that ?>


----------



## sunnyFTW

help me too buddy i cant increase my card volt too


----------



## nagle3092

As in Afterburner wont let you go further or the card is limited?


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW*


help me too buddy i cant increase my card volt too










Go to settings , Under safety Properties Unblock the first 2 then close the app and run it again see if this helps.


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


As in Afterburner wont let you go further or the card is limited?


Afterburner


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
help me too buddy i cant increase my card volt too









Look on the last page to the link I posted, download that version of afterburner.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Afterbur...load-2604.html


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 









And the 5850 doesn't "scale better with overclocking", scaling is the same, but it can just overclock more than the 6870. If you do a 20% overclock on both the performance increase would be similar, for example 10% or w/e.

It has more shaders than any of the cards in the 68xx series, so yes, it scales better per MHz.


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
Now I cant pass 850mhZ whats up with that ?>

You have to go back into the .cfg file and set the enableunofficialoverclocking = 0 to = 1

Make sure you have the afterburner nagle posted.


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Zerkk* 
You have to go back into the .cfg file and set the enableunofficialoverclocking = 0 to = 1

Make sure you have the afterburner nagle posted.

I have done that and i checked it again right now it is at 1 !


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Zerkk* 
You have to go back into the .cfg file and set the enableunofficialoverclocking = 0 to = 1

Make sure you have the afterburner nagle posted.

nagle posted ??


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
I have done that and i checked it again right now it is at 1 !

Nm


----------



## SIR-IP

uninstalled it and reinstalled did reconfigured the file ans its all good now !


----------



## SIR-IP

whats is the safe Temp on 6850s ?


----------



## Zerkk

I'm curious about that also, mine gets close to the mid 70's during furmark since my office is pretty warm.


----------



## Razi3l

I think you're probably good up till 85*c at least, though that's not their maximum afaik, but i don't think it will get even close to such high temps with fan speed fairly high


----------



## SIR-IP

core at 900 its 68 full load !


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
whats is the safe Temp on 6850s ?

I personally dont like my cards to hit 80c so I stay below that. But I think you would be good up to 90c if you want to get technical. Like I said though thats to much for me.


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
core at 900 its 68 full load !

What fan speed? Are you using auto?


----------



## SIR-IP

no 100







I dont care about the noise


----------



## gonX

GPU's used to be a lot more resilient than CPU's - now they're almost neck-to-neck. 95c or so is where I'd start worrying. My 8800GT did not throttle before 107c.


----------



## Zerkk

My card would be cooler if I could keep the side panel fan in place but since I installed my Tuniq Tower 120 it hits the top of the fan so I had to remove it...


----------



## SIR-IP

I have a 400W GENERIC ps , I set the core to 950 with the gputool running the test then i left the room , after 15 min I went back and there was this burning smell coming from my PS







, I think I need to get a real PS !!


----------



## sunnyFTW

forgot to show my msi 6870




































sorry for the pic quality









taken from 2 MP mobile cam


----------



## mtcn77

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
whats is the safe Temp on 6850s ?

The limit is not static. The warmer it gets, the worse it will perform.
For example, I can run mass effect 2 at 1050mhz&86% fan without a hitch, but it won't pass occt stress test because of elevated temperatures.
Just to point out, my hd5770 performs at its best below 67-70 celcius.


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mtcn77* 
The limit is not static. The warmer it gets, the worse it will perform.
For example, I can run mass effect 2 at 1050mhz&86% fan without a hitch, but it won't pass occt stress test because of elevated temperatures.
Just to point out, my hd5770 performs at its best below 67-70 celcius.









Oh ok , Well I have to get a new PS to do some OC and see how it performs. , Payday is in a week !


----------



## Razi3l

@Sunny i added you before when you provided screenshot validations


----------



## sunnyFTW

thank u


----------



## SIR-IP

Is a 6850 at 900Mhz the same as a stock 6870 ?


----------



## mjl4878

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
Is a 6850 at 900Mhz the same as a stock 6870 ?

I'm curious as to this as well. Wonder how mine performs at 950/1150 compared to the 6870


----------



## lightsout

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mjl4878* 
I'm curious as to this as well. Wonder how mine performs at 950/1150 compared to the 6870

I would love to know this also.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
Is a 6850 at 900Mhz the same as a stock 6870 ?

No the 6870 still has more shaders.


----------



## SIR-IP

Thats it ? So the only difference is only shaders ?


----------



## gonX

Yeah the 6870 has more shaders and texture units - 1120 and 56 TU's vs the 6850's 960 shaders and 48 TU's.

Apart from that, they're identical.

*EDIT*

Also on paper, if you were to overclock a 6850 to 1050 MHz core clock you'd beat a stock 6870 in all scenarios.


----------



## nagle3092

Yeah the 6870 has 1120 and the 6850 has 960.


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
Yeah the 6870 has more shaders and texture units - 1120 and 56 TU's vs the 6850's 960 shaders and 48 TU's.

Apart from that, they're identical.

*EDIT*

Also on paper, if you were to overclock a 6850 to 1050 MHz core clock you'd beat the 6870 in all scenarios.

Thanks. Sounds good so @ 1050Mhz It beats the stock 6870 , The reason I Asked is that I was thinking to Return this card and get a 6870 , cuz its only 30$ more .The only game Im going to play is BlackOps and Mw2 and the 6850 is good enough for these game . I just wanted to be more futureproof but i think ill keep my 6850 .


----------



## lightsout

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
Thanks. Sounds good so @ 1050Mhz It beats the stock 6870 , The reason I Asked is that I was thinking to Return this card and get a 6870 , cuz its only 30$ more .The only game Im going to play is BlackOps and Mw2 and the 6850 is good enough for these game . I just wanted to be more futureproof but i think ill keep my 6850 .

Have a look at THIS review. They compare an OC'd 6850 and 6870 with the stock versions. Also has 460's in there too.

Good way to see where they stand stock vs. OC'd.

I'm still on the fence if I should get the 6850 or the 6870. I also mainly just play COD but if I am going to upgrade from my 5770 I want it to be a nice upgrade and not just a little better.

OC'd 6850 is looking pretty sweet though.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Just got my PC back. Will be overclocking all night.


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Just got my PC back. Will be overclocking all night.









NICE ! I really wanna see some results !! I got the core up to 960Mhz but there was a burning smell comming form my PSU







poor thing its only 400W Generic so I have to get a real PSU now until then I cant OC it


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
Is a 6850 at 900Mhz the same as a stock 6870 ?


Quote:


Originally Posted by *mjl4878* 
I'm curious as to this as well. Wonder how mine performs at 950/1150 compared to the 6870


Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
Thanks. Sounds good so @ 1050Mhz It beats the stock 6870 , The reason I Asked is that I was thinking to Return this card and get a 6870 , cuz its only 30$ more .The only game Im going to play is BlackOps and Mw2 and the 6850 is good enough for these game . I just wanted to be more futureproof but i think ill keep my 6850 .


Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
Yeah the 6870 has more shaders and texture units - 1120 and 56 TU's vs the 6850's 960 shaders and 48 TU's.

Apart from that, they're identical.

*EDIT*

Also on paper, if you were to overclock a 6850 to 1050 MHz core clock you'd beat a stock 6870 in all scenarios.

There was a review that looked at a handful of 6850s and said that if you OC it to 940mhz/1150mhz it matches the HD 6870 stock.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
NICE ! I really wanna see some results !! I got the core up to 960Mhz but there was a burning smell comming form my PSU







poor thing its only 400W Generic so I have to get a real PSU now until then I cant OC it









915mhz/1150mhz
stock voltage (1.1149)
Max Temp: 83C
Status: Failed

Well this isn't a good start D;


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
There was a review that looked at a handful of 6850s and said that if you OC it to 940mhz/1150mhz it matches the HD 6870 stock.

915mhz/1150mhz
stock voltage (1.1149)
Max Temp: 83C
Status: Failed

Well this isn't a good start D;

940MHz sounds a bit off.
Let's calculate it - to simplify things a bit, let's assume the memory frequency is the same (it's fairly easy for a 6850 to run the memory at 1100MHz):

6870: 1120 Shaders and 56 TU's
6850: 960 Shaders and 48 TU's

6870: 900 MHz stock clock
6850: 775 MHz stock clock

To simplify it further, let's skip the TU's since they are rather situational.

From that, we can deduce that at stock clocks, the 6870 is _((1120 * 900) / (960 * 775) = 1.3548)_ ~1.35 times faster than the 6850. So the 6850 would have to be overclocked to _(775 * 1.3548 = 1049.97)_ ~1050 MHz to beat the 6870 in most scenarios.

If we want to get really pedantic we can include the TU's as well, though I'm not too sure how much of an effect they have (I assume not too much):
_(1120 * 56 * 900) / (960 * 48 * 775) = 1.5806_

That means the 6850 would have to be at _(775 * 1.5806 = 1224.97)_ ~1225 MHz core clock to beat a stock 6870 in every single scenario.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
940MHz sounds a bit off.
Let's calculate it - to simplify things a bit, let's assume the memory frequency is the same (it's fairly easy for a 6850 to run the memory at 1100MHz):

6870: 1120 Shaders and 56 TU's
6850: 960 Shaders and 48 TU's

6870: 900 MHz stock clock
6850: 775 MHz stock clock

To simplify it further, let's skip the TU's since they are rather situational.

From that, we can deduce that at stock clocks, the 6870 is _((1120 * 900) / (960 * 775) = 1.3548)_ ~1.35 times faster than the 6850. So the 6850 would have to be overclocked to _(775 * 1.3548 = 1049.97)_ ~1050 MHz to beat the 6870 in most scenarios.

If we want to get really pedantic we can include the TU's as well, though I'm not too sure how much of an effect they have (I assume not too much):
_(1120 * 56 * 900) / (960 * 48 * 775) = 1.5806_

That means the 6850 would have to be at _(775 * 1.5806 = 1224.97)_ ~1225 MHz core clock to beat a stock 6870 in every single scenario.

You forget to factor in the memory clock.


----------



## SkillzKillz

What happens when you try to overclock Crossfired cards? I know they have to be at the same clocks, but can each card be at a different voltage?


----------



## Leech

Count me in
Asus EAH6870/2DI2S/1GD5


----------



## JG964

Loving my EAH6870 i have it at 1000mhz on core and 1110 on the memory so far temps are high though on idle around 66c, anyone know if this is normal for an ambient temp of about 26c to 27c?

JG


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JG964* 
Loving my EAH6870 i have it at 1000mhz on core and 1110 on the memory so far temps are high though on idle around 66c, anyone know if this is normal for an ambient temp of about 26c to 27c?

Definitely not normal. Your system temperatures would have to be pretty high, like 50C. What are they?

Also, your cooler could not be seated right or requires the re-application of TIM.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JG964* 
Loving my EAH6870 i have it at 1000mhz on core and 1110 on the memory so far temps are high though on idle around 66c, anyone know if this is normal for an ambient temp of about 26c to 27c?

JG

Monitor the speeds in Afterburner. I've noticed that when I overclock, it never goes back down to 2d clocks at idle, so I'm idling @ 1ghz = 55C idle


----------



## JG964

by system temps what do you mean? if you mean CPU then it sits around 40c on an h50 but with a dusty rad and around 35 with a clean one and if i do need new TIM i have had around the same temps for my CF5770's before the 6870.

edit: you are right Bass, my card is idling at 1ghz as well this could be my problem... yet yours is 10c lower are you ambients lower as-well?


----------



## SkillzKillz

My GPU idles at 44C with 21C ambient.

By system temps I mean the temperature inside your case.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JG964* 
by system temps what do you mean? if you mean CPU then it sits around 40c on an h50 but with a dusty rad and around 35 with a clean one and if i do need new TIM i have had around the same temps for my CF5770's before the 6870.

edit: you are right Bass, my card is idling at 1ghz as well this could be my problem... yet yours is 10c lower are you ambients lower as-well?

It might be a problem with drivers, or it may be a problem with Afterburner. Whatever it is, _it needs to be fixed.







_
I have a 68*5*0, and my ambients are much cooler. It's probably around 15C right now. Well, 16-17.


----------



## JG964

well inside the case i have temps ranging from 25c to 28c...
Just looked at the temps and its now idling at 62c and it is at 300mhz according to afterburner still high...


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
NICE ! I really wanna see some results !! I got the core up to 960Mhz but there was a burning smell comming form my PSU







poor thing its only 400W Generic so I have to get a real PSU now until then I cant OC it









Core Clock: 925mhz
Mem Clock: 1150mhz
Voltage: 1.187
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 930mhz
Mem Clock: 1150mhz
Voltage: 1.200
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 940mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.225v
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 950mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.243
Max Temp: 91C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 960mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.268
Max Temp: 92C
Status: Unstable


----------



## reisya

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Core Clock: 925mhz
Mem Clock: 1150mhz
Voltage: 1.187
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 930mhz
Mem Clock: 1150mhz
Voltage: 1.200
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 940mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.225v
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 950mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.243
Max Temp: 91C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 960mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.268
Max Temp: 92C
Status: Unstable

nice clock, but not for temp..


----------



## nubgen

SK,

What's your CPU idle/load temps. Could it be, that it's pushing lots of hot heat to your video card and your case is not exhausting enough heat through.


----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Monitor the speeds in Afterburner. I've noticed that when I overclock, it never goes back down to 2d clocks at idle, so I'm idling @ 1ghz = 55C idle










Make two profiles one default with default votlage, and other with your OC. And assign first profile for 2D and second for 3D now when you are not gaming 2D PRofiel will be active and card will go to 2D low clocks and voltage.


----------



## Super Coffee

Here is a quick graph to sum up my overclocking findings with my own 6850. Using the Crysis GPU benchmark included in the game, I ran 3 loops on each clock speed setting and averaged the frame rates. At 1000 core / 1200 mem speed, I saw a 10 frame per second increase over stock, which is about 20% in this case. I am running my card at 1.2V on the core using Sapphire's TriXX utility. MSi afterburner kept crashing my computer.


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Core Clock: 925mhz
Mem Clock: 1150mhz
Voltage: 1.187
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 930mhz
Mem Clock: 1150mhz
Voltage: 1.200
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 940mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.225v
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 950mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.243
Max Temp: 91C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 960mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.268
Max Temp: 92C
Status: Unstable


VERYYYY NICE ! we should find a way to get better temps !! 91C is abit high !


----------



## ZealotKi11er

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Core Clock: 925mhz
Mem Clock: 1150mhz
Voltage: 1.187
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 930mhz
Mem Clock: 1150mhz
Voltage: 1.200
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 940mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.225v
Max Temp: 87C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 950mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.243
Max Temp: 91C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 960mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.268
Max Temp: 92C
Status: Unstable


What thats some horrible temps. Does HD 6870 as get as hot when overclocked?


----------



## SIR-IP

Yeah im sure there is a way to get better temps !!


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


940MHz sounds a bit off.
Let's calculate it - to simplify things a bit, let's assume the memory frequency is the same (it's fairly easy for a 6850 to run the memory at 1100MHz):

6870: 1120 Shaders and 56 TU's
6850: 960 Shaders and 48 TU's

6870: 900 MHz stock clock
6850: 775 MHz stock clock

To simplify it further, let's skip the TU's since they are rather situational.

From that, we can deduce that at stock clocks, the 6870 is _((1120 * 900) / (960 * 775) = 1.3548)_ ~1.35 times faster than the 6850. So the 6850 would have to be overclocked to _(775 * 1.3548 = 1049.97)_ ~1050 MHz to beat the 6870 in most scenarios.

If we want to get really pedantic we can include the TU's as well, though I'm not too sure how much of an effect they have (I assume not too much):
_(1120 * 56 * 900) / (960 * 48 * 775) = 1.5806_

That means the 6850 would have to be at _(775 * 1.5806 = 1224.97)_ ~1225 MHz core clock to beat a stock 6870 in every single scenario.


Nice math but:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4002/a...asus-xfx-msi/8

Experience wins?

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SIR-IP*


VERYYYY NICE ! we should find a way to get better temps !! 91C is abit high !


My case is an oven.







All heat is dumped right into the case. Case temps during tests were @ 42C. All Furmark runs ran for 11-15 minutes GPU Usage 100%. Pretty sure if I just went caseless I'd drop 10C or something.

See it hit 91C in Furmark, but load temp during gaming is 71C at 70% fan speed.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ZealotKi11er*


What thats some horrible temps. Does HD 6870 as get as hot when overclocked?


I wouldn't call them horrible temps. Most people don't know how to burn their card and post lower than actual temps. However, my temperatures are higher than normal for reasons stated above.


----------



## SIR-IP

Oh thats not bad at all than !!


----------



## JG964

Im now stable at 1000mhz core and 1150 memory 1.237 volts, ran furmark for an hour, highest temps i saw were around 87-88c my case has some great ventilation but i still end up with high temps even with the side panel off i have a small drop of about 2-7c.


----------



## Erper

Hopefully mine will come in 2 weeks


----------



## EzzA

Add me to the list too please - another Sapphire 6850 owner here


















--

And for those affected by problems with the GPU not going back to low idle clock speeds I have found 2 separate problems that cause this:
1. You have ATI Overdrive Enabled in Catalyst. This causes the GPU to only down-clock to 500MHz (for me) and the memory stays at full speed. Un-checking ATI Overdrive fixes this and the card down-clocks OK to 100/300 GPU/Mem. Also apperently this is a known problem that will be fixed soon because in the Release Notes for Catalyst 10.11 is states: 
_Enabling Overdrive through the Catalystâ„¢ Control Center for single display systems no longer results in GPU clocks running at high levels in non-GPU intensive scenarios _
Unfortunately 10.11 does not support 6xxx series cards, so we have to wait for 10.12 for that fix.

2. You have multiple monitors running extended desktop. 
I use a 24" monitor as my main monitor but have the desktop extend on to a 22" monitor as well. When the 2nd monitor is enabled in 'Desktops & Displays' in CCC then the GPU will only down-clock to 250/1000. When the 2nd monitor is disabled it will down-clock properly again to 100/300.
I'm not sure if this is a bug or if the GPU is just running faster to drive the extra monitor. However according to my watt-meter it causes the PC to consume another 20W-22W of power and the GPU idles at around 55C instead of 45C when idling with a single monitor.
For now I have set up multiple profiles in CCC to work around this so I can easily switch between 1 or 2 monitors and stock/overclock.


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Core Clock: 950mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.243
Max Temp: 91C
Status: Stable

Core Clock: 960mhz
Mem Clock: 1100mhz
Voltage: 1.268
Max Temp: 92C
Status: Unstable


Close to the same for me besides the temps. I thought I was stable at 955/1150 but my drivers crashed in black ops, lowered the core to 950 and now i'm sitting good. My max temps hit about 72c while gaming. Try 1150 memory, I think most of the 6850's can hit that with stock volts, anything over for me causes artifacts.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Zerkk*


Close to the same for me besides the temps. I thought I was stable at 955/1150 but my drivers crashed in black ops, lowered the core to 950 and now i'm sitting good. My max temps hit about 72c while gaming. Try 1150 memory, I think most of the 6850's can hit that with stock volts, anything over for me causes artifacts.


Hmm thanks. My card just refuses to go over 950mhz core. I'll try for 1150 on the memory.

Don't be alarmed by the Furmark temps since my card never goes over 71C during gaming.

EDIT: 950/1115 crashed with 1.25v


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
You forget to factor in the memory clock.

No I didn't. If you take a look at the top of my post I explicitly stated that the memory clock should be assumed to be 1100MHz for both cards. They have the same chips and will have the same bandwidth as long as they run at the same frequency.


----------



## mjl4878

just to add more to the temps, with mine at 950/1150 I idle around 47-48 with ambients around 26-27. My 700D doesn't have any new fans in place but I did swap out the stock fans for Xig's. Since I'm going water I don't exactly have the most optimized airflow so I can't complain.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Nice math but:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4002/a...asus-xfx-msi/8

Experience wins?

That's still on paper and the 6850 is overclocked to 1150 MHz memory rather than 1100MHz so it's not a fair comparison.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

on my 6870 i needed 1.3v for 1000/1200. Max temp under load is 74c.


----------



## MacA

Just got my 6870, currently at 1000/1200 1.2v
As long as I stay below 70C I have no problem.

For instance: I was at 1000/1200 at 65C (gputool): no problem, 15min stable.
1000/1200 at 74C (by lowering the fan speed): artifacts. Lots of them.


----------



## YoursTruly

Don't have time to read each page, but Everyone's happy with their 6850's? I'm going out in about 35 minutes to pick one up from the local NCIX, I'm thinking Saphire, Gigabyte, or XFX.

Opinions?


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *YoursTruly* 
Don't have time to read each page, but Everyone's happy with their 6850's? I'm going out in about 35 minutes to pick one up from the local NCIX, I'm thinking Saphire, Gigabyte, or XFX.

Opinions?

I went with XFX because of their COOLER and their LIFE TIME WARRANTY ! Good luck .


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:


Originally Posted by *YoursTruly* 
Don't have time to read each page, but Everyone's happy with their 6850's? I'm going out in about 35 minutes to pick one up from the local NCIX, I'm thinking Saphire, Gigabyte, or XFX.

Opinions?

I've got a Gigabyte 6870 and can't say that there is anything to complain about.


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacA* 
Just got my 6870, currently at 1000/1200 1.2v
As long as I stay below 70C I have no problem.

For instance: I was at 1000/1200 at 65C (gputool): no problem, 15min stable.
1000/1200 at 74C (by lowering the fan speed): artifacts. Lots of them.

What is your fan running at?

The highest I have been able to run with 1.2v is 975mhz 1125mhz with 40% fans. Highest temp I saw during gaming at that clock was 71c.

If i want to push 1ghz/ 1150mhz at 1.237v should I bump the fans up to say 45%?


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

I read somewhere that bumping the memory clock past 1200 actually decreases performance? Is this true?


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda* 
I read somewhere that bumping the memory clock past 1200 actually decreases performance? Is this true?

Only if it's unstable at those clocks.


----------



## Yoko Littner

I need i believe about 1.28V to run at 1000/1100

it will sometimes crash at different clocks and V in certain games.

So my OC isn't 'stable' im still working on it though. these will hit 74-77C under normal load.

thats hotter then my GTX 295's btw. what gives...


----------



## aznofazns

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MacA*


Just got my 6870, currently at 1000/1200 1.2v
As long as I stay below 70C I have no problem.

For instance: I was at 1000/1200 at 65C (gputool): no problem, 15min stable.
1000/1200 at 74C (by lowering the fan speed): artifacts. Lots of them.


That's interesting, I think a similar thing happens to me. For instance, I have no problems running [email protected] for days straight at 1000/1175 with 70-72C temps, but I get artifacts GALORE the moment the GPU heats up in Crysis or Furmark. At that point, it's just a matter of minutes before the game freezes or my computer BSODs.


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *aznofazns*


That's interesting, I think a similar thing happens to me. For instance, I have no problems running [email protected] for days straight at 1000/1175 with 70-72C temps, but I get artifacts GALORE the moment the GPU heats up in Crysis or Furmark. At that point, it's just a matter of minutes before the game freezes or my computer BSODs.


I think a new cooler will help alot , since the card can handle higher speeds but the heat is keeping you back .


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Only if it's unstable at those clocks.


I have my core at 1000 and my memory to 1245 and is 100% stable and definitely a performance bump. Within MSI Afterburner, If I bump the memory to 1250 and apply, it resets the core back to default when it's originally at 1000. I can apply at 1245 but not 1250. Is that the max memory my card can take or a bug in afterburner?


----------



## MacA

Quote:



Originally Posted by *blackbalt89*


What is your fan running at?

The highest I have been able to run with 1.2v is 975mhz 1125mhz with 40% fans. Highest temp I saw during gaming at that clock was 71c.

If i want to push 1ghz/ 1150mhz at 1.237v should I bump the fans up to say 45%?


I'm using Afterburner, and I made a custom fan profile:



Gets loud when stressing the card, but the card is mostly stressed when playing so there's always sound covering the fan noise.

It seems that the problem with OCing this card is simply heat. Judging from my experience, I think I could go pretty far if I could prevent the temp from getting higher than 70/72C...


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MacA*


I'm using Afterburner, and I made a custom fan profile:



Gets loud when stressing the card, but the card is mostly stressed when playing so there's always sound covering the fan noise.

It seems that the problem with OCing this card is simply heat. Judging from my experience, I think I could go pretty far if I could prevent the temp from getting higher than 70/72C...


AGREED , As I said earlier we all need a new cooler so we can OC the cards to max !


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


I have my core at 1000 and my memory to 1245 and is 100% stable and definitely a performance bump. Within MSI Afterburner, If I bump the memory to 1250 and apply, it resets the core back to default when it's originally at 1000. I can apply at 1245 but not 1250. Is that the max memory my card can take or a bug in afterburner?


I tried it again and this time is sync. very odd.................
Attachment 181392


----------



## MacA

Too bad the cooler isn't good enough (for us ^^), I love its design.
I'll try to put some case fans where I still got some room, If I can win 2/3C, that would be pretty awesome.


----------



## Bassdoken

Next little bit of money I'm getting is going towards a new cooler. ^_^
The Arctic Cooling TWIN TURBO Pro is compatible with my card, and I can't wait to (not) hear it at load.









E/ AMD really needs to pump out better drivers, though. Not for Windows, but for Linux. I am sad at 1280x1024 on my 1920x1080 screen.


----------



## SIR-IP

Arctic Cooling TWIN TURBO Pro is compatible with ATI Radeon HD 6870(with VR001), 6850(with VR001) what does the VR001 Means and how can we find out if the card we own is a VR001 ?


----------



## mtcn77

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


I read somewhere that bumping the memory clock past 1200 actually decreases performance? Is this true?


Not for me, solid gains from 1200mhz to 1400 in heaven benchmark. 
There is something that I have found to degrade performance though, fan profile polling interval of msi afterburner causes lag severely.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mtcn77*


Not for me, solid gains from 1200mhz to 1400 in heaven benchmark. 
There is something that I have found to degrade performance though, fan profile polling interval of msi afterburner causes lag severely.


is that something you can disable?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SIR-IP*


Arctic Cooling TWIN TURBO Pro is compatible with ATI Radeon HD 6870(with VR001), 6850(with VR001) what does the VR001 Means and how can we find out if the card we own is a VR001 ?


VR001 is a heatsink kit. Since the VRMs are oddly placed compared to other cards, and the base of the heatsink for the TTP doesn't touch the memory chips, you need to put heatsinks on them.


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


VR001 is a heatsink kit. Since the VRMs are oddly placed compared to other cards, and the base of the heatsink for the TTP doesn't touch the memory chips, you need to put heatsinks on them.


Thanks but how do I know which if my card is a VR001 ?


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SIR-IP*


Thanks but how do I know which if my card is a VR001 ?


what he was trying to say is that you need one of their heatsink sets that is marked as VR001.

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/websho...ath=2_&mID=619 see near the bottom where it says VR001 then next to it it says buy now? thats what needs to be added to the cooler to make it work properly.

as you can see it says it comes with ram and voltage regulator heatsinks. though oddly enough its the only one that does not say it includes a mounting bracket.


----------



## MacA

Guys, I need your help!

With 1000/1200, my 6870 will only score 16K at vantage while it should score around 17K+. (On performance)

I noticed that during Vantage my Gpu Usage sometimes falls around 70%... I thought it should be 99%/100% during the whole benchmark.

Don't you think there's something wrong?


----------



## Yoko Littner

i think so.

However a PH II shouldnt Bottleck a single 6870


----------



## GForceXIII

memory clock too high?
what happens if you lower it?


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacA* 
Guys, I need your help!

With 1000/1200, my 6870 will only score 16K at vantage while it should score around 17K+. (On performance)

I noticed that during Vantage my Gpu Usage sometimes falls around 70%... I thought it should be 99%/100% during the whole benchmark.

Don't you think there's something wrong?


Quote:


Originally Posted by *GForceXIII* 
*memory clock too high?*
what happens if you lower it?

thats what im thinking as well. hell i cant even get 1000core and 1150mem stable on 1.237v.

MacA are you using any sort of stability testing software or just overclocking and running 3dmark?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SIR-IP* 
Thanks but how do I know which if my card is a VR001 ?

VR001 is a heatsink kit that Arctic Cooling sells. lol. So you'd have to buy VR001 on top of TTP. Good thing VR001 is only $5-6.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacA* 
Guys, I need your help!

With 1000/1200, my 6870 will only score 16K at vantage while it should score around 17K+. (On performance)

I noticed that during Vantage my Gpu Usage sometimes falls around 70%... I thought it should be 99%/100% during the whole benchmark.

Don't you think there's something wrong?

Unstable overclocks cause bad performance.


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
VR001 is a heatsink kit that Arctic Cooling sells. lol. So you'd have to buy VR001 on top of TTP. Good thing VR001 is only $5-6.

Unstable overclocks cause bad performance.

exactly. hence why i asked if he was checking for 100% stability before running 3dmark.

its like giving your car bad gasoline. will it run? sure, but how well will it run as opposed to good gas?


----------



## Bassdoken

I've noticed a lot of people have 6870s, but only a few have 6850s. This makes me sad because I'm part of the minority.


----------



## jprovido

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I've noticed a lot of people have 6870s, but only a few have 6850s. This makes me sad because I'm part of the minority.









6850cf scales like a champ so don't feel sad


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jprovido* 
6850cf scales like a champ so don't feel sad









But I don't think anyone has 6850 CFX. Lol.
I'll probably get a 6900 when they come out and I want more power.


----------



## YoursTruly

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I've noticed a lot of people have 6870s, but only a few have 6850s. This makes me sad because I'm part of the minority.









Fear not! for I am here. I just bought a Gigabyte 6850 today! Its installed, I'm just waiting on my ram to come in next week so I can see if my new rig works or if I have to problem solve head aches away.

I went for the 6850 over the 6870 for 4 reasons listed below in no particular order:

-price,
-crossfire later when I get into newer games (I'm still thinking L4D2 is new







)
-low power consumption (want to go crossfire with 750w PSU, this gives me a bit of leeway)
-XFX black edition PSU is semi modular, and has 2 6/8 pin wires in its ponytail, and in the attempt at keeping a reasonably clean look to my mid size case, I figured using both of those for 2 seperate GPU's would be nicer than using 4 cables for 2 6870's.

Anyway I forgot to make a sign saying I <3 Overclock.net next to it, but I'll do that tomorrow! For now, see this as my evidence, if not


----------



## MacA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blackbalt89* 
exactly. hence why i asked if he was checking for 100% stability before running 3dmark.

its like giving your car bad gasoline. will it run? sure, but how well will it run as opposed to good gas?

I'm pretty sure my OC is stable: 15min Gputool stable + 10min furmark stable. :/
I lowered the clock, same thing.

But the problem seems to be my CPU actually: I OCed the NB to 2600 and now I get 17K



I'll continue to study the problem, because for some reason my mobo's NB is unoverclockable (anything above the default values will make the computer crash during Intel Burn Test). So I can't just live the NB that high.

Any ideas?


----------



## Behemoth777

For those of you wondering about the arctic cooling twin turbo pro, it does fit, and vr001 is a heat sink set for it, but the only heatsinks you really need are the ones for the vrm's out of that pack. The problem with the vrm's on the 6870 is that you can't lay a heatsink flat across the vrm's, you have to put an individual heatsink on each vrm, or find a way to mod the stock heatsinks so that it has little arches when going from one vrm to the next, just like on the stock vrm heatsink.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Have any of you tried the Tessmark Tessellation benchmark, its kind of neat..

Check it out:

http://www.geeks3d.com/20100819/gpu-...ion-benchmark/


----------



## jason123

I have an XFX 6870








Attached a GPU-Z screenie


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacA* 
I'm pretty sure my OC is stable: 15min Gputool stable + 10min furmark stable. :/
I lowered the clock, same thing.

But the problem seems to be my CPU actually: I OCed the NB to 2600 and now I get 17K



I'll continue to study the problem, because for some reason my mobo's NB is unoverclockable (anything above the default values will make the computer crash during Intel Burn Test). So I can't just live the NB that high.

Any ideas?

LOL testing for 15min or 10min does *not* accurately tell if you're stable. Stress it for at least an hour, but a good time is around 4 hours.


----------



## MacA

Ow, always thought 15 minutes were enough.

I'll try Gputool for an hour then.

But still, it seems that my OC isn't really responsible for the gpu usage problem... at stock or OC, same thing, the gpu usage willd drop at some point.


----------



## sendblink23

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MacA*


Ow, always thought 15 minutes were enough.

I'll try Gputool for an hour then.

But still, it seems that my OC isn't really responsible for the gpu usage problem... at stock or OC, same thing, the gpu usage willd drop at some point.


just simply game for few hours intensive games... its more better to know if its stable that way


----------



## MacA

I prefer to use a stressing software because when it's done, you're 99% sure that the OC is rock stable. With a game, I tend to think that if it doesn't crash, it only means it's stable for that precise game.

But really, that problem with vantage is getting annoying. It's... so weird. With Heaven for exemple, no problem with getting 99% usge all the time. But for some reason it's not possible on Vantage. Could afterburner be the problem?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MacA*


I prefer to use a stressing software because when it's done, you're 99% sure that the OC is rock stable. With a game, I tend to think that if it doesn't crash, it only means it's stable for that precise game.

But really, that problem with vantage is getting annoying. It's... so weird. With Heaven for exemple, no problem with getting 99% usge all the time. But for some reason it's not possible on Vantage. Could afterburner be the problem?


Download OCCT and use the Gpu stress test tool with error checking on. If your unstable it will show within 10 min.


----------



## MacA

45 minutes on Gputool for now, stable at 1000/1200 1.218v. If there's no artifacting after an entire hour, I'll procede with the next step, 15 minutes of OCCT, like you said nagle3092.

Any idea about my Vantage problem?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MacA*


45 minutes on Gputool for now, stable at 1000/1200 1.218v. If there's no artifacting after an entire hour, I'll procede with the next step, 15 minutes of OCCT, like you said nagle3092.

Any idea about my Vantage problem?


Try closing CCC before you run vantage, also if you have CnQ on turn it off. Try both of those together and let us know.


----------



## MacA

1 hour stable!

Now let's do some OCCT torture...

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


Try closing CCC before you run vantage, also if you have CnQ on turn it off. Try both of those together and let us know.


I CCC is turned off. Actually, I never even bothered with using it ^^. (Am I missing anything?)

Same for CnQ, turned off since day 1.

Thanks for trying to help though, don't hesitate if you have any idea.

Here is a graph showing the gpu usage in Vantage during the 2 graphics tests: (as you can see, the first test is even worse than the second)


----------



## nagle3092

Is that dip in between the 2 tests? And when I meant off I mean close it completely, dont let it run in the system tray. Other than that it dont look to bad, there will dips when the scenes change there just aint much you can do about that.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


Try closing CCC before you run vantage, also if you have CnQ on turn it off. Try both of those together and let us know.


I can understand closing CCC, but why turn off CnQ? It saves power, and essentially money when idling. It does nothing when there is a load on the system.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Found Sapphire HD 6850 for $169.99 locally and Gigabyte HD 6850 for $174.99. Crossfire is tempting me...


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I can understand closing CCC, but why turn off CnQ? It saves power, and essentially money when idling. It does nothing when there is a load on the system.

The throttling can sometimes negatively impact performance, because the processor then looks for any chance to cut down on performance/power. If a scene is less intensive than the last it could drop the clock which could be perceived as stutter. The CnQ issue is more relevant on Crossfire rigs but Im sure that it would apply to single card rigs just not as much.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Found Sapphire HD 6850 for $169.99 locally and Gigabyte HD 6850 for $174.99. Crossfire is tempting me...

Go for it.









Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
The throttling can sometimes negatively impact performance, because the processor then looks for any chance to cut down on performance/power. If a scene is less intensive than the last it could drop the clock which could be perceived as stutter. The CnQ issue is more relevant on Crossfire rigs but Im sure that it would apply to single card rigs just not as much.










CnQ only affects idle, not load.


----------



## the.hollow

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
But I don't think anyone has 6850 CFX. Lol.
I'll probably get a 6900 when they come out and I want more power.

Eh I'm content for now.


----------



## MacA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Is that dip in between the 2 tests? And when I meant off I mean close it completely, dont let it run in the system tray. Other than that it dont look to bad, there will dips when the scenes change there just aint much you can do about that.

Nope, the small dips during the two tests. I didn't thought it was weird until I saw other vantage runs graphs, and they were 99% during 100% of the test (with a 6870 as well and the same OC).
And I also get a lower score: 17K (barely, it sometimes falls at 16900) while it should be like 17500+. I know, it's not that important, but it still annoys me







.

(And CCC is closed completly)


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *YoursTruly* 
Fear not! for I am here. I just bought a Gigabyte 6850 today! Its installed, I'm just waiting on my ram to come in next week so I can see if my new rig works or if I have to problem solve head aches away.

I went for the 6850 over the 6870 for 4 reasons listed below in no particular order:

-price,
-crossfire later when I get into newer games (I'm still thinking L4D2 is new







)
-low power consumption (want to go crossfire with 750w PSU, this gives me a bit of leeway)
-XFX black edition PSU is semi modular, and has 2 6/8 pin wires in its ponytail, and in the attempt at keeping a reasonably clean look to my mid size case, I figured using both of those for 2 seperate GPU's would be nicer than using 4 cables for 2 6870's.

Anyway I forgot to make a sign saying I <3 Overclock.net next to it, but I'll do that tomorrow! For now, see this as my evidence, if not



























You must've bought it from BestDirect for $175?

And how is the noise & cooling on the card with those fans?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
Go for it.

















CnQ only affects idle, not load.

Here is









As you can see the min fps difference is minimal, the average is about 1 fps and the max difference is almost 4 fps. So yes in short it does effect load.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacA* 
Nope, the small dips during the two tests. I didn't thought it was weird until I saw other vantage runs graphs, and they were 99% during 100% of the test (with a 6870 as well and the same OC).
And I also get a lower score: 17K (barely, it sometimes falls at 16900) while it should be like 17500+. I know, it's not that important, but it still annoys me







.

(And CCC is closed completly)

What is CCC set on (preset wise) there is a noticeable difference in fps from performance preset and quality, that could be the difference. Try running it on performance preset.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Here is









As you can see the min fps difference is minimal, the average is about 1 fps and the max difference is almost 4 fps. So yes in short it does effect load.

So that's a very huge difference in performance there. I think that would classify as a bottleneck.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
So that's a very huge difference in performance there. I think that would classify as a bottleneck.









When did I ever say a huge difference in performance? Thats right I didnt, and how would that classify as a bottleneck when the only difference between the 2 runs was CnQ?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
When did I ever say a huge difference in performance? Thats right I didnt, and how would that classify as a bottleneck when the only difference between the 2 runs was CnQ?

You made it out to be a huge deal. Then you give some evidence, and it shows that it makes a <1% difference.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


You made it out to be a huge deal. Then you give some evidence, and it shows that it makes a <1% difference.


Did I? It dont sound like it here.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


The throttling can sometimes negatively impact performance, because the processor then looks for any chance to cut down on performance/power. If a scene is less intensive than the last it could drop the clock which could be perceived as stutter. The CnQ issue is more relevant on Crossfire rigs but Im sure that it would apply to single card rigs just not as much.


You asked a question, I explained an answer. It was as simple as that.


----------



## MacA

Oh come on, nagle was simply trying to help me and now it somehow turned into a fight.
Whatever. Rep+ anyway.

Tried with CCC on perf, got a slightly better score (17100), I'm getting closer to what I should get, thanks. Nothing changed about the dips however.


----------



## ekg84

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Found Sapphire HD 6850 for $169.99 locally and Gigabyte HD 6850 for $174.99. Crossfire is tempting me...


Those are good prices, i was looking for gigabyte one online but they are sold out almost everywhere, cheapest i have found is $195+shipping.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MacA*


Oh come on, nagle was simply trying to help me and now it somehow turned into a fight.
Whatever. Rep+ anyway.

Tried with CCC on perf, got a slightly better score (17100), I'm getting closer to what I should get, thanks. Nothing changed about the dips however.


I should've asked this earlier but what driver are you using? I recommend the 10.10d Vod modded driver, you can find it here. http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=332395

I have used this one with both my 5850s and my 6870s.


----------



## MacA

I'm on 10.10e
(Tried 10.10d official version, same thing)

I like that guy's Catalyst mods, I'll try that.


----------



## YoursTruly

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
You must've bought it from BestDirect for $175?

And how is the noise & cooling on the card with those fans?

Heh, actually I got it at NCIX! I just walked into the store with the lowest price I could find on the Net, and they matched it







And as you said, the lowest price was BestDirect, but by going into the store and getting it, theirs no shipping charges, I get it asap and theres no chance of it getting damaged on its way to my house ^^

For price shopping I always use www.shopbot.ca. This is handy because so far I can definitely trust NCIX and newegg. I've never bought from those other places before. I'm still waiting on my ram to show up so I can load up win7 and then start testing all sorts of stuff! woot! And I just bought Crysis Warhead today! Btw, the ram I chose is G.Skill ECO 1600 7-8-7-24 1.35v. I'm looking forward to dropping the timings on it! I've heard its really good stuff.

I'll get back to you on how I like it re: noise, cooling, performance, OCing etc.









I'm looking forward to seeing crossfired 6850's in my rig!







probably after Christmas sometime just for Crysis! All my other games aren't nearly as stressing. (IE: Boarderlands, L4D/L4D2, BioShock, Oblivion, Mirrors Edge, Fallout3)


----------



## DB006

Anyone got the XFX 6870 Black Edition?


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MacA* 
I'm on 10.10e
(Tried 10.10d official version, same thing)

I like that guy's Catalyst mods, I'll try that.

Best drivers I have ever used for AMD/ATI cards. Least issues and best performance.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
Anyone got the XFX 6870 Black Edition?

No, but Newegg has over 100 in stock while every other 6870 is sold out. LOL.


----------



## snoball

I am currently running a GTX 275. Can anybody tell me what FPS gain I can expect with 6850 XFIRE. I am looking at the GTX 470, but these 6850s look so tempting.


----------



## flopper

Quote:



Originally Posted by *snoball*


I am currently running a GTX 275. Can anybody tell me what FPS gain I can expect with 6850 XFIRE. I am looking at the GTX 470, but these 6850s look so tempting.


depends what games u play.
I got 120-200fps at 1920x1080 with Bc2 (average around 150fps) but that at all low settings as I aim for max fps.
at 5760x1080 3 screens using a i7 950 at 4ghz and 6850x2 at 940/1120mhz 6850 crossfire I average around 90-100fps.

You cant go wrong with either one, the 470 is great as is the 6850.
My friend playing with a 480 has issues in BC2 but seems the latest drivers fixed that.

I check what games I play most, then buy hardware after what goes best for price/performance.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *snoball*


I am currently running a GTX 275. Can anybody tell me what FPS gain I can expect with 6850 XFIRE. I am looking at the GTX 470, but these 6850s look so tempting.


Well, let's see. A 5870 is ~%40 faster than a 285. A 6850 is ~15% slower than a 5870. You get two of them, they nearly match a 5970.
If you're either choosing 6850 cfx, or just a single gtx 470, get the 6850s.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *flopper*


depends what games u play.
I got 120-200fps at 1920x1080 with Bc2 (average around 150fps) but that at all low settings as I aim for max fps.
at 5760x1080 3 screens using a i7 950 at 4ghz and 6850x2 at 940/1120mhz 6850 crossfire I average around 90-100fps.

You cant go wrong with either one, the 470 is great as is the 6850.
My friend playing with a 480 has issues in BC2 but seems the latest drivers fixed that.

I check what games I play most, then buy hardware after what goes best for price/performance.


Boooo. Turn it up. They're powerful cards. -_-


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *snoball*


I am currently running a GTX 275. Can anybody tell me what FPS gain I can expect with 6850 XFIRE. I am looking at the GTX 470, but these 6850s look so tempting.


6850s are beasts and will probably be the best $/performance for awhile. However, the HD 6970 will be coming out on Decemeber 13th and it's rumored to have 1920SPs, equal to 2x 6850s. It will probably still perform less than 2 6850s and cost more, but as it is a single card solution it will be something to compare to.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Boooo. Turn it up. They're powerful cards. -_-



I would play BC2 on lowest settings with GTX 580 SLI.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Ah, but what most people don't know is that with lowest settings in BC2 you can see enemies behind bushes and buildings.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


6850s are beasts and will probably be the best $/performance for awhile. However, the HD 6970 will be coming out on Decemeber 13th and it's rumored to have 1920SPs, equal to 2x 6850s. It will probably still perform less than 2 6850s and cost more, but as it is a single card solution it will be something to compare to.

I would play BC2 on lowest settings with GTX 580 SLI.


Still. Boooo.


----------



## SIR-IP

Last night started playing BLACK.OPS in the places with lots of smoke and fire and details i had some lags , At stock speeds . Oced the card to 850Mhz from the stock + 75% fan , it was perfect Everything was on HIGH . And the card didnt even pass 65C !


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SIR-IP*


Last night started playing BLACK.OPS in the places with lots of smoke and fire and details i had some lags , At stock speeds . Oced the card to 850Mhz from the stock + 75% fan , it was perfect Everything was on HIGH . And the card didnt even pass 65C !


When you are at 850 core, what is your idle clock? Mine stays at 850. :/


----------



## gonX

You guys should be able to do higher than 850 MHz easy. Mine does 950 MHz on stock voltage.


----------



## soilentblue

noone's running these cards under water yet? i see the blocks are for sale at some sites. the 6870 seems like it could benefit well from a waterblock


----------



## MacA

Give the 6870 a waterblock and you'll see what awesome OC truly means.

Anyways, I'm using 1.10e modded by Von, and same thing regarding my Vantage results.

Oh, and OCCT is just WOW. GPUtool for 1 hour, no problem, Furmark for 30min, no problem, OCCT for 5 minutes: 1 error. And I think it was caused by heat. OCCT is pretty much like baking your card.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
You guys should be able to do higher than 850 MHz easy. Mine does 950 MHz on stock voltage.

I can. I've hit 1ghz core.









I want a screenshot of 950mhz on stock voltage. 1hr occt go.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I can. I've hit 1ghz core.









I want a screenshot of 950mhz on stock voltage. 1hr occt go.

Uh, ok. I'll start it now. Then I'll go to bed and check in 8 hours or so. Speeds are 952/1120


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I can. I've hit 1ghz core.









I want a screenshot of 950mhz on stock voltage. 1hr occt go.

Doesn't the XFX BE 6870 hit 940mhz on stock voltage?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
Doesn't the XFX BE 6870 hit 940mhz on stock voltage?

i have a 6850.
i hope it can hit 940 on stock voltage. stock clocks are 900.


----------



## hoss331

My Asus at 955/1150 on stock voltage.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hoss331* 
My Asus at 955/1150 on stock voltage.










I see your trickery! lol.
Run it for at least an hour, then post saying you can do those speeds on stock voltage.


----------



## bfeng91

You could almost boil water on that card...


----------



## hoss331

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I see your trickery! lol.
Run it for at least an hour, then post saying you can do those speeds on stock voltage.


What trickery?







That was run for a full hour, I took the screen shot at the *last* five minutes because at the four minute mark it goes back to idling to the rest of the test. With stability tests I generally like to show it while its still being stressed at the settings im using.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bfeng91* 
You could almost boil water on that card...


This was at 60 percent fan speed and room temp was about 24C last night but this is definitely the hottest test ive run so far.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I can. I've hit 1ghz core.









I want a screenshot of 950mhz on stock voltage. 1hr occt go.

It's hard to provide a real screenshot but mine passed 1 hour of OCCT as I tried just as I woke up.
The one I tried overnight closed because I was running the power supply test and apparently my CPU temp got too high (I had turned some of my fans off) so it stopped.


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:



Originally Posted by *hoss331*


What trickery?








That was run for a full hour, I took the screen shot at the *last* five minutes because at the four minute mark it goes back to idling to the rest of the test. With stability tests I generally like to show it while its still being stressed at the settings im using.










it's ok he's never ran OCCT before he only likes to try and rain on everyone's parade by yelling *"OCCT 1 HOUR"*. It could have failed in that last 5 minutes! Geez come on!


----------



## knz

Hi all. I have just registered here, because im in need of some help.
I have a 6870 which is 940/1150 at stock (The XFX black edition.) However - I wanted to squeeze a bit more out of this card, so I ramped it up to 1000/1150 vith a volt 1.25. Tried some Crysis and BFBC2 - everything was working as intended. The temps maxed at 76C when running BFBC2 for hours (99% GPU usage).

This is the part where it all fails:
I left the computer running over night (idles about 52C on the OC i mentioned above) when I turned on my monitors, there are artifacts everywhere! Polygons forming, little dots etc. etc.
When trying to run a game it just looks like a black raveparty.
So I set TriXX to defaults, uninstalled TriXX.
Uninstalled all ATi drivers (also removed the last bits with Driver Sweeper) and GPU-Z now confirms the stock GPU/MEM/VOLTAGE - however, the artifacts is still present when I re-install the ATi drivers.
If I run the standard win7 drivers, there is no artifacts, but once I install the 10.10 Catalyst drivers, the artifacts are back.

Im trying my GPU in a friends computer tonight, to see if its the actual card that is messed up, or just my OS.

Any suggestions to what I could try in the mean time?

Edit: my hardware :
XFX 6870 BE
AMD Phenom II 965 BE
3 days old 600W PSU
MB: ASUS M4A87TD
CORSAIR 8GB DDR3 1600MHz DDR3

Edit 2: Also tried to re-insert the GPU as well as removing the MB battery for 10sec.


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *knz*


Hi all. I have just registered here, because im in need of some help.
I have a 6870 which is 940/1150 at stock (The XFX black edition.) However - I wanted to squeeze a bit more out of this card, so I ramped it up to 1000/1150 vith a volt 1.25. Tried some Crysis and BFBC2 - everything was working as intended. The temps maxed at 76C when running BFBC2 for hours (99% GPU usage).

This is the part where it all fails:
I left the computer running over night (idles about 52C on the OC i mentioned above) when I turned on my monitors, there are artifacts everywhere! Polygons forming, little dots etc. etc.
When trying to run a game it just looks like a black raveparty.
So I set TriXX to defaults, uninstalled TriXX.
Uninstalled all ATi drivers (also removed the last bits with Driver Sweeper) and GPU-Z now confirms the stock GPU/MEM/VOLTAGE - however, the artifacts is still present when I re-install the ATi drivers. 
If I run the standard win7 drivers, there is no artifacts, but once I install the 10.10 Catalyst drivers, the artifacts are back.

Im trying my GPU in a friends computer tonight, to see if its the actual card that is messed up, or just my OS.

Any suggestions to what I could try in the mean time?

Edit: my hardware :
XFX 6870 BE 
AMD Phenom II 965 BE
3 days old 600W PSU
MB: ASUS M4A87TD
CORSAIR 8GB DDR3 1600MHz DDR3

Edit 2: Also tried to re-insert the GPU as well as removing the MB battery for 10sec.


What PSU specifically? My experiences are that the cards are extremely sensitive to bad PSU's and will start artifacting like crazy if they do not get clean power. It seems odd that your card seems damaged from it though. If it still artifacts in your friends computer, it sounds like you need to RMA.


----------



## knz

Thanks for your reply








Its a "OCZ MODXSTREAM PRO 600 WATT" 
I really dont understand it if the card have taken damage from this. Some guy at a forum is running the volt I tried (1.25) on his card w/o any problems, and as I mentioned above - the card only peaked 76C after hours of gaming on the current OC.

Still, I do not understand how come it doesn't artifact or act weird in any way when running w/o drivers. Its when I install 10.10 drivers that things get messes up.

Edit: when trying to run a game, it either just artifacts like hell or crash (like it would with a bad OC)


----------



## gonX

Haha my current PSU is the 700W version of the ModXStream IIRC







It's not all that great but it definitely shouldn't cause issues like these. Have you tried with the 10.9 drivers?
Have you uninstalled all overclocking utilities? What if you install the latest beta of MSI Afterburner to check what the settings really are?
I am experiencing similar issues on my card as well. If I overvolt my card even just slightly, it will start producing similar articats (from the sounds of it) as yours right up to my card hitting 60c - after which I will no longer experience the issues (until it goes down below 60c again).


----------



## knz

Yeah, I tried both 10.9 and 10.8 from AMD but they didnt want to install drivers for my card, just the CCC? Only 10.10 package contains drivers (from the custom list where you always remove LOTR trial ^^ )

I will try to run a game to get some temps and see if it gets better. When im writing this, the gpu is idling at 41.5C with all settings (both clock and ATI CCC) on default.

GPU-Z confirms that the card is running stock 
Gaming: 940/1150 1.172V 
Dekstop: 100/300 0.945V 
-- Isnt it supposed to be 300/1150 in desktop?

Edit (again







): Ran BFBC2 to the point where the GPU stops at 68C (still stock), but it was still just black boxes and crazy colors everywhere.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Wow I'm so jealous of your 6850s. To run 950mhz I need 1.243v and it's still not stable. One day it passed 17m of Furmark and the next day it crashed after 4 minutes and crashed during Crysis.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *soilentblue*


noone's running these cards under water yet? i see the blocks are for sale at some sites. the 6870 seems like it could benefit well from a waterblock


It's pointless to put a mid-range card under water.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *knz*


Yeah, I tried both 10.9 and 10.8 from AMD but they didnt want to install drivers for my card, just the CCC? Only 10.10 package contains drivers (from the custom list where you always remove LOTR trial ^^ )

I will try to run a game to get some temps and see if it gets better. When im writing this, the gpu is idling at 41.5C with all settings (both clock and ATI CCC) on default.

GPU-Z confirms that the card is running stock 
Gaming: 940/1150 1.172V 
Dekstop: 100/300 0.945V 
-- Isnt it supposed to be 300/1150 in desktop?

Edit (again







): Ran BFBC2 to the point where the GPU stops at 68C (still stock), but it was still just black boxes and crazy colors everywhere.


Oh hey RMA time. Submit an XFX support ticket.


----------



## vicrol123

my people! what are the best frequency at stock voltage in a sapphire 6850?

1 week to get my 6850 ...I can't wait









Greetings!


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *vicrol123*


my people! what are the best frequency at stock voltage in a sapphire 6850?

1 week to get my 6850 ...I can't wait









Greetings!


I haven't seen anyone hit higher than 970 MHz on stock voltage on their 6850.


----------



## vicrol123

970? omg! heavy!! and in the memory? a decent frecuency for 24/7?

Regards!


----------



## JDMB20TDA

Hey guys real quick before I order this thing just to find out its not going to work, Heres a link to a post I made to figure out if I could run this card or not.

http://www.overclock.net/ati/872520-...0-vs-450w.html


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


I haven't seen anyone hit higher than 970 MHz on stock voltage on their 6850.


Still waiting for that screen shot.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:



Originally Posted by *knz*


Yeah, I tried both 10.9 and 10.8 from AMD but they didnt want to install drivers for my card, just the CCC? Only 10.10 package contains drivers (from the custom list where you always remove LOTR trial ^^ )

I will try to run a game to get some temps and see if it gets better. When im writing this, the gpu is idling at 41.5C with all settings (both clock and ATI CCC) on default.

GPU-Z confirms that the card is running stock 
Gaming: 940/1150 1.172V 
Dekstop: 100/300 0.945V 
-- Isnt it supposed to be 300/1150 in desktop?

Edit (again







): Ran BFBC2 to the point where the GPU stops at 68C (still stock), but it was still just black boxes and crazy colors everywhere.


It sounds like the card is pretty much cooked, I would either get an RMA started or send it back to where you bought it from and get another one.


----------



## DB006

Got my 6870 XFX Black Edition today, notice that the volts are already 1.172 so whacked the core upto 1000 and the memory upto 1200. Runs sweet


----------



## hoss331

~1.175 is stock voltage for all 6870s afaik


----------



## MorbEIn

Hye guys, just want to ask something, been using my 6870 since release, always idling at 40C, but my question is this. I odnt have my 6870 overclocked or anything, but i dont get the idle speed of 100/300 you lot are getting? i mean it's not downclocking itself when my pc is idle.. it just stays at 900/1050... so i have to keep my fan at 40% or else it will idle at 50C...

im using 2 monitors btw.. if that helps?

^_^


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MorbEIn*


Hye guys, just want to ask something, been using my 6870 since release, always idling at 40C, but my question is this. I odnt have my 6870 overclocked or anything, but i dont get the idle speed of 100/300 you lot are getting? i mean it's not downclocking itself when my pc is idle.. it just stays at 900/1050... so i have to keep my fan at 40% or else it will idle at 50C...

im using 2 monitors btw.. if that helps?

^_^


What drivers are you on?

I officially hate AMD/ATI now. The drivers are just a nightmare. I'm trying to get 10.11 installed, but when I go to install it, it doesn't give me an option to install the display driver, just the Catalyst Install Manager. ***.


----------



## SIR-IP

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


You guys should be able to do higher than 850 MHz easy. Mine does 950 MHz on stock voltage.


Im yeah mine did 975 on stock V but my PSU gets very very hot and starts to smell like burning







Im waiting to get my pay check the a new PSU .


----------



## MorbEIn

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


What drivers are you on?

I officially hate AMD/ATI now. The drivers are just a nightmare. I'm trying to get 10.11 installed, but when I go to install it, it doesn't give me an option to install the display driver, just the Catalyst Install Manager. ***.










10.10e ^_^

btw, 10.11 doesnt support 6xxx series from what i've read. we ahve to wait for 10.12


----------



## MorbEIn

Note! AMD Catalystâ„¢ 10.11 does not provide support for the AMD Radeonâ„¢ HD 68xx series of graphics cards. Full support for these graphics cards is targeted to be available in the AMD Catalyst 10.12 driver release.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...tion&rev=10.10


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MorbEIn*


Note! AMD Catalystâ„¢ 10.11 does not provide support for the AMD Radeonâ„¢ HD 68xx series of graphics cards. Full support for these graphics cards is targeted to be available in the AMD Catalyst 10.12 driver release.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...tion&rev=10.10


Oh. That's kinda ****ty.
Well, going back to 10.10e


----------



## MorbEIn

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Oh. That's kinda ****ty.
Well, going back to 10.10e


How about my question?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MorbEIn*


How about my question?










It's a driver issue. AMD = guaranteed driver issues.


----------



## MorbEIn

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


It's a driver issue. AMD = guaranteed driver issues.


XD you hate AMD that much?







but fair enough, they do release annoying drivers...


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MorbEIn*


XD you hate AMD that much?







but fair enough, they do release annoying drivers...


No, their products are fine, and I am hopeful for Bulldozer to smash the competition.
But dear god do they need to work on their drivers.


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Still waiting for that screen shot.










I thought I already said it but it's hard to provide a real screenshot since it closes as soon as it hits that 1 hour mark. Last time I wasn't around when it hit that mark so I was unable to get a screenshot. But OCCT GPU test with shader complexity 8 passed on 952/1120 stock voltages. Take my word for it.


----------



## knz

Just got back from my friends house. Bad news - the card was acting crazy on his computer as well







Its dead. Shipping it back to the store tomorrow, hoping it wont take more than 3 weeks (if im lucky).

We meet again, GF 9800GT


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

When overclocking a GPU, out of the two, what makes the biggest impact on performance, Core or Memory?

example:

Core:1000
Memory: 1250

or

Core: 1100
Memory: 1150

I'd test this but I'm currently at work. Will rep.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


I thought I already said it but it's hard to provide a real screenshot since it closes as soon as it hits that 1 hour mark. Last time I wasn't around when it hit that mark so I was unable to get a screenshot. But OCCT GPU test with shader complexity 8 passed on 952/1120 stock voltages. Take my word for it.


This is the internet.
You need pictures to back up a statement like that. 850 on stock voltage, sure. But 950, a 175MHz jump, on stock voltage? Pics or it didn't happen.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


When overclocking a GPU, out of the two, what makes the biggest impact on performance, Core or Memory?

example:

Core:1000
Memory: 1250

or

Core: 1100
Memory: 1150

I'd test this but I'm currently at work. Will rep.


I've heard that these graphics cards benefit more from higher memory clocks than core clocks.
What bench should I run to test this theory?


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


This is the internet.
You need pictures to back up a statement like that. 850 on stock voltage, sure. But 950, a 175MHz jump, on stock voltage? Pics or it didn't happen.

I've heard that these graphics cards benefit more from higher memory clocks than core clocks.
*What bench should I run to test this theory?*


how about the heaven benchmark


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


When overclocking a GPU, out of the two, what makes the biggest impact on performance, Core or Memory?

example:

Core:1000
Memory: 1250

or

Core: 1100
Memory: 1150

I'd test this but I'm currently at work. Will rep.


Depends on the game. If you run really heavy AA (let's say 32x), then a higher memory clock will probably let you benefit more than not, but for the most part higher clock frequencies help out.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda* 
how about the heaven benchmark

I'll run it once at stock, once at 950 core/stock mem, then once at stock core/1200 mem.
Sound good?


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I'll run it once at stock, once at 950 core/stock mem, then once at stock core/1200 mem.
Sound good?

Yup & when I get home from work I'm going to try to lower my memory and bump the core up and test as well.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda* 
Yup & when I get home from work I'm going to try to lower my memory and bump the core up and test as well.

They both seem to affect the throughput about the same it seems.


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
They both seem to affect the throughput about the same it seems.




























Just as a comparison, just ran Heaven using the same settings as yours with an XFX 6870 Black Edition on stock clocks 940/1150


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
Just as a comparison, just ran Heaven using the same settings as yours with an XFX 6870 Black Edition on stock clocks 940/1150










Yeah. My drivers are a little iffy right now. Waiting for 10.12 atm.


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
Just as a comparison, just ran Heaven using the same settings as yours with an XFX 6870 Black Edition on stock clocks 940/1150










Run it at 1920x1080 or 1920x1200.


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
Run it at 1920x1080 or 1920x1200.

1920x1080 is my displays max


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
1920x1080 is my displays max










Great score my friend. Thanks!!


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds* 
Great score my friend. Thanks!!

Overclocked run at 1000/1210 on stock voltage


----------



## kilimats

Just sharing with you guys my little project. I'll install the thermalright spitfire on my Gigabyte 6870 this week, ill post some pic and TEMP comparison


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda* 
When overclocking a GPU, out of the two, what makes the biggest impact on performance, Core or Memory?

example:

Core:1000
Memory: 1250

or

Core: 1100
Memory: 1150

I'd test this but I'm currently at work. Will rep.


Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
I'll run it once at stock, once at 950 core/stock mem, then once at stock core/1200 mem.
Sound good?

Here are my results. I wish I had more time to test different clock rates though.

Core:10*20*
Memory: 1200
Attachment 181888

Core:1000
Memory: 12*50*
Attachment 181889

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
They both seem to affect the throughput about the same it seems.

I pretty much came up with the same results.


----------



## slytown

Add me.


----------



## sunnyFTW

i cant touch 1000/1200 mhz









on 1.215 volt

my system hangs even on 980/1150 mhz























is my card weak ?????


----------



## nagle3092

Heres some more heaven benchmarks

stock


940/1150


I dont care to bother overclocking these cards yet so I figured I would just see how they would score if they were the XFX black edition cards.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda* 
Here are my results. I wish I had more time to test different clock rates though.

Core:10*20*
Memory: 1200
Attachment 181888

Core:1000
Memory: 12*50*
Attachment 181889

I pretty much came up with the same results.

-_-
Pro reading skills there. I have a 68*5*0.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
-_-
Pro reading skills there. I have a 68*5*0.


----------



## VZif

Bought the XFX model off Newegg (for their warranty)...HD6870. Have to say..I'm so impressed I might just buy two more!


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *VZif* 
Bought the XFX model off Newegg (for their warranty)...HD6870. Have to say..I'm so impressed I might just buy two more!

You can only CF 2 HD68xx cards.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda* 


















I mixed you up with someone else.


----------



## raisethe3

Really? What about the 5xxx series? 4 or more?

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
You can only CF 2 HD68xx cards.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *raisethe3* 
Really? What about the 5xxx series? 4 or more?

The 6800 series only have 1 crossfire finger. That means only 2-way crossfire.
The 5000 series have 2 crossfire fingers, meaning 3 or 4 way crossfire.

Nothing can be set up in anything higher than 4-way crossfire or SLI


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 








I mixed you up with someone else.

lol, you're right. I did


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Heres some more heaven benchmarks

I dont care to bother overclocking these cards yet so I figured I would just see how they would score if they were the XFX black edition cards.

By any chance have you ran the heaven bench mark on a single card? I'm kind of curious what how much the difference is.


----------



## sunnyFTW

can any1 help me OCing my msi 6870 ??????????


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
can any1 help me OCing my msi 6870 ??????????

Read the stickies in this section. They should get you going easily.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda* 
Core:1000
Memory: 12*50*
Attachment 181889

Do you guys think my score is low for my sig specs?


----------



## EzzA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MorbEIn* 
Hye guys, just want to ask something, been using my 6870 since release, always idling at 40C, but my question is this. I odnt have my 6870 overclocked or anything, but i dont get the idle speed of 100/300 you lot are getting? i mean it's not downclocking itself when my pc is idle.. it just stays at 900/1050... so i have to keep my fan at 40% or else it will idle at 50C...

im using 2 monitors btw.. if that helps?

^_^

There are 2 possible causes I know of:
- Overdrive is enabled in CCC, (this is a known problem that will be fixed in future drivers)
- You are running 2 monitors. If you disable the 2nd monitor in CCC it should revert to it's low clock state. You can setup 2 diff profiles in CCC so you can switch between 1 or 2 monitors if you want.


----------



## knz

Maybe a bit off-topic, but im asking anyway (because it's also on-topic in a way!







)

Do you think my 600W PSU (see "my system signature) would handle 2x6870 in CF?
Edit: I have 2x 120mm fans and 2x 80mm fans no fan controller, water pump etc. Only 1x DVD RW drive.

I am aware of the PSU calculators out there. I just wanna hear what you guys think ^^


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
i cant touch 1000/1200 mhz









on 1.215 volt

my system hangs even on 980/1150 mhz























is my card weak ?????

I had to bump my voltage to 1.3 (1.299 in msi after burner) in order to get 1ghz stable.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *knz* 
Maybe a bit off-topic, but im asking anyway (because it's also on-topic in a way!







)

Do you think my 600W PSU (see "my system signature) would handle 2x6870 in CF?
Edit: I have 2x 120mm fans and 2x 80mm fans no fan controller, water pump etc. Only 1x DVD RW drive.

I am aware of the PSU calculators out there. I just wanna hear what you guys think ^^

No it is not enough, honestly though I would get a better psu. I had the same psu untill I snatched up this XFX one.


----------



## Razi3l

*--Updated--
Forgive the delay, cheers*


----------



## EzzA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *knz* 
Maybe a bit off-topic, but im asking anyway (because it's also on-topic in a way!







)

Do you think my 600W PSU (see "my system signature) would handle 2x6870 in CF?
Edit: I have 2x 120mm fans and 2x 80mm fans no fan controller, water pump etc. Only 1x DVD RW drive.

I am aware of the PSU calculators out there. I just wanna hear what you guys think ^^

Basically no. It might boot up and work if you haven't overclocked anything but it would be pushing the PSU VERY hard. You wouldn't be able to overclock at all or you would be way past the PSU limits straight away.


----------



## knz

I understand. I really want a 750W+ high quality PSU so I can install CF later in life.
(since my MB can manage 16x on the PCI-e ports in CrossFire) it would be awesome. Thanks for the reply


----------



## zenoob

ati his 6870









card @ idle load is running 300 gpu core but still 1050 memory (i have dual screens). Is it because of the dual screen?

also playin world of warcraft the diff isnt that huge , gpu load is around 20-30% in a full raid , is something wrong there? some of the lag is gone though. i upgraded it from a 4870 which died after 2 years


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zenoob* 
ati his 6870
card @ idle load is running 300 gpu core but still 1050 memory (i have dual screens). Is it because of the dual screen?

also playin world of warcraft the diff isnt that huge , gpu load is around 20-30% in a full raid , is something wrong there? some of the lag is gone though. i upgraded it from a 4870 which died after 2 years

Yea with 2 screens the idle core clock is 300 but memory does go up afaik. From what i hear WoW is more heavy on the CPU with huge raids and stuff, idk lol overclock your CPU more?


----------



## zenoob

its a Q9550 the game doesnot max out my cpu it sits around 20-30%.

is there a way to make edit the idle/2d profile for it to download the memory as well?

would be gr8









idle temps are around 59-60 now because of the high memory clock which sucks


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zenoob* 
its a Q9550 the game doesnot max out my cpu it sits around 20-30%.

is there a way to make edit the idle/2d profile for it to download the memory as well?

would be gr8









idle temps are around 59-60 now because of the high memory clock which sucks

WoW isn't all that great for multithreading. Are you sure it's not loading a full core?


----------



## Behemoth777

So are there any good universal overclocking programs with voltage control yet? Does afterburner support voltage control? Last time I checked, it didn't.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
So are there any good universal overclocking programs with voltage control yet? Does afterburner support voltage control? Last time I checked, it didn't.

The beta versions of MSI Afterburner works fine.


----------



## zenoob

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
WoW isn't all that great for multithreading. Are you sure it's not loading a full core?

there are some settings in wow to make it use all 4 cores , its around 17-20% on an i7 950 so that cant be the case.

yes i am sure its not loading a full core ;p

i dont really know what else could be the problem , atm i am waiting for my other games to arrive and downloading 3dmark etc.

would be nice if i can edit those idle clocks just to play around with them









my pc is open 24/7 i hope it wont be a problem currently with those temps and gpu mem always at full speed


----------



## gonX

Ok. They must have changed that with patch 4.0 then.

Do you perhaps have VSync enabled? Or is max FPS enabled? The latter is enabled by default, which might explain why. Turn up the multisampling if it is









While you're at it please fill out your system specs. It helps troubleshooting immensely:
http://overclock.net/specs.php?do=addsystem


----------



## zenoob

i did it now , tried with both vsync on and off(was off initially) , fps options is maxxed

ill do some more testing (raid tomo) and post here if i find something


----------



## caffeinescandal

Add me! My ASUS Radeon HD 6850 came in from newegg yesterday.


----------



## MacA

Oh, I'm still not a member, I forgot.
My VTX3D Radeon 6870 (chinese branch of Powercolor if I remember right)


----------



## EzzA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zenoob* 
card @ idle load is running 300 gpu core but still 1050 memory (i have dual screens). Is it because of the dual screen?

Probably yes. Go into CCC and disable the 2nd monitor temporarily and see if your clocks drop down. If they do then you can go into the CCC profile manager and make 2 separate profiles for 1/2 monitors, if you want.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zenoob* 
also playin world of warcraft the diff isnt that huge , gpu load is around 20-30% in a full raid , is something wrong there? some of the lag is gone though. i upgraded it from a 4870 which died after 2 years

It's almost certainly a CPU bottleneck. What you have to remember is that your CPU has 4 cores in total so a single threaded app can only use 25% maximum of the CPU. More modern games are multi-threaded so they can benefit from more cores but only to a small extent. There are no games yet that FULLY use quad core CPU. If you can you should overclock your CPU and it will give you a nice FPS boost.
Also to confirm its a CPU bottleneck you can reduce the resolution or AA and if the framerate stays relatively the same that means its a CPU bottleneck.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
So are there any good universal overclocking programs with voltage control yet? Does afterburner support voltage control? Last time I checked, it didn't.

MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 2 supports HD 6850 voltage control.
MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 3 supports HD 6870 voltage control.
MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 4 supports GTX 580 voltage control.

Sapphire TriXX 3.0 Beta supports voltage control for all HD 68xx.


----------



## zenoob

@ Ezza : sorry , i think i wasnt clear before , if i gimp up the settings the fps does go up with the same cpu utilization but the gpu load is not going up stays the same if i higher up the settings which is around 26-30%. I just think wow engine is broken or they will do something with the upcoming expansion.

i meant the total cpu usage not per core for the app. wow has a feature to divide into cores , before this it was even lagging more


----------



## gonX

If you're running at Ultra settings, try the d3d11 renderer instead of the d3d9 renderer. Simply add '-d3d11' to the end of your WoW shortcut path, so that it goes from this (including quotes):
"C:\\Program Files\\World of Warcraft\\Launcher.exe"

to this:
"C:\\Program Files\\World of Warcraft\\Launcher.exe" -d3d11


----------



## knz

Have any of you guys experienced a PSU that destroys graphic cards?
Im the guy who had a dead (RMA) XFX 6870 BE earlier in this thread.

I tested the 6870 on my friends computer, and the card was artifacting and freezing on his computer as well.

So I RMA'ed the 6870 and inserted my old GF 9800GT. Guess what. After 24 hours of usage, the GF-card is having the same error! I have been monitoring the temps (always) when playing from a second monitor, and they have never been high (mid 70s GPU and mid 50s CPU).
I have also tried to put the old GF-card back into my old AMDx2 computer, and its acting up there as well, so its wrecked ...

I have called the store, and they refuse to accept that my PSU is the case. They are insisting that I am overheating my components









Luckily, in my country, we have 14 days money back guarantee on all products, so Im just returning the PSU and buying a new one.
I am not happy right now


----------



## calebkan

did anybody try MSI Afterburner Max Voltage Unlocker for 1.4v on 6780...?
i am looking already whos giving 1.4v and whats the results?any info about this?

ty...


----------



## TripleC

me on list

HIS Radeon HD 6850 1GB


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 2 supports HD 6850 voltage control.
MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 3 supports HD 6870 voltage control.
MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 4 supports GTX 580 voltage control.

Sapphire TriXX 3.0 Beta supports voltage control for all HD 68xx.

I just downloaded the beta 4 and I still have no voltage control. I put the unofficial overclocking to 1 and the voltage control to 1 in the cfg file and still no voltage control.









Guess it's back to using smart doctor.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TripleC* 
me on list

HIS Radeon HD 6850 1GB

Nice, the first HIS HD 6850. I was just about to pick one up myself for $170 but the a-hole sold it to someone else.

So how does it run? Particularly the noise, temps, and VID?

EDIT: Did you buy it? LOL

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Behemoth777* 
I just downloaded the beta 4 and I still have no voltage control. I put the unofficial overclocking to 1 and the voltage control to 1 in the cfg file and still no voltage control.









Guess it's back to using smart doctor.









What. SS Proof?


----------



## TheBear

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
did anybody try MSI Afterburner Max Voltage Unlocker for 1.4v on 6780...?
i am looking already whos giving 1.4v and whats the results?any info about this?

ty...

I tried it here are the results @ 1.4V fan @ 100% max. temp was 78-79c:





[Memory is stable 1200 fr vatage but not for games so I lowered it a bit.]

I think this clock could be for every day use with water cooling or some really good air cooler.


----------



## calebkan

hımm ty bro for results.....

but i know there is a some results

1030x1180 and vantage=18k
1065x1150 and vantage=18,5k

http://www.overclock.net/ati/855698-...rclocks-2.html

your score 1080x1200 and vantage 17500..!!

so..max voltage unlocker is it work or not?


----------



## 404

I would have bought it, but I got the GTX460 before I even know they were going to release this card. Whatever.


----------



## TheBear

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
hımm ty bro for results.....

but i know there is a some results

1030x1180 and vantage=18k
1065x1150 and vantage=18,5k

http://www.overclock.net/ati/855698-...rclocks-2.html

your score 1080x1200 and vantage 17500..!!

so..max voltage unlocker is it work or not?

It works but you need Core i7 for better result, processor is bottleneck in Vantage.


----------



## calebkan

no








i am talking about only gpu score...not cpu score..or last score.


----------



## TheBear

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
no








i am talking about only gpu score...not cpu score..or last score.

I also talk about GPU score.

Here's screenshot of my card just I tested it on another system with Core i7 930 @ 4.2Ghz HT on.

This was 1050/1200:


GPU Score depends on processor !


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
What. SS Proof?

lolwut.

Anyways, I'm not going to be using voltage control. If I crank the volts past 1.2v, the temps shoot up, and it doesn't even give me any better stability then I had at 1.175v.


----------



## calebkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TheBear*


I also talk about GPU score.

Here's screenshot of my card just I tested it on another system with Core i7 930 @ 4.2Ghz HT on.

This was 1050/1200:


GPU Score depends on processor !


hımm interesting..i didnt know gpu scores depends on processor in vantage..

ty for all answers bro


----------



## doomsdaybg




----------



## zenoob

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gonX* 
If you're running at Ultra settings, try the d3d11 renderer instead of the d3d9 renderer. Simply add '-d3d11' to the end of your WoW shortcut path, so that it goes from this (including quotes):
"C:\\Program Files\\World of Warcraft\\Launcher.exe"

to this:
"C:\\Program Files\\World of Warcraft\\Launcher.exe" -d3d11


No luck so far same thing , what i tried was full screen mode (was on full max windowed mode before). it didnt help.

I am sure it has something to do with wow engine.

In middle of dalaran with 60-70 Fps but in 25men raids its not stable to anywhere near that value

Cpu usage stays the same as well regardless of idle/combat.

Gpu load went up to 40% with ultra settings.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zenoob* 
No luck so far same thing , what i tried was full screen mode (was on full max windowed mode before). it didnt help.

I am sure it has something to do with wow engine.

In middle of dalaran with 60-70 Fps but in 25men raids its not stable to anywhere near that value

Cpu usage stays the same as well regardless of idle/combat.

Gpu load went up to 40% with ultra settings.

Sounds odd. I haven't played WoW since 4.0.3a hit because of work. I might be able to put in a few hours here in the weekend. I'll get back to you and tell you what my values are.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zenoob* 
No luck so far same thing , what i tried was full screen mode (was on full max windowed mode before). it didnt help.

I am sure it has something to do with wow engine.

In middle of dalaran with 60-70 Fps but in 25men raids its not stable to anywhere near that value

Cpu usage stays the same as well regardless of idle/combat.

Gpu load went up to 40% with ultra settings.

Are you only getting the FPS issues in huge raids etc? My CPU usage is consistently at 2-3% while in Mulgore starting areas while my GPU usage is at 95-99% with everything maxed at 1920x1080.
It sounds more like a network card issue than anything else. My father is experiencing a similar issue with Counter-Strike on crowded servers.


----------



## zenoob

yes i am getting fps issue in raids during combat.(only 25men raids)

i can try to change my network card but both of them are built in board and are marvel controllers.

i tried to lan the network cards up the speed input/output its giving is okay .

wow doesnot take much internet bandwidth.

starcraft2 is working awesome @ ultra with 60+fps

i still dont get why my gpu doesnot go over 40% usage.


----------



## EzzA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zenoob* 
yes i am getting fps issue in raids during combat.(only 25men raids)

i can try to change my network card but both of them are built in board and are marvel controllers.

i tried to lan the network cards up the speed input/output its giving is okay .

wow doesnot take much internet bandwidth.

starcraft2 is working awesome @ ultra with 60+fps

i still dont get why my gpu doesnot go over 40% usage.

The reason your GPU doesn't go above 40% is probably because it is being starved for data by the CPU. WoW is infamous for being especially tough on the CPU and for not having very good threading. gonX is able to max out his GPU usage because he has a MUCH faster CPU feeding his slightly slower GPU.

There are 2 ways to prove or disprove a CPU bottleneck:
1. Run back to back tests where the only thing you change is the CPU speed. eg. lower or raise the CPU by +/- 10% and your FPS will change by the same amount.
2. Run back to back tests, but ONLY change the resolution or AA, any other settings may affect the load on the CPU. Your FPS should not change.

PS. I know your CPU load is not going above approx 32% but this is irrelevant.


----------



## zenoob

Quote:



Originally Posted by *EzzA*


The reason your GPU doesn't go above 40% is probably because it is being starved for data by the CPU. WoW is infamous for being especially tough on the CPU and for not having very good threading. gonX is able to max out his GPU usage because he has a MUCH faster CPU feeding his slightly slower GPU.

There are 2 ways to prove or disprove a CPU bottleneck:
1. Run back to back tests where the only thing you change is the CPU speed. eg. lower or raise the CPU by +/- 10% and your FPS will change by the same amount.
2. Run back to back tests, but ONLY change the resolution or AA, any other settings may affect the load on the CPU. Your FPS should not change.

PS. I know your CPU load is not going above approx 32% but this is irrelevant.



i ran 3dmark06 , cpu does go 100% on the cpu test and the GPU load goes up to 100% on the gpu test it does (cpu is around 30-40% max on gpu tests).

i oced it a bit and same values on world of warcraft.

I read some wow forums and found something about 2d clocks being used when you play wow . 2d clocks = when gpu idle itself ? because my gpu is always 900/1050 when wow is up with 30% gpu load so i am pretty sure that aint 2d clock.

Ill post it once i find a final solution to this.


----------



## inclorets

I got a sapphire 6870 and have been testing it out a bit. I am getting some strange artifacts like this below picture. If I resize my browser than the artifacts disappear but they appear again if I start scrolling up and down any websites.

I'm just running the card at stock speed. Did I get a defective card? I'm running windows xp sp3 with 850w corsair psu. Anyway to test if I have a defective card or could it be just driver issue(using 10.10b since that's the latest one ati has released for xp)?


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *inclorets*


I got a sapphire 6870 and have been testing it out a bit. I am getting some strange artifacts like this below picture. If I resize my browser than the artifacts disappear but they appear again if I start scrolling up and down any websites.

I'm just running the card at stock speed. Did I get a defective card? I'm running windows xp sp3 with 850w corsair psu. Anyway to test if I have a defective card or could it be just driver issue(using 10.10b since that's the latest one ati has released for xp)?










Try running FurMark to see if your card does the same thing there. If it doesn't, then it's a driver issue.


----------



## inclorets

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Try running FurMark to see if your card does the same thing there. If it doesn't, then it's a driver issue.


Ahh yes. I'll download 3dmark06 and test it out. Thanks.


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *inclorets*


Ahh yes. I'll download 3dmark06 and test it out. Thanks.


Just use FurMark. It's much smaller and stresses your card more than 3DMark06 does.


----------



## inclorets

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Just use FurMark. It's much smaller and stresses your card more than 3DMark06 does.


Oh, I somehow thought you meant to try futuremark software. I'll test my card with furmark 1.8.2. So, how long should I run furmark? 30 minutes?


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *inclorets*


Oh, I somehow thought you meant to try futuremark software. I'll test my card with furmark 1.8.2. So, how long should I run furmark? 30 minutes?


Oh haha. Yeah 30 minutes should be fine - in fact the issues, if any, should happen within the first few minutes. But if you can run it for 30 minutes you can be pretty sure that nothing is wrong with your card.


----------



## slytown

My auto fan control isn't working on my xfx. Anyone else? If I want more performance I have to crank up my fan manually each time I use my card full load.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *slytown*


My auto fan control isn't working on my xfx. Anyone else? If I want more performance I have to crank up my fan manually each time I use my card full load.


I'm sure it is working the fans just ramp up very slowly. But if it isnt go into CCC and apply the defaults and see if that helps. Also if your using afterburner check the fan option at the bottom and make sure its set to user defined.


----------



## DB006

Don't forget when you ramp up the clocks in CCC it causes the memory speed to stay on full rather than clocking down. This keeps temps up near 50c.


----------



## slytown

Does MSI's afterburner work on my xfx?


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *slytown*


Does MSI's afterburner work on my xfx?


Yes


----------



## inclorets

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Oh haha. Yeah 30 minutes should be fine - in fact the issues, if any, should happen within the first few minutes. But if you can run it for 30 minutes you can be pretty sure that nothing is wrong with your card.


Well, I ran furmark 3 different times. First time for 5 mins, then 6 mins then for 10 mins. My gpu temp topped out at 82c but I didn't see any artifacts. Hope this means my gpu is ok and those artifacts I see while browsing are just due to bad drivers.


----------



## Fallen Angel -X

Anyone mind posting up some 6850 vantage results?

Review sites have very mixed results

Cheers


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *inclorets*


Well, I ran furmark 3 different times. First time for 5 mins, then 6 mins then for 10 mins. My gpu temp topped out at 82c but I didn't see any artifacts. Hope this means my gpu is ok and those artifacts I see while browsing are just due to bad drivers.


Yeah that sounds like bad drivers.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Fallen Angel -X*


Anyone mind posting up some 6850 vantage results?

Review sites have very mixed results

Cheers


I get P17152 with my sig rig, 970/1150 GPU speeds.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


I get P17152 with my sig rig, 970/1150 GPU speeds.


I think he meant GPU score.


----------



## inclorets

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Yeah that sounds like bad drivers.


Yeah I hope so. Return period for this card is almost up and I rather not deal with sapphire's rma process..


----------



## smoke420

proud owner of two new asus eah6850 for crossfire and they run great but hot.i also have a gtx260 216core for physx.My cpu is a phenom ll x4 945 @ 3.5 and my psu is a corsair 850tx.right now i have to lower my cpu voltage and clocks or my system will reboot while loading 3dmark06.my question is how much of a bottleneck is my cpu @3.5 versus 3.75 would it be worth removing my physx card to get my cpu overclock higher?(cant afford a psu right now)
vantage gpu22000+,cpu42000+,overall25500..thats with physx though


----------



## kilimats

As promised

My ultra quiet computer is finaly done







(only fan in my case is the inaudible 200mm at the top with very very low airflow)

*Stock 6870 Heatsink:*
20% fan idle = 62 degrees (Near quiet)
Auto fan in 3D game = 67 degrees (NOISY)

*6870 with Thermalright Spitfire*
Fan less idle = 52 degrees
Fan less gaming = 83 degrees

Pictures


----------



## sunnyFTW

COOL

btw where is ur PSU ???????


----------



## kilimats

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
COOL

btw where is ur PSU ???????









Antec P180 Mini


----------



## sunnyFTW

rofl

my bad









can we add fan on **** fire ????


----------



## kilimats

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
rofl

my bad









can we add fan on **** fire ????

sure, optional though (only the fan holder is included): http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_pa..._spitfire.html


----------



## sunnyFTW

great then









but ur idle temps on stock fan is very high :O

mine never go above 47" @24% fan speed


----------



## kilimats

^ it was high because I manually set the fan to 20% in Catalyst and my case has minimal airflow, my goal is not COLD but SILENCE


----------



## sunnyFTW

dont u think 80"+ is too high ???


----------



## kilimats

^ When you game with stock fan set @ 20% speed, the AMD catalyst overwrite the setting and blow out full speed for half a sec to maintain the temp at 100 degrees. So for AMD, 100 is the limit before the chip start taking damage i would guess

80 degrees was common back in the days with P4 with stock heatsink also 80 degrees is only 20 degrees more than stock temp (60). So ya, it is perfectly safe IMO


----------



## sunnyFTW

ok thanks for the info









btw can any 1 give me link of any 5850 vs 6870 bench mark thread/forum

BUT NO REVIEW SITES PLS.......


----------



## EzzA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *inclorets* 
I got a sapphire 6870 and have been testing it out a bit. I am getting some strange artifacts like this below picture. If I resize my browser than the artifacts disappear but they appear again if I start scrolling up and down any websites.

I'm just running the card at stock speed. Did I get a defective card? I'm running windows xp sp3 with 850w corsair psu. Anyway to test if I have a defective card or could it be just driver issue(using 10.10b since that's the latest one ati has released for xp)?









Hey inclorets, I have the exact same problem with my 6850 when I use XP. The problem doesn't appear in win7 so it has to be a driver issue.
Try scrolling using the arrows on the scroll bar, I think when I did this the corruption didn't occur.


----------



## inclorets

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EzzA* 
Hey inclorets, I have the exact same problem with my 6850 when I use XP. The problem doesn't appear in win7 so it has to be a driver issue.
Try scrolling using the arrows on the scroll bar, I think when I did this the corruption didn't occur.

Hello EzzA,

I see. I will try your suggestion. Whew, this means my gpu isn't defective. Thanks for your help guys.







I really ought to upgrade my os to windows 7 one of these days..


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *inclorets* 
Hello EzzA,

I see. I will try your suggestion. Whew, this means my gpu isn't defective. Thanks for your help guys.







I really ought to upgrade my os to windows 7 one of these days..

You really should. One of the big things about these cards is DX11, which you have zero access to.


----------



## inclorets

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
You really should. One of the big things about these cards is DX11, which you have zero access to.









Ahh maybe this card is defective afterall. Or maybe was pushed a bit too much by testing it with furmark. I just saw a 1" vertical grey line on the screen. Turning off and turning back on my monitor got rid of the grey line. Looks like I will have to just return this card..:<


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *inclorets* 
Ahh maybe this card is defective afterall. Or maybe was pushed a bit too much by testing it with furmark. I just saw a 1" vertical grey line on the screen. Turning off and turning back on my monitor got rid of the grey line. Looks like I will have to just return this card..:<

If you were doing Furmark at stock clocks, it is defective, yes.
If you were doing Furmark at overclocks, then it was your own doing, and you'd have to be very charismatic to get an RMA.


----------



## inclorets

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
If you were doing Furmark at stock clocks, it is defective, yes.
If you were doing Furmark at overclocks, then it was your own doing, and you'd have to be very charismatic to get an RMA.

I been running and testing out my card at stock speed. I'm pretty speechless right now. Barely used gpu that's already dying. What ever happened to quality control. smh


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *inclorets* 
I been running and testing out my card at stock speed. I'm pretty speechless right now. Barely used gpu that's already dying. What ever happened to quality control. smh

oh. then file for RMA.


----------



## disemvoweled

Newest member!

Bought this Sapphire 6850 off of michintom









Just put it in, so I haven't touched any of the settings yet, waiting on replacement RAM.


----------



## Numpty

I haven't read the whole thread but has anyone got MSI afterburner to work under a 6870? I tried version 2.0 and the 2.1 beta and enabled voltage control in the options but I still wasn't able to adjust the voltage









Was able to get 950 core and 1240mem out of it on stock voltage through CCC so not all's bad


----------



## knz

Hi guys.
Im now on my 2nd XFX 6870 card. The first was RMA due to artifacts that appeared about 2-3 days into usage.

Now on my 2nd card, I have another weird issue.
Listen to this:
When browsing certain websites, my main monitor seems to dim for some reason. Its not just the browser, its also the start menu on the actual screen. The screen just adjusts its brightness down barely.
It always happen on this site: http://eu.battle.net/en/promotion/ and in some games, like CS:S. LogMeIn also dims the entire monitor when im working on a RDP computer.

Also, when the monitor dims, the computer makes a low noise, like a fan powering up or something, but in the ATi CCC, it doesnt say that the GPU fan or GPU core is working any harder than idle, so I relly don't know whats happening.
I have the 10.10 drivers with the hotfix. (10e something)

Going to re-install windows and see if it helps, because this OS have been tampered with (alot of different drivers etc. becase of the RMA card I just had)

Im confused ... again


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *knz* 
Hi guys.
Im now on my 2nd XFX 6870 card. The first was RMA due to artifacts that appeared about 2-3 days into usage.

Now on my 2nd card, I have another weird issue.
Listen to this:
When browsing certain websites, my main monitor seems to dim for some reason. Its not just the browser, its also the start menu on the actual screen. The screen just adjusts its brightness down barely.
It always happen on this site: http://eu.battle.net/en/promotion/ and in some games, like CS:S. LogMeIn also dims the entire monitor when im working on a RDP computer.

Also, when the monitor dims, the computer makes a low noise, like a fan powering up or something, but in the ATi CCC, it doesnt say that the GPU fan or GPU core is working any harder than idle, so I relly don't know whats happening.
I have the 10.10 drivers with the hotfix. (10e something)

Going to re-install windows and see if it helps, because this OS have been tampered with (alot of different drivers etc. becase of the RMA card I just had)

Im confused ... again

If you still get the strange issues it may still be the card, but i think Catalyst 10.11 are out, try those after you reinstall windows


----------



## knz

If I now have a 2nd "dead" card, I wont buy another 6870.
Also, the 10.11 drivers doesn't support 6XXX series.

Im trying my luck, and doing a complete re-install of Windows.
I would still like some of you guys to check out the page I linked to, just to see if anyone else have the samme issue. Thanks. (Link: http://eu.battle.net/en/promotion/ )

Edit: LOL, nevermind. It was just my Samsung TFT that had enabled "MagicBright" - it wasnt so magic afterwall, just buggy as hell.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


Originally Posted by *knz* 
If I now have a 2nd "dead" card, I wont buy another 6870.
Also, the 10.11 drivers doesn't support 6XXX series.

Im trying my luck, and doing a complete re-install of Windows.
I would still like some of you guys to check out the page I linked to, just to see if anyone else have the samme issue. Thanks. (Link: http://eu.battle.net/en/promotion/ )

Edit: LOL, nevermind. It was just my Samsung TFT that had enabled "MagicBright" - it wasnt so magic afterwall, just buggy as hell.









 lol


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *knz* 
If I now have a 2nd "dead" card, I wont buy another 6870.
Also, the 10.11 drivers doesn't support 6XXX series.

Im trying my luck, and doing a complete re-install of Windows.
I would still like some of you guys to check out the page I linked to, just to see if anyone else have the samme issue. Thanks. (Link: http://eu.battle.net/en/promotion/ )

Edit: LOL, nevermind. It was just my Samsung TFT that had enabled "MagicBright" - it wasnt so magic afterwall, just buggy as hell.









Yeah that's dynamic contrast for you.


----------



## beo

hello friends first of all apologize for my bad English, I'm new here in this community and found that they all related to 6850 and 6870 cards I want to be involved and join you

well I want to tell you that for me has been a disappointment with the drivers that AMD has launched its range, as I've seen so many problems associated only with them which unfortunately is a shame and expected to resolve within the 10.12 (q and like all 10.11 know there is support for the 68XX)

test them

http://www.subirimagenes.com/fotos-p...0-5472693.html

in dirt 2 problem is displayed when Active "EDGE-DETECT"

I saw this problem on two different cards and two completely different pc
(Cards: XFX Sapphire 6870 and 6870)

like this in any version of Crysis

http://www.subirimagenes.com/fotos-p...3-5472687.html

when I point at sea is a distortion of the sea .... but detailed muuuuuyyy the problem and only occurs there (you have to be very close to the sea, which from a distance no problem) .... hard to find this problem in crysis but it is (and is not bug the game and q this with the latest patches)

Another problem is the hotfix 10.10ey if you activate the anti-aliasing morphological ... when loading the new MSN will see as distorted msn window just like some web pages. (First activate the filter that is in the catalyst and movement after the last run msn)

http://www.subirimagenes.com/fotos-s...o-5577326.html

what a shame that AMD released a product with great fanfare, but ultimately are not completely finished

hopefully you can share other problems they have with this series of AMD

best regards


----------



## sunnyFTW

can some1 pls tell me what 3d settings should i use in "CCC"

btw its my 1st AMD card so donno much abt it..


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW*


can some1 pls tell me what 3d settings should i use in "CCC"

btw its my 1st AMD card so donno much abt it..










Default works for most people. If you have headroom and willing to lose a few FPS, you can set it to High Quality (or just Quality if you can't select that).


----------



## DB006

Rolled back to the vanilla 10.10 drivers on my 6870 from the 10.10e hotifx and graphics performance has improved! Was 2fps better on the Heaven bench.


----------



## Numpty

Got the voltage to work in afterburner now, stable at 1ghz and the memory at 1230, that's with 1.3v(not tried over it), how are you guys breaking the core limit? You using RBE?

On a second note, I'm very impressed with this card, it's playing Crysis Warhead with max settings and x4 AA to boot while managing 25-30 fps


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Numpty* 
Got the voltage to work in afterburner now, stable at 1ghz and the memory at 1230, that's with 1.3v(not tried over it), how are you guys breaking the core limit? You using RBE?

On a second note, I'm very impressed with this card, it's playing Crysis Warhead with max settings and x4 AA to boot while managing 25-30 fps









I know, right? Warhead runs "amazing" for me, too. lol. ~29fps average on Enthusiast, and like 27fps dip. That's so awesome.


----------



## mretgis

Diamond 6870








overall, im not too happy with the driver support. hopefully this will be corrected soon and the card can be properly supported. it's pretty silly to not support something released.


----------



## ludde06

Hi guys,
Just got a new system 3 days ago, and the gpu is a Sapphire radeon hd 6850.

I've got this strange problem though, whenever I start up a fullscreen game, for example world of warcraft, it crashes within the first 15 minutes of gameplay. The screen turns black, but the computer is still working (itunes music playing in the background etc). The screen is black until you do a hard-restart.

The strange thing, is that when you go windowed mode with the exact same settings, it works like a charm with no errors!

I've installed 10.10e and directx11, and all latest drivers for bios, motherboard, ram tested etc. I'm completely clueless, so It would mean the world to me if anyone might have a possible solution.

Cheers
Spec:
http://img94.imageshack.us/i/datork.png/


----------



## bomba

I had this problem, though I own the Gigabyte HD6850. It is due to "the driver has not responded correctly error" [0x116].

I tried everything possible, the only solution was to Flash the bios to the latest revision. Though for me this was a simple process using Gigabytes VGA BIOS utility.


----------



## SkillzKillz

10.10e wouldn't install properly for me so I did a fresh install of Windows and went back to 10.10. Everything is working great now.


----------



## Yoko Littner

Already on the list. but i thought id'e like to share my overclock.

I score 30500 on GPU sco in 3dmarkVantage P setting's



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## ludde06

Quote:



Originally Posted by *bomba*


I had this problem, though I own the Gigabyte HD6850. It is due to "the driver has not responded correctly error" [0x116].

I tried everything possible, the only solution was to Flash the bios to the latest revision. Though for me this was a simple process using Gigabytes VGA BIOS utility.


Thanks for a quick reply, just one more question;
Can I flash the video bios using whatever version of ATI Winflash, or do I have to wait until a new version that supports the Radeon HD 6850 version comes out?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Well, looky what I picked up today.


----------



## nagle3092

Very nice, when I ordered my cards I took a similar pic located here http://www.overclock.net/ati/850691-...l#post11306695
I got lucky though when I ordered both cards at the same time, the serials were sequential.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Well, looky what I picked up today.











You picked up two more 6850s, although you can only put them in 2 way Crossfire?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


Very nice, when I ordered my cards I took a similar pic located here http://www.overclock.net/ati/850691-...l#post11306695
I got lucky though when I ordered both cards at the same time, the serials were sequential.


Well I wouldn't call that lucky. I'm glad I ordered my XFX 6850s at different times because my first XFX HD 6850 overclocks like crap. It needs like 1.225v to get to 930mhz, when this new 6850 can do that on stock volts.

In fact, my XFX HD 6850s are not twins. The first one is revision A1, the first batch of cards. The newer one is revision C3 and has a different heatsink, overclocks better, and may run cooler.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


You picked up two more 6850s, although you can only put them in 2 way Crossfire?










Only one is new; the one with the 3D surround sticker.


----------



## Razi3l

Awesome, congratz








I expect we'll see some "Single vs Crossfire" results from you?


----------



## kpo6969

XFX 6850 on NCIX via China I guess. Looks interesting.

http://www.overclock.net/ati/879158-...l#post11505381


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Well I wouldn't call that lucky. I'm glad I ordered my XFX 6850s at different times because my first XFX HD 6850 overclocks like crap. It needs like 1.225v to get to 930mhz, when this new 6850 can do that on stock volts.

In fact, my XFX HD 6850s are not twins. The first one is revision A1, the first batch of cards. The newer one is revision C3 and has a different heatsink, overclocks better, and may run cooler.

Let us know how high you get on stock volts. I can't get mine above 950/1150 with out it crashing eventually, I'm going to take a guess that mines a C3 since I didn't buy it at launch. I'd like to go higher but I don't want to bump the volts up since my office is a bit toasty, it was hitting 83 during OCCT until I backed it off, I don't feel like frying my card.


----------



## slytown

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
You picked up two more 6850s, although you can only put them in 2 way Crossfire?









Gonna wait till everyone gets rid of their 6870s for the newer 6 series and buy a second for cheap.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *slytown* 
Gonna wait till everyone gets rid of their 6870s for the newer 6 series and buy a second for cheap.

+1
I wonder if the 68xx series will drop in price once the 69xx is released.


----------



## soilentblue

probably not. no real point. expect a possible drop when the 560/570 come out though.


----------



## Jean-Luc

6870 X fire guys. Any issues with BC2?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Razi3l* 
Awesome, congratz








I expect we'll see some "Single vs Crossfire" results from you?

















Yes certainly, once XFX mails me a damn Crossfire bridge because they don't include one in the box.

So until then, I'll be tweaking my CPU to max overclock so I have as low bottleneck as possible.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Yes certainly, once XFX mails me a damn Crossfire bridge because they don't include one in the box.

So until then, I'll be tweaking my CPU to max overclock so I have as low bottleneck as possible.









That is why I don't really like XFX right now. It's basically OEM with a fancy box. There's a driver CD, and manual, and a quick install guide. Oh, and that stupid door hanger thing. That's it. Tsk tsk.


----------



## YoursTruly

So, I'm planning on going crossfire mode sometime in the new year, probably not until June since I have a lot of old games to catch up on (Mirrors Edge, Boarderlands, Oblivion, Bioshock, Fallout3, L4D2) before I really need the power of CF scaling for newer games that respond to it.

Anyway, I'm wondering if my rig can handle CF gigabyte 6850's with my XFX BE 750w. I probably should have bought the 850w to begin with, I'm just wondering if I should be regretting it in advance.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *YoursTruly* 
So, I'm planning on going crossfire mode sometime in the new year, probably not until June since I have a lot of old games to catch up on (Mirrors Edge, Boarderlands, Oblivion, Bioshock, Fallout3, L4D2) before I really need the power of CF scaling for newer games that respond to it.

Anyway, I'm wondering if my rig can handle CF gigabyte 6850's with my XFX BE 750w. I probably should have bought the 850w to begin with, I'm just wondering if I should be regretting it in advance.

You'll be fine with the 750. More than enough power.


----------



## shnur

Woohoo!
Went to the store yesterday and picked up one:








I want to peel it soooo badly! Will it retain warranty?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


You'll be fine with the 750. More than enough power.


You can run 4 with that PSU, had there been another CF connector.


----------



## raisethe3

SkillzKillz, congrats on those 6850s. I wonder what are the scores on those in 3DMark06 and Vantage? Has it been posted/done already? I am thinking about purchasing the 6850 for my crossfire setup (currently using 8800GT).

I wish you the best of luck!


----------



## alienguts

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc*


6870 X fire guys. Any issues with BC2?


CTDs with 6850s.

so can anyone tell me what the temperatures should be at? what is too high? also I am wondering if anyone knows the fix for the opaque effects in starcraft like the unit highlighting and the pylons being invisible.... because it works on some maps and not on others and it seems to not work in the ladder match maps most of the time...


----------



## skimskim3074

good luck for u!


----------



## dade305

add me to the list. VisionTek Radeon HD 6850. Finally retired my trusty ole VisionTek 4850. Good times.


----------



## beo

engine that has someone in some other similar problem with the 6870 game?

eg dirt 2 in Malaysia


----------



## Razi3l

Try turning off Catalyst AI in 3D settings/options.


----------



## YoursTruly

Alright, so my machine is finally up and running! (absolute wootage! and the SSD was totally worth it!) Anyway, so I was downloading the "latest" drivers from the Gigabyte website, and it turned out to be exactly the same as what came on the provided cd. So whats the poop on drivers for the 6850?


----------



## Mit Namso

Does anyone think the price of the 6870 will drop by dec24


----------



## YoursTruly

hmm, not really. I would expect it to drop sometime between a month to 3 months after the release of the 69xx series cards.


----------



## YoursTruly

It sounds like I'm sort of inside of a Dash-8 airplane.... How do I control the fan speeds of my gpu? Afterburner or the like? or is there another method?

Nvm, I just downloaded Afterburner and its ezpz to work with. I think its mostly the noise from my H50's corsair fan.


----------



## beo

another graphic driver error XD










10.10e hd 6870


----------



## YoursTruly

Games look that good these days??? WOAH! lol nuts to my old laptops onboard ATI Xpress 1250!

Blarg, for some reason its taking me forever to install L4D and L4D2 right now. stupid updates or whatever. Starting with my oldest games working my way forward.

What the heck? the two updates combined are just shy of 16gb! Why on earth would the update be that freaking large? Did they recode the whole game or what? would it have anything to do with this being a 64bit system instead of 32bit like when I originally bought the games for my lappy?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *YoursTruly* 
Games look that good these days??? WOAH! lol nuts to my old laptops onboard ATI Xpress 1250!

Blarg, for some reason its taking me forever to install L4D and L4D2 right now. stupid updates or whatever. Starting with my oldest games working my way forward.

What the heck? the two updates combined are just shy of 16gb! Why on earth would the update be that freaking large? Did they recode the whole game or what? would it have anything to do with this being a 64bit system instead of 32bit like when I originally bought the games for my lappy?

That game looks mediocre. lol.

There are a LOT of updates. I mean, at least two DLC packs for L4D, and and another 2-3 HUGE DLC packs for L4D2.


----------



## Strid3r

please add me to the list two XFX Black Edition 6870's


----------



## shnur

I got my overclock up to 985/1105, do you guys I can push forward or I should be happy that it's stable at that point?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *shnur*


I got my overclock up to 985/1105, do you guys I can push forward or I should be happy that it's stable at that point?


I'm pretty sure all 6870s can hit 1ghz, no?


----------



## shnur

Maybe, the thing I'm worried at this point is that I have a sound card just on top of it; they're like almost touching each other...
That's why I'm scared of pushing further







-> I don't want to kill my 200$ sound card...


----------



## Behemoth777

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


I'm pretty sure all 6870s can hit 1ghz, no?


Unfortunately, no. My 6870 really struggles to hit 1ghz without obscene amounts of voltage, which then translates into unacceptable temps(85c+ on aftermarket cooler)

My 6870 can hit 980 core pretty easily with this cooler, but not much more.

It's really unfortunate too, the 6870 could have been an amazing card if it overclocked really well. To me, its just a great card, not an amazing one.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


I'm pretty sure all 6870s can hit 1ghz, no?


Depends on the card. I've seen 950 and 1050


----------



## masonkian

i can run 1000/1250 on stock

watercooled though


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:



Originally Posted by *masonkian*


i can run 1000/1250 on stock

watercooled though


Temps are going to play a big role in overclocking. Hopefully the twin frozer cooler will help


----------



## shnur

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Behemoth777*


Unfortunately, no. My 6870 really struggles to hit 1ghz without obscene amounts of voltage, which then translates into unacceptable temps(85c+ on aftermarket cooler)

My 6870 can hit 980 core pretty easily with this cooler, but not much more.

It's really unfortunate too, the 6870 could have been an amazing card if it overclocked really well. To me, its just a great card, not an amazing one.


You make me feel better!









I'm running the stock cooler which does a pretty good job and keeps everything cool, I'll be planning on watercooling it later one when I stop freaking out about having water near my components


----------



## DB006

Here's my XFX Black Edition pre overclocked BIOS (940/1150) for download if anyones interested. 
I've overlocked my card to 1000/1200 1.200 with no problems, stable in Furmark etc etc

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/8...24.101020.html


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
Here's my XFX Black Edition pre overclocked BIOS (940/1150) for download if anyones interested.
I've overlocked my card to 1000/1200 1.200 with no problems, stable in Furmark etc etc

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/8...24.101020.html

Its funny that you posted that because today I was trying to flash my card to these bios but I couldnt get it to work for some reason. I dont think atiflash supports the 6XXX series yet.


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Its funny that you posted that because today I was trying to flash my card to these bios but I couldnt get it to work for some reason. I dont think atiflash supports the 6XXX series yet.

You need this tool









http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...tor_v1.26.html


----------



## GTR Mclaren

Quote:


Originally Posted by *beo* 
another graphic driver error XD










10.10e hd 6870

game?

looks great


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
You need this tool









http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...tor_v1.26.html

Um no, that's for modifying the bios. Atiflash is for flashing them to your card.


----------



## beo

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GTR Mclaren* 
game?

looks great

sniper ghost warrior

the problem is that the effect of water is not as it should


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *beo* 
sniper ghost warrior

the problem is that the effect of water is not as it should

He has a water-ghillie suit. Didn't you get the memo...?


----------



## Solar

Hey guys,
im new to this forum, and have a question:

GPU-z/Afterburner says my core-clock is 300mhz, and my Memory-clock is 1050mhz.

This is normal when its idle right? But it doesnt rise (to 900) when I get ingame or someting. Why not?


----------



## zefs

How does the 6870 perform on Bad Company 2? 
Can you play with max settings / 8AA @ 1920x1080?
Is it playable on explosions etc, or should I wait for the 6950


----------



## Ding Chavez

Great site. Just upgraded my system last week. My 6870 gets to 77c when gaming, but it's been hot in the room. What is the max temp for a 6870?
Also I've noticed some small graphics bugs with the 10.10 drivers. Hopefully the 10.12 drivers will fix it up.


----------



## EzzA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Solar* 
Hey guys,
im new to this forum, and have a question:

GPU-z/Afterburner says my core-clock is 300mhz, and my Memory-clock is 1050mhz.

This is normal when its idle right? But it doesnt rise (to 900) when I get ingame or someting. Why not?

With a single monitor you should get idle clocks of 100/300, but with dual monitors it gets stuck at higher clocks when idle eg. 300/1050
With GPU-Z there is a checkbox you need to make sure is checked "Continue refreshing this screen while GPU-Z is in the background"
This will make sure GPU-Z logs what your card is doing while you are in a game so when you come back out you can look at the little 'history graph' and see what it was doing while you were in game. Just put your mouse pointer over the graph and it will tell you the speed/temp/etc. at that point in time.


----------



## Solar

Oh, here is a pic of my GPU-z + name


----------



## Solar

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EzzA* 
With a single monitor you should get idle clocks of 100/300, but with dual monitors it gets stuck at higher clocks when idle eg. 300/1050
With GPU-Z there is a checkbox you need to make sure is checked "Continue refreshing this screen while GPU-Z is in the background"
This will make sure GPU-Z logs what your card is doing while you are in a game so when you come back out you can look at the little 'history graph' and see what it was doing while you were in game. Just put your mouse pointer over the graph and it will tell you the speed/temp/etc. at that point in time.

I did that, but it is still @ 300/1050


----------



## EzzA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zefs* 
How does the 6870 perform on Bad Company 2?
Can you play with max settings / 8AA @ 1920x1080?
Is it playable on explosions etc, or should I wait for the 6950

The 6800 series are the new mid-range series cards. If you already have a 5870 then 6870 is actually a slight downgrade. Wait for the 6900 series.


----------



## zefs

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EzzA* 
The 6800 series are the new mid-range series cards. If you already have a 5870 then 6870 is actually a slight downgrade. Wait for the 6900 series.

I don't own a 5870 anymore. Thing is I've been told with the new drivers the 6870 should perform even better, but I'll wait anyway.
Thanks


----------



## BankaiKiller




----------



## shnur

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Solar* 
I did that, but it is still @ 300/1050

Mine gets stuck at 300/1105 (my memory OC), I think it's quite normal though. I shouldn't be too worried about that.
Before I overclocked anything, it was getting back to 100/300, now its at these values; I don't mind much.
Also I'm running 2560x1440, so that might be why, although like I said, before OC, it didn't do anything funky like that.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zefs* 
I don't own a 5870 anymore. Thing is I've been told with the new drivers the 6870 should perform even better, but I'll wait anyway.
Thanks

Going forward it will be a better card, because of drivers that will start maturing, today, it's sometimes on par, sometimes better, sometimes worse. With updates on drivers and such it'll be better in the long run.

As for BF:BC2 I'm running at 2560x1440 with almost everything maxed out and I get well over 70-90 fps.
I've lowered Shadow quality to Medium, AA at 1x, AF at 2x and Vsync/hbao at off.
Runs like a charm


----------



## Solar

Quote:


Originally Posted by *shnur* 
Mine gets stuck at 300/1105 (my memory OC), I think it's quite normal though. I shouldn't be too worried about that.
Before I overclocked anything, it was getting back to 100/300, now its at these values; I don't mind much.
Also I'm running 2560x1440, so that might be why, although like I said, before OC, it didn't do anything funky like that.


So I cannot force it to run on 900/1050 all the time?


----------



## shnur

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Solar* 
So I cannot force it to run on 900/1050 all the time?

Why would you?
It saves you power/energy, it's getting to 900/1050 when you're playing 3D games or running other intensive tasks, when it doesn't required such a high clock speed, it drops to a power saving mode and provides you with enough performance to run youtube and Windows Aero while not exhausting a lot of heat and using lots of energy.


----------



## gammite

i have no clue how some of you are running 650w psu's with these cards. i have a toxic edition 6850 and it brought my antec neo eco 620w (48 amps on a single 12v rail) to its knees. instant shutdowns even on 2d material. i unplugged all of my usb devices and it could run black ops no issues. but 5 minutes into the first level of crysis and more instant shutdowns. no warning. just like someone cut the power.

i ended up getting a coolermaster gx750w (60 amps on a single 12v rail) and it has me tidy for the time being.

how some of you are running xfire rigs on 600w psu's is puzzling me. i found this site researching how many amps i need on the 12v rail for the card.

oh, and add me please.









my current rig:

AMD Phenom II x4 965BE overclocked to 3.8ghz (running 24/7)
4 GB G. Skill DDR3 1600
MSI 785G-E53
Sapphire Toxic Radeon HD 6850
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU Heatsink and Fan
4TB Hard Drive Space
LG Bluray Burner
Antec 300 Case
Coolermaster GX750w power supply


----------



## i_hax

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gammite* 
i have no clue how some of you are running 650w psu's with these cards.

Something is wrong if you can't.

I ran an overvolted GTX280 for almost 2 years on my VX 550W... it easily drew more power than a stock GTX480. The 6870 is a joke in comparison, my PSU fan doesn't even spin up anymore...


----------



## ibfreeekout

Yeah you should be able to run 2 6870's on a 650W if I'm not mistaken...


----------



## DB006

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


Um no, that's for modifying the bios. Atiflash is for flashing them to your card.


Sorry, wrong linky









Try this one http://www.octeamdenmark.com/downloa...6870flash.html


----------



## shnur

Well, you do have a lot of hard drives... but I still think you should be able to run everything off that with a 650W
have you checked your CPU temps? Since you're pulling heat from your video card, maybe this one gives you more heat? 
Or maybe you just had a bad PSU


----------



## silvester

Hey,I want you to put me in the list!!

Connect3D 6870 - sorry I was too bored to take a pic of the card itself...


----------



## gammite

Quote:



Originally Posted by *i_hax*


Something is wrong if you can't.

I ran an overvolted GTX280 for almost 2 years on my VX 550W... it easily drew more power than a stock GTX480. The 6870 is a joke in comparison, my PSU fan doesn't even spin up anymore...



Quote:



Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout*


Yeah you should be able to run 2 6870's on a 650W if I'm not mistaken...


the only thing i can deduce is that the other components in my system became too much of a draw in additon to the new card. i was running a 5770 with no issues for months.

with the new psu i haven't had any issues of yet.


----------



## gammite

Quote:



Originally Posted by *shnur*


Well, you do have a lot of hard drives... but I still think you should be able to run everything off that with a 650W
have you checked your CPU temps? Since you're pulling heat from your video card, maybe this one gives you more heat? 
Or maybe you just had a bad PSU


heat was NOT an issue.


----------



## Solar

Quote:



Originally Posted by *shnur*


Why would you?
It saves you power/energy, it's getting to 900/1050 when you're playing 3D games or running other intensive tasks, when it doesn't required such a high clock speed, it drops to a power saving mode and provides you with enough performance to run youtube and Windows Aero while not exhausting a lot of heat and using lots of energy.


Even in Call of Duty Blackops (3d game) it doesnt get to 900/1050. It stays 300/1050....


----------



## sunnyFTW

any bios update for msi 6870 ????


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DB006*


Sorry, wrong linky









Try this one http://www.octeamdenmark.com/downloa...6870flash.html


This one worked thanks.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


Originally Posted by *silvester* 
Hey,I want you to put me in the list!!

Connect3D 6870 - sorry I was too bored to take a pic of the card itself...










Thats nice but that doesn't tell us anything. Verify it using gpuz


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW* 
any bios update for msi 6870 ????

Yes, you can download this

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/8...24.101020.html

and install it with this

http://www.octeamdenmark.com/downloa...6870flash.html

Standard XFX 6870 Black Edition Bios running 940/1150 standard volts

But on that bios, you should be able to bump it up to 1000/1200 on 1.200 volts using Sapphire Trixx Beta http://idcore.tistory.com/176

GPUZ Validation http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/apgpa/


----------



## calebkan

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Solar* 
I did that, but it is still @ 300/1050

i know this bug..ı hope it will be gone with 10.12..

6870 going to 100x300 on ıdle desktop..but rams going to 1050 when i watch movies on pc...and its stuck on theese speed..gpu 300xram 1050...and its not change when you going to game...this time you can get very low fps on game because your speed doesnt change..doenst load 3d profile...so what you must to do?
you must reload your 3d profıle after movies or another things...but its only going to 300x1050 on movies...

every 6xxx users waiting 10.12..i hope it will help...


----------



## Jonesey I7

Please add me, thanks.


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

HI. Add me to the list:










I did an overclock... Is it normal? can i push it further?


----------



## raisethe3

Nah, it should be 2 6850's on the 650w if I remember correctly. Running 2 6870s would pull about 421watts.

Oh wait! Never mind! Yeah, the 650 should handle two 6870s









Quote:


Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout* 
Yeah you should be able to run 2 6870's on a 650W if I'm not mistaken...


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jonesey I7* 
Please add me, thanks.



Is that a Black Edition? The clock speeds are wrong


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jonesey I7* 
Please add me, thanks.



1100/1100 on how many volts? Watercooled?


----------



## Jonesey I7

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
Is that a Black Edition? The clock speeds are wrong









Good eye...







I originally had a black edition, but it had a loose fan bearing, and xfx sent me a regular 6870 back to replace it. WHICH i would be furious about, if the black edition wasn't sent to me to replace my rma'd 5850.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blackbalt89* 
1100/1100 on how many volts? Watercooled?

1.26v and no water cooling, matter of fact, doesn't go above 80*c with fan speeds 50% or less.


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jonesey I7* 
Good eye...







I originally had a black edition, but it had a loose fan bearing, and xfx sent me a regular 6870 back to replace it. WHICH i would be furious about, if the black edition wasn't sent to me to replace my rma'd 5850

Ahh, fairs, nice XFX upgrade imo


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jonesey I7* 
Good eye...







I originally had a black edition, but it had a loose fan bearing, and xfx sent me a regular 6870 back to replace it. WHICH i would be furious about, if the black edition wasn't sent to me to replace my rma'd 5850.

1.26v and no water cooling, matter of fact, doesn't go above 80*c with fan speeds 50% or less.

Damnit. I can't even get over 1ghz with my Gigabyte.


----------



## sunnyFTW

@DB006

Quote:

Yes, you can download this

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/8...24.101020.html

and install it with this

http://www.octeamdenmark.com/downloa...6870flash.html

Standard XFX 6870 Black Edition Bios running 940/1150 standard volts

But on that bios, you should be able to bump it up to 1000/1200 on 1.200 volts using Sapphire Trixx Beta http://idcore.tistory.com/176

is it safe to flash msi 6870 to xfx bios ???


----------



## kpo6969

Tired of 10.10e hotfix? Something new for 6800's

AMD Catalyst 10.11 BETA 8.79.6 18Nov Win7/Vista

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=333840


----------



## BankaiKiller




----------



## Solar

Quote:



Originally Posted by *calebkan*


so what you must to do?
you must reload your 3d profıle after movies or another things...but its only going to 300x1050 on movies...

every 6xxx users waiting 10.12..i hope it will help...


How to reload my 3D profiles?


----------



## Jonesey I7

p.s..............to all 6xxx owners, the best piece of advice i can give you are to get the von modded 10.10e drivers for your cards. I have never had such a good ati driver, and i don't think i'll EVER change them. Completely the best for stability, oc'ing, benching and gaming performance BAR NONE.

Found the link, here ya go!! http://www.filefront.com/17505481/AM...Von_modded.7z/ (for Vista or Windows 7 only on this link!!)


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Can some1 answer my question in page 140? thx


----------



## smoke420

add me please.
if anyone else has the ASUS EAH6850 in crossfire I can confirm 5c cooler idle and 10c during load after removing plastic cover and mounting fan directly to heatsink.not even close to single card but a lot better.hope this helps


----------



## DB006

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jonesey I7*


p.s..............to all 6xxx owners, the best piece of advice i can give you are to get the von modded 10.10e drivers for your cards. I have never had such a good ati driver, and i don't think i'll EVER change them. Completely the best for stability, oc'ing, benching and gaming performance BAR NONE.

Found the link, here ya go!! http://www.filefront.com/17505481/AM...Von_modded.7z/ (for Vista or Windows 7 only on this link!!)


Tried those, and lost 3fps in Heaven :/ Went back to the 10.10 vanilla from AMD's site, back up 3fps









They might work for some, but not for mine


----------



## Jean-Luc

Ugh.. This thread gives me great confidence about ATI's drivers. Knew i should have bought the 580


----------



## beldecca

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc*


Ugh.. This thread gives me great confidence about ATI's drivers. Knew i should have bought the 580


This is just the experience with anything new. nVidia has had there share of driver troubles through the years too.

Just imagine trying to get cards that go through 6 companies and plug into a myriad motherboards, etc - it's amazing it works as well as it does!


----------



## WIGILOCO

Is Corsair VX550W enough to handle two 6870's?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO* 
Is Corsair VX550W enough to handle two 6870's?

No. It would be pushing near 100% load when loading = not good.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO* 
Is Corsair VX550W enough to handle two 6870's?

Don't believe so


----------



## WORLDBREAKER

Hello 6800 series owners. I need help with proper setup for my 6870's.
I have 2 Msi r6870 twin frozr II's in Xfire in a brand new first time build. I decided to play StarCraft II and the second card reached 90C while the first card was at around 60C. I think I resolved this issue as the Msi Afterburner setting for "sync like gpu settings box's" was not check. After doing this the Gpu's seem to be the same temp +/- 5c.

The issue that I am having now are the fans. The auto function does not seem to control the fans what so ever.

I have been running the fans at 100% manually through Afterburner(The auto in after burner does not seem to work). During this time I was also running Catalyst 10.11. I just installed 10.10e but have not been able to test anything as of yet. Will 10.10e fix this issue? I would really like to not have to worry about temps so much. I thought the MSI twin frozr's would be more than enough, however temps in furmark are still in the mid 70's with fans at 100%
and 3D/AA at low settings.

Please let me know the best route to take. Thanks>

I will also post picks of the cards for ownership verification when I get home.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WORLDBREAKER* 
Hello 6800 series owners. I need help with proper setup for my 6870's.
I have 2 Msi r6870 twin frozr II's in Xfire in a brand new first time build. I decided to play StarCraft II and the second card reached 90C while the first card was at around 60C. I think I resolved this issue as the Msi Afterburner setting for "sync like gpu settings box's" was not check. After doing this the Gpu's seem to be the same temp +/- 5c.

The issue that I am having now are the fans. The auto function does not seem to control the fans what so ever.

I have been running the fans at 100% manually through Afterburner(The auto in after burner does not seem to work). During this time I was also running Catalyst 10.11. I just installed 10.10e but have not been able to test anything as of yet. Will 10.10e fix this issue? I would really like to not have to worry about temps so much. I thought the MSI twin frozr's would be more than enough, however temps in furmark are still in the mid 70's with fans at 100%
and 3D/AA at low settings.

Please let me know the best route to take. Thanks>

I will also post picks of the cards for ownership verification when I get home.

Well as far as I know 10.11 does not support the 6XXX series, but those temps seem extremely high for those cards. My cards dont go over 85c when running OCCT with fans on auto. Do you have your cards right next to each other or is there a space in between them?


----------



## WORLDBREAKER

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Well as far as I know 10.11 does not support the 6XXX series, but those temps seem extremely high for those cards. My cards dont go over 85c when running OCCT with fans on auto. Do you have your cards right next to each other or is there a space in between them?

There is a slow between them.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WORLDBREAKER* 
Hello 6800 series owners. I need help with proper setup for my 6870's.
I have 2 Msi r6870 twin frozr II's in Xfire in a brand new first time build. I decided to play StarCraft II and the second card reached 90C while the first card was at around 60C. I think I resolved this issue as the Msi Afterburner setting for "sync like gpu settings box's" was not check. After doing this the Gpu's seem to be the same temp +/- 5c.

The issue that I am having now are the fans. The auto function does not seem to control the fans what so ever.

I have been running the fans at 100% manually through Afterburner(The auto in after burner does not seem to work). During this time I was also running Catalyst 10.11. I just installed 10.10e but have not been able to test anything as of yet. Will 10.10e fix this issue? I would really like to not have to worry about temps so much. I thought the MSI twin frozr's would be more than enough, however temps in furmark are still in the mid 70's with fans at 100%
and 3D/AA at low settings.

Please let me know the best route to take. Thanks>

I will also post picks of the cards for ownership verification when I get home.

Take off the side of your case and try again. Sounds like bad case airflow.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WORLDBREAKER* 
Hello 6800 series owners. I need help with proper setup for my 6870's.
I have 2 Msi r6870 twin frozr II's in Xfire in a brand new first time build. I decided to play StarCraft II and the second card reached 90C while the first card was at around 60C. I think I resolved this issue as the Msi Afterburner setting for "sync like gpu settings box's" was not check. After doing this the Gpu's seem to be the same temp +/- 5c.

The issue that I am having now are the fans. The auto function does not seem to control the fans what so ever.

I have been running the fans at 100% manually through Afterburner(The auto in after burner does not seem to work). During this time I was also running Catalyst 10.11. I just installed 10.10e but have not been able to test anything as of yet. Will 10.10e fix this issue? I would really like to not have to worry about temps so much. I thought the MSI twin frozr's would be more than enough, however temps in furmark are still in the mid 70's with fans at 100%
and 3D/AA at low settings.

Please let me know the best route to take. Thanks>

I will also post picks of the cards for ownership verification when I get home.

What version of Afterburner are you using? 6870 support is on 2.1.0 Beta 3 IIRC.
If you're using 10.11 beta, they may be the issue. Try 10.10e. It wouldn't hurt to try it.
Also, how far apart are the cards? Are they stacked on each other? Or are they a few slots between them?


----------



## WORLDBREAKER

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc* 
Take off the side of your case and try again. Sounds like bad case airflow.

I have 9 fans though. 4x 230mm (stock), [email protected] 114cfm, [email protected] 90cfm, and 2x120 (stock)

Cpu under 100% load only reaches 54c with the 4.0ghz OC. The room temp is also 17-18c.

I really can't see the issue being poor case airflow.


----------



## WORLDBREAKER

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
What version of Afterburner are you using? 6870 support is on 2.1.0 Beta 3 IIRC.
If you're using 10.11 beta, they may be the issue. Try 10.10e. It wouldn't hurt to try it.
Also, how far apart are the cards? Are they stacked on each other? Or are they a few slots between them?

I am using the 2.1.0 Beta 4. Do I need to get beta 3?


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WORLDBREAKER* 
I am using the 2.1.0 Beta 4. Do I need to get beta 3?

Beta 4 is newer than beta 3, so no, you do not need to get beta 3.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WORLDBREAKER* 
I have 9 fans though. 4x 230mm (stock), [email protected] 114cfm, [email protected] 90cfm, and 2x120 (stock)

Cpu under 100% load only reaches 54c with the 4.0ghz OC. The room temp is also 17-18c.

I really can't see the issue being poor case airflow.

Read a review of this case over at TPU and it said the fans barely push any air.


----------



## grunion

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WORLDBREAKER* 
Hello 6800 series owners. I need help with proper setup for my 6870's.
I have 2 Msi r6870 twin frozr II's in Xfire in a brand new first time build. I decided to play StarCraft II and the second card reached 90C while the first card was at around 60C. I think I resolved this issue as the Msi Afterburner setting for "sync like gpu settings box's" was not check. After doing this the Gpu's seem to be the same temp +/- 5c.

The issue that I am having now are the fans. The auto function does not seem to control the fans what so ever.

I have been running the fans at 100% manually through Afterburner(The auto in after burner does not seem to work). During this time I was also running Catalyst 10.11. I just installed 10.10e but have not been able to test anything as of yet. Will 10.10e fix this issue? I would really like to not have to worry about temps so much. I thought the MSI twin frozr's would be more than enough, however temps in furmark are still in the mid 70's with fans at 100%
and 3D/AA at low settings.

Please let me know the best route to take. Thanks>

I will also post picks of the cards for ownership verification when I get home.

You're gonna have to space the cards if possible, the top card will be starved of air if they're not spaced.

You can see here what happens to those types of coolers with no space.


----------



## WORLDBREAKER

Quote:


Originally Posted by *grunion* 
You're gonna have to space the cards if possible, the top card will be starved of air if they're not spaced.

You can see here what happens to those types of coolers with no space.

The cards are spaced. Spacing is not the problem. The auto fan function is the big issue that I am worried about here. Everyone seems to be missing that.


----------



## WORLDBREAKER

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc* 
Read a review of this case over at TPU and it said the fans barely push any air.

The only fans that people complain about have already been replaced with high flow cfm fans. I will put a temp probe in front of both cards tonight.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WORLDBREAKER* 
The cards are spaced. Spacing is not the problem. The auto fan function is the big issue that I am worried about here. Everyone seems to be missing that.

Set up a fan profile. It's much better than auto.


----------



## grunion

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WORLDBREAKER* 
The cards are spaced. Spacing is not the problem. The auto fan function is the big issue that I am worried about here. Everyone seems to be missing that.

Ah

Do the 68xx cards utilize ulps?
AB doesn't work correctly with Cypress cards unless ulps is disabled.

Open regedit> Find> EnableUlps> Change value to 0> restart


----------



## smoke420

@ WORLDBREAKER

ulps is most likely your issue but you should download gpu-z to make sure your cards are working correctly.your second card may be stuck in 3d mode making it idle hot and get hotter than the first.another thing to watch out for is the second cards fan speed may only change when the card is loaded.and last I know they have two fans and I know how stupid it sounds but make sure theres not a wire stuck in the fan.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Still tweakin.........


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Lol.. nice temps..


----------



## jedi304

Hi folks, sorry to barge in here, I'd need to ask, I'm trying to decide on what GPU to get, does anyone have any experience with Crossfire 6850s? If anyone does, maybe you could share your opinions or insights on them. Thanks!!


----------



## WIGILOCO

I'm just about to buy the XFX 6870.

This card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150506

Is it all good?







Help!


----------



## smoke420

Is there a way to raise the voltage on my asus 6850's.asus smart doctor wont install and msi ab beta 4 crashes my system.ab crashes with no overclock had to run driver sweeper and reinstall driver to fix.I have a dedicated physx card which i know is stoping smart doctor from installing.but with afterburner im not sure whats the problem.If any body has any suggestions that would be great.would the Sapphire TriXX program work?


----------



## BankaiKiller

Ok so I was wondering if I could use my current power supply (a 700 watt corsair Gs 700) to run 2 6870's crossfire on my new motherboard.

And 33333333333120mm fans and one 60mm.


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *BankaiKiller*


Ok so I was wondering if I could use my current power supply (a 700 watt corsair Gs 700) to run 2 6870's crossfire on my new motherboard.

And 33333333333120mm fans and one 60mm.


Not sure on the fans, but it should handle the cards fine as long as your CPU isn't too overclocked.


----------



## BankaiKiller

omg.. how did it do that lol? yea ment just 3 120mm fans.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*


I'm just about to buy the XFX 6870.

This card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150506

Is it all good?







Help!


Great cards, highly recommended.


----------



## ludde06

So I posted earlier in this thread with some issues with my brand new Sapphire HD 6850, fullscreen games crashing, saying AMD graphics driver has been restored. Tried like 5 different drivers (currently only using driver, not catalyst control center)

Today I tried and disable windows aero, and turned off Skype, and then I could run the game without any issues in fullscreen for several hours. When I booted up my PC today, I started WoW again, and it crashed. Doing the same steps (but I think aero was still off), it runs fine again in fullscreen.

Does it sound like a hardware problem, or can it be the simple fact that Skype (or windows Aero) interferes with the fullscreen-mode in directx-applications, and therefore causing the crash?

I'll have to pay 50$ if i turn in the card for testing, and it shows no errors. So I'd like to be sure it's a faulty card before I turn it in...


----------



## arrow0309

Add me also please


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DB006*


Yes, you can download this

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/8...24.101020.html

and install it with this

http://www.octeamdenmark.com/downloa...6870flash.html

Standard XFX 6870 Black Edition Bios running 940/1150 standard volts

But on that bios, you should be able to bump it up to 1000/1200 on 1.200 volts using Sapphire Trixx Beta http://idcore.tistory.com/176

GPUZ Validation http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/apgpa/


Do you think will work on my Gigabyte 6870








Consider that i coldn't get more than 1110 on memory (and 970gpu, 1.22v) to be stable


----------



## gammite

if i load trixx will it stabilize the memory clock from running at a constant full load? the memory on my 6850 toxic is running at a constant 1100 on idle even in 2d.

i am running the two monitors below and i get 300/1100 while doing virtually nothing.

anyone using trixx to solve this issue? i am currently running stock 10.10e drivers.


----------



## Epitope

Quote:



Originally Posted by *BankaiKiller*


Ok so I was wondering if I could use my current power supply (a 700 watt corsair Gs 700) to run 2 6870's crossfire on my new motherboard.

And 33333333333120mm fans and one 60mm.


I don't know man... 33,333,333,333 120mm fans will draw a lot of power. So that's why all the gentle typhoons have been sold out for the past 6 months...


----------



## Jean-Luc

What are the memory chips rated for on the 6870s?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc*


What are the memory chips rated for on the 6870s?


1250 (it seems) but i honestly don't think they can get so far


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc* 
What are the memory chips rated for on the 6870s?


Quote:


Originally Posted by *arrow0309* 
1250 (it seems) but i honestly don't think they can get so far









1250 was the max for me at 1.3v


----------



## EzzA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ludde06* 
So I posted earlier in this thread with some issues with my brand new Sapphire HD 6850, fullscreen games crashing, saying AMD graphics driver has been restored. Tried like 5 different drivers (currently only using driver, not catalyst control center)

Today I tried and disable windows aero, and turned off Skype, and then I could run the game without any issues in fullscreen for several hours. When I booted up my PC today, I started WoW again, and it crashed. Doing the same steps (but I think aero was still off), it runs fine again in fullscreen.

Does it sound like a hardware problem, or can it be the simple fact that Skype (or windows Aero) interferes with the fullscreen-mode in directx-applications, and therefore causing the crash?

I'll have to pay 50$ if i turn in the card for testing, and it shows no errors. So I'd like to be sure it's a faulty card before I turn it in...

Sounds more like a driver/compatibility problem than a faulty card actually. You should try running Furmark, GPUTool or OCCT to stress test the card and see if you get any errors.


----------



## EzzA

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gammite* 
if i load trixx will it stabilize the memory clock from running at a constant full load? the memory on my 6850 toxic is running at a constant 1100 on idle even in 2d.

i am running the two monitors below and i get 300/1100 while doing virtually nothing.

anyone using trixx to solve this issue? i am currently running stock 10.10e drivers.

trixx can't control the 2d clock speed as far as I know and even though it runs at 300/1100 it is actually in 2d mode. The only solution I know is to create 2 separate profiles in Catalyst (1 for single monitor and 1 for dual monitors) and switch between them when you need to. If you need help setting this up just ask


----------



## gammite

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EzzA* 
trixx can't control the 2d clock speed as far as I know and even though it runs at 300/1100 it is actually in 2d mode. The only solution I know is to create 2 separate profiles in Catalyst (1 for single monitor and 1 for dual monitors) and switch between them when you need to. If you need help setting this up just ask









thanks. i am just surprised that in 2d the memory runs at 1100. it didn't run like this on my 5770.


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *arrow0309* 
Do you think will work on my Gigabyte 6870








Consider that i coldn't get more than 1110 on memory (and 970gpu, 1.22v) to be stable









It should work ok as all 6870's are reference cards, but save a copy of your current bios using GPUZ just in case


----------



## WIGILOCO

New XFX 6870 here! Cool card!


----------



## WIGILOCO

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2780984

Is this good result for my rig?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO* 
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2780984

Is this good result for my rig?

Whats your GPU score?


----------



## smoke420

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2781121 how am I doing so far? still tweaking


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO* 
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2780984

Is this good result for my rig?


Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2781121 how am I doing so far? still tweaking

It would be easier to tell you guys if you took a screen shot of the results instead of the web link. That way we can see both scores, not just the combined one.


----------



## smoke420

GPU-24408 CPU-43907 also using a gtx260 for physx.cant turn it off. those scores are in the link is there somthing else you needed?


----------



## nagle3092

GPU seems about right, my 6870s get about 27k.


----------



## smoke420

but thats with the cards at 980/1120 from 790/1000 is it still a good score with these clocks?the cpu score is helped alot by the physx card.


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
but thats with the cards at 980/1120 from 790/1000 is it still a good score with these clocks?the cpu score is helped alot by the physx card.

You have two cards running at 980/1120? Is that even stable?


----------



## smoke420

@1.25v its stable so far .is that high what are your clocks?played metro 2033 ran furmark and 3dmark vantage and 3dmark06 to check for improvement.is there another way to check for stability?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
but thats with the cards at 980/1120 from 790/1000 is it still a good score with these clocks?the cpu score is helped alot by the physx card.

These cards dont like vantage very much, my 5850s I would get around 28500 gpu score where as my 6870s get 27k. So yeah your score seems fine, you have to remember even though your at 80mhz more than my cards they still have less shaders and I have a higher cpu oc so that would get me more on the gpu score as well.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
@1.25v its stable so far .is that high what are your clocks?played metro 2033 ran furmark and 3dmark vantage and 3dmark06 to check for improvement.is there another way to check for stability?

Use OCCT run for 10 min with error checking on and shader complexity 8. That will tell you if your stable.


----------



## WIGILOCO

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
whats your gpu score?

15760


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
@1.25v its stable so far .is that high what are your clocks?played metro 2033 ran furmark and 3dmark vantage and 3dmark06 to check for improvement.is there another way to check for stability?

1.25v is perfectly fine. Anything 1.3v and under is fine, but most people don't like running above 1.25v. I use a combination of Furmark & BC2 to test. One time I passed 30 minutes on Furmark, but it crashed during play in BC2.

So far one card gets 930mhz/1150mhz with 1.218v. I thought I had it stable at 950mhz/1100mhz with 1.243v but it crashed again. Back to the drawing board.

My other card is a newer revision and takes 1.193v for 950mhz/1150mhz, and 1.218v for 960mhz/1150mhz. These are both stable.

I'm still tweaking these cards and looking for max OX, but I should be able to get both cards to 950mhz/1150mhz stable. I won't rest until I do









Unfortunately my cards are not identicle, so one of them is a gimp.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO* 
15760

You should be getting around 17K at stock. What drivers are you using?


----------



## WIGILOCO

I'm using the 10.10 from AMD site.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO* 
I'm using the 10.10 from AMD site.

Try the 10.10d drivers from here.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=332395

These have been my drivers of choice for now.


----------



## Ben the OCer

Soon to be MSI HD6850 owner right here, please add me. I ordered it today open box from Newegg for $151.55 shipped. I've been having trouble with my HD4850 ever since I accidentally left the fan unplugged and ran it passive for a couple months. So I was in need of an upgrade.


----------



## sniper_13

Hey guys are these temps normal for idling? on my 6870 Saphire Model they used to be much cooler, my ambient temp is cool as im in the basment in Canada and its freezing down here. i have 2 x 200mm fans sucking in air at 100% and one 200mm sucking out and 140mm as well.

The card was never tampered with nor was it overclocked. My case has excellent airflow and you can tell by the cpu temps being cool.


----------



## nagle3092

^ Thats pretty high, are your cards downclocking? Do you have them OC'ed with anything?


----------



## smoke420

when I disable ulps my second card stays on 3d clocks so it idles hot and no program but ccc will control both fans is this normal?

with ulps on it only goes into 3d mode with load but i cant control voltage witch kills my overclocks.

I would love to be able to setup a fan profile for both cards not just a set speed,have them switch from 2d to 3d properly and be able to control voltage..I also have a dedicated physx card to throw one more wrench in the works.

I know I might be asking for alot but it would be great to know if its even possible.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
when I disable ulps my second card stays on 3d clocks so it idles hot and no program but ccc will control both fans is this normal?

with ulps on it only goes into 3d mode with load but i cant control voltage witch kills my overclocks.

I would love to be able to setup a fan profile for both cards not just a set speed,have them switch from 2d to 3d properly and be able to control voltage..I also have a dedicated physx card to throw one more wrench in the works.

I know I might be asking for alot but it would be great to know if its even possible.

The only way to do it that I know of is modding the bios, because with others like afterburner you have to disable ulps. Modding the bios isnt hard but right now I believe adjusting voltages with RBE is not supported with the 68XX cards. So just give it some time and with a proper update you will be able to mod the voltages in the bios.


----------



## smoke420

@sniper13 my first card idles at 46c but my second idles at 61c because it wont go into 2d mode.check your clocks


----------



## sniper_13

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
^ Thats pretty high, are your cards downclocking? Do you have them OC'ed with anything?

nope not at all, the settings are stock and ATI overdrive is disabled. When i bought the card; withing the first few weeks it idled around low 40's and below 40 sometimes. what should i run to see how the temps are at full load? and how would i monitor that

and my clocks are stock, i dont even have a overclocking tool on my PC except for Overdrive which comes with ccc


----------



## smoke420

how about fan control do you have a program that controls both fans besides ccc?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sniper_13* 
nope not at all, the settings are stock and ATI overdrive is disabled. When i bought the card; withing the first few weeks it idled around low 40's and below 40 sometimes. what should i run to see how the temps are at full load? and how would i monitor that

and my clocks are stock, i dont even have a overclocking tool on my PC except for Overdrive which comes with ccc

If you want to see temps at full load use OCCT, run gpu-z in the backround. Let OCCT run for like 10 minutes then close it. Make sure you have gpu-z set to update in the backround then you can move your mouse over the temp readout portion to see the highest temps you had.


----------



## sniper_13

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
how about fan control do you have a program that controls both fans besides ccc?

no, the ccc is set to auto fan control , and all my other fans are controlled through my nzxt fan controller and i cranked them all to a 100%, should i maybe reseat the heatsink


----------



## smoke420

@sniper13

download gpu-z and make sure your card are ramping down if you not loading them they should be well below 3d clock speeds(920\\1050).it will tell your clocks realtime and temps .use furmark to load it.

ps. tried occt its a little extreme it got one of my cards over 80c before i cut it off.no game or bench can get my card to even 70c


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

How's my 6850 doing?

Stock, with amd driver 10.10

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2781457


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari* 
How's my 6850 doing?

Stock, with amd driver 10.10

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2781457

Give us a screen shot so we can see the scores separably, the link just shows us the combined score.


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

btw.. my 6850 is fabric OC as it's PCS+

820/1100


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/7410/testob.png


----------



## smoke420

sniper the auto setting really sucks ask neone.we control the fan speed because we have to.Load your card and watch your fan speed in relation to temps it lets your card get hot before it ramps up speed and even then fan speeds raise very slowly


----------



## nagle3092

Hmm 13K, you should be getting around 14k. That could be though because you dont have your cpu oc'ed. So I think your about right.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
sniper the auto setting really sucks ask neone.we control the fan speed because we have to.Load your card and watch your fan speed in relation to temps it lets your card get hot before it ramps up speed and even then fan speeds raise very slowly

I dont control my fan speeds, I just let them on auto as well. My cards idle 38c(ish) for main and 35c(ish) for secondary.


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Hmm 13K, you should be getting around 14k. That could be though because you dont have your cpu oc'ed. So I think your about right.

I'm afraid of CPU OC. I don't know how to do it right... my max gaming temp is aroud 45ÂºC with stock cooler. I know i can OC but my CPU is not a BE and i can't go higher on multiplyer...

If some could help me with a guide or someting i would be greatful


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Give us a screen shot so we can see the scores separably, the link just shows us the combined score.

what does it show in the screenshot thats not in the link?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
what does it show in the screenshot thats not in the link?

The link just shows the overall score, screenshot gives us all 3.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari* 
I'm afraid of CPU OC. I don't know how to do it right... my max gaming temp is aroud 45ÂºC with stock cooler. I know i can OC but my CPU is not a BE and i can't go higher on multiplyer...

If some could help me with a guide or someting i would be greatful

Go to this section and look through some threads,
http://www.overclock.net/amd/
There is so much good info here but just take your time and read until your thing you got the jist of it then go for it. If you have trouble just make a thread and people will help you. Thats what OCN is for.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari* 
I'm afraid of CPU OC. I don't know how to do it right... my max gaming temp is aroud 45ÂºC with stock cooler. I know i can OC but my CPU is not a BE and i can't go higher on multiplyer...

If some could help me with a guide or someting i would be greatful

http://www.overclock.net/amd-general...ing-guide.html

This should help have fun


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Go to this section and look through some threads,
http://www.overclock.net/amd/
There is so much good info here but just take your time and read until your thing you got the jist of it then go for it. If you have trouble just make a thread and people will help you. Thats what OCN is for.

Ok THX!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Hmm 13K, you should be getting around 14k. That could be though because you dont have your cpu oc'ed. So I think your about right.

I dont control my fan speeds, I just let them on auto as well. My cards idle 38c(ish) for main and 35c(ish) for secondary.

are they overclocked because watching movies or on the web is fine but overclocked and gaming auto just cant keep up


----------



## Faraz

Just got my 6870 today. It'll be going to my brother when the 6970 is released, but until then I'm trying it out. Excuse the blurry phone picture.










So much for the blue color scheme...


----------



## cxyrus

hi guys...

i have problem, i just bought HD6850..

my rig is
Phenom X4 9650
GA-MA770-UD3
DDR2 4GB
HD 6850
Venom 650watt
catalyst 10.11

since then i tried to play game, but before that i owned GTS 250
cek comparison

NFS Shift GTS 250 60-70 Fps, HD 6850 20-30 Fps
Splinter cell conviction HD 6850 20-30 Fps

Furmark benchmark res.1360x768 MSAA 8x 42 Max, cpu load 27%

where's the problem? i'm confuse, don't know what to do..

so..please help me...thx


----------



## Expos_Kid

Add Me To The List I Got A Powercolor Hd 6870 And I Am Lovein' It Had A Hd 4350 Before

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/7b6q2/


----------



## Faraz

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cxyrus* 
hi guys...

i have problem, i just bought HD6850..

my rig is
Phenom X4 9650
GA-MA770-UD3
DDR2 4GB
HD 6850
Venom 650watt
catalyst 10.11

since then i tried to play game, but before that i owned GTS 250
cek comparison

NFS Shift GTS 250 60-70 Fps, HD 6850 20-30 Fps
Splinter cell conviction HD 6850 20-30 Fps

Furmark benchmark res.1360x768 MSAA 8x 42 Max, cpu load 27%

where's the problem? i'm confuse, don't know what to do..

so..please help me...thx

Which drivers did you install and did you uninstall the old one?


----------



## sniper_13

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
sniper the auto setting really sucks ask neone.we control the fan speed because we have to.Load your card and watch your fan speed in relation to temps it lets your card get hot before it ramps up speed and even then fan speeds raise very slowly

looks like im gonna have to do the same, seeing my temps aren't going down. I dust my computer down every week so i know its not that


----------



## DB006

Quote:


Originally Posted by *faraz1729* 
Just got my 6870 today. It'll be going to my brother when the 6970 is released, but until then I'm trying it out. Excuse the blurry phone picture.










So much for the blue color scheme...










Why not get another and crossfire it? That will rip a 6970 to shreds (probably/possibly







)


----------



## Wubble

MSI 6870 Twin Frozr II


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

that's nice but, is it 128 bits?

You bandwidch is 73gb/s


----------



## DB006

GPUZ is on version 0.4.9 now, suggest Wubble updates to gain correct report


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

true lol


----------



## Wubble

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
GPUZ is on version 0.4.9 now, suggest Wubble updates to gain correct report









ಠ_ಠ
Do I really have to update it to get on the list?


----------



## cxyrus

Quote:


Originally Posted by *faraz1729* 
Which drivers did you install and did you uninstall the old one?

i use catalyst 10.1 , and yes i uninstalled the old one...

i think the problem is driver bug

what do you think about bottleneck (phenom X4 9650)?

thx


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cxyrus* 
i use catalyst 10.1 , and yes i uninstalled the old one...

i think the problem is driver bug

what do you think about bottleneck (phenom X4 9650)?

thx

you need to get drivers that actually work the the 6800 series..
get 10.10


----------



## cxyrus

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
you need to get drivers that actually work the the 6800 series..
get 10.10

i forgot to write

i've use 10.10e hotfix, already installed, but looks the same to me..

playing conviction max detail and setting, res.1360x768 only 23Fps ,max 40Fps

thx


----------



## kilimats

I think my score is really low

I got 1628 @ 3dMark11 with the 6870 and i5 @ 2.6GHz without any overclocking, how about you guys ?

3DMark Score P1628
Graphics score 1448
Physics Score 5064
Combined Score 1507
GraphicsTest 17.04 FPS
GraphicsTest 27.02 FPS
GraphicsTest 39.12 FPS
GraphicsTest 44.15 FPS
PhysicsTest 16.08 FPS
CombinedTest 7.01 FPS


----------



## cxyrus

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kilimats* 
I think my score is really low

I got 1628 @ 3dMark11 with the 6870 and i5 @ 2.6GHz without any overclocking, how about you guys ?

3DMark Score P1628
Graphics score 1448
Physics Score 5064
Combined Score 1507
GraphicsTest 17.04 FPS
GraphicsTest 27.02 FPS
GraphicsTest 39.12 FPS
GraphicsTest 44.15 FPS
PhysicsTest 16.08 FPS
CombinedTest 7.01 FPS


worst than me....

100% driver problems...

i suggest uninstall the old ones, use 10.10e hotfix<-amd advised to used for HD 6850/6870.
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/2030..._win7_nov9.exe

thx


----------



## SkillzKillz

Originally 10.10e installed fine for me, then i switched my motherboard and had to reinstall every driver. Since then I haven't gotten 10.10e to install and the regular 10.10 has been the best driver for me.

I'm looking forward to 10.12


----------



## cxyrus

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz* 
Originally 10.10e installed fine for me, then i switched my motherboard and had to reinstall every driver. Since then I haven't gotten 10.10e to install and the regular 10.10 has been the best driver for me.

I'm looking forward to 10.12

same here...still waiting 10.12

some rumors said that 10.12 huge driver package..

don't know & don't care

as long my problem's fixed....


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
Why not get another and crossfire it? That will rip a 6970 to shreds (probably/possibly







)

Yeah,








That's what i'll bo doing for sure, hope pretty soon


















However, i might wanna change the reference cooler first getting the accelero xtreme plus and trying so pushing to the very limits of the card


----------



## arrow0309

Mine did P4605 score at 970/1100/1.22v.


----------



## smoke420

can u guys read the last post on page 147 and give me your thoughts.are the drivers that bad?


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

lol sad... i did P3832 on 3dmark 11

Fk these drivers.


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

lol sad... i did P3832 on 3dmark 11

Fk these drivers.










http://3dmark.com/3dm11/53819


----------



## smoke420

3DMark Score
P6739
Graphics score
7824
Physics Score
4990
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/55116


----------



## M1nUrThr3t

well i was looking at getting the asus 6870 but kinda scared with all these driver issues.

Any input to push me in the right direction? BTW I will putting it under water and plan on having it on a CHIVF.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Latest Scores with HD 6870s


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Wubble* 
ಠ_ಠ
Do I really have to update it to get on the list?

By the way, Raziel how about getting on this "list"


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Latest Scores with HD 6870s


























****. OC'd at 5ghz LOL.

Great job on OC and temps from both.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *M1nUrThr3t* 
well i was looking at getting the asus 6870 but kinda scared with all these driver issues.

Any input to push me in the right direction? BTW I will putting it under water and plan on having it on a CHIVF.

I would wait if you plan on cf.There is no telling if or when these driver issues will be fixed.so far getting everthing to work together is a nightmare.If you read my post at the end of page 147 im not sure its even possible


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari* 
****. OC'd at 5ghz LOL.

Great job on OC and temps from both.

Ty.... it was a South Florida cold front that help a little. I need a bios for my motherboard that helps with my unlocked multiplier. CPU will not for past 26x. I am hoping with new one I can drop BLCK and play a little with the memory frequency.... altleast help me out on 3DMark06.


----------



## M1nUrThr3t

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
I would wait if you plan on cf.There is no telling if or when these driver issues will be fixed.so far getting everthing to work together is a nightmare.If you read my post at the end of page 147 im not sure its even possible

na i wont be doing crossfire.
So are the issues mainly with crossfire?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Use OCCT run for 10 min with error checking on and shader complexity 8. That will tell you if your stable.

Man, it's a kind of linx for gpu's, that's awsome








I thought i was stable at 970/1100 (by trixx at 1.225v-1.219 gpuz) with furmark and lots of gaming (including the heavier BFBC2) but this crappy OCCT (v3.1) gives me lots of white artifacts with this settings


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Latest Scores with HD 6870s









Lol, nice temps on these cards








Liquid cooled or high flow spitfire's ?


----------



## Jonesey I7

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP* 
Latest Scores with HD 6870s

























which version of ab is that? mine stops at 1.3?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jonesey I7* 
which version of ab is that? mine stops at 1.3?

You have to modify the file cfg.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

I am using AB 2.1 Beta 4 with help
http://www.overclock.net/ati/861293-...-unlocker.html

I am using the stock cooling on the cards. I changed the grease to TX-4 and it was 18c in my room. Most South FLoridians don't have heaters









The CPU is water cooler... The 990x runs about the same temps as the water in idle. This screenie is 4.4GHz with Speed step and C1E on


----------



## gammite

i ended up enabling surround view in my 785g bios and using the igp for my smaller monitor and the toxic 6850 for my 32". it solved my memory clock issues. in 2d i now run at 100/300 instead of 300/1100.

given that i have been running dual monitors for years i don't know why didn't think of this before. it takes a little load off of the discrete gpu and it was painless. the card is running cooler and the main gpu has all its power dedicated to whatever i am doing on the 32".

the second monitor is usually running a bunch of small windows with diagnostics, outlook and mc7 live tv. so a 4200 igp will have no issues with that. and if it did i can easily increase the gpu clock from the stock 500 to 750 with no issues.

i also ended up learning that dvi can pass audio. i didn't know that before. i started getting sound of the 22" and it spooked the hell out of me. i had to reconfigure my sound settings.


----------



## WIGILOCO

P4129 3DMarks

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/58501

Stock XFX 6870.










Add me to the list please!


----------



## masonkian

anyone got trixx to work in 6870 crossfire?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *masonkian* 
anyone got trixx to work in 6870 crossfire?

I have 6850 crossfire the only way i could get it to work is if nothing was changed in ccc.if even the fan speed was changed in ccc my system would restart when applying any settings in trixx.But Trixx is the only program I found that can raise voltage with my physx card installed.so i raise voltage with trixx then overclock and control fans with ccc.but it wont work with ulps enabled


----------



## smoke420

3DMark Score
27757.93
Graphics Score
24834.64
CPU Score
42911.16

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2783550


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
I have 6850 crossfire the only way i could get it to work is if nothing was changed in ccc.if even the fan speed was changed in ccc my system would restart when applying any settings in trixx.But Trixx is the only program I found that can raise voltage with my physx card installed.so i raise voltage with trixx then overclock and control fans with ccc.but it wont work with ulps enabled









I used Trixx for a while with xfire.... had to disable ulps and it worked find. Went to AB cause of more features and higher voltages (before saying same v check post before







)


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
3DMark Score
27757.93
Graphics Score
24834.64
CPU Score
42911.16

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2783550

even your avatar looks smoked out! lol


----------



## reflex99

Attachment 184016

i can hit 1030 core and 1170mem so far. I love this card


----------



## Th0m0_202

as far as trixx will let me :S could push it further tho.


----------



## tsm106

FYI, for those looking for cards the XFX 6870s are 239 at Amazon and in stock.


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Th0m0_202* 
as far as trixx will let me :S could push it further tho.









is it stable? what temps?


----------



## calebkan

guys i want to do xfire with 6870s...

but there is a some questions ..

1-whats the ulps? i must disable it or?

2-i want to use trixx mostly..so i need to dısable ulps?

3-ulps for what?only ab?

4-i must install driver again with when i put on second card on pc for xfire?

5-can i use 1 overclockıng program for xfire?or i must use 2 program for 2 card?

6-i need only 1 bridge for xfire?

7-ty for all..sorry my english..have a nıce day


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
guys i want to do xfire with 6870s...

but there is a some questions ..

1-whats the ulps? i must disable it or?

2-i want to use trixx mostly..so i need to dısable ulps?

3-ulps for what?only ab?

4-i must install driver again with when i put on second card on pc for xfire?

5-can i use 1 overclockıng program for xfire?or i must use 2 program for 2 card?

6-i need only 1 bridge for xfire?

7-ty for all..sorry my english..have a nıce day









1-Ulps=ultra low power state(once disabled power play most likely wont work making your cards idle hot)

2-if U want to overvolt for a higher and more stable overclock ulps must be disabled

3-thats for trixx ,afterburner,smart doctor and every other program ive tried.

4-no you should not have to reinstall drivers(but the driver your using may not work with crossfire thats iffy 10.10 works for some 10.10e for others)

5-once again cant say different for some people(I have to use trixx for voltage and ccc for overclocking and fan control)

6-the 6800 series only supports crossfire with two cards so theres only one spot for a bridge.

7-Ive been using nvidia cards for years .Just got my first set of amd cards.This is what ive learned in the past week.so if anyone has better answers feel free but I had so much trouble finding info I thought I would try and help.

Knowledge is power im here to share


----------



## Th0m0_202

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari* 
is it stable? what temps?

is with a lil more volts. its to hot atm to stress it out atm.


----------



## calebkan

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
1-Ulps=ultra low power state(once disabled power play most likely wont work making your cards idle hot)

2-if U want to overvolt for a higher and more stable overclock ulps must be disabled

3-thats for trixx ,afterburner,smart doctor and every other program ive tried.

4-no you should not have to reinstall drivers(but the driver your using may not work with crossfire thats iffy 10.10 works for some 10.10e for others)

5-once again cant say different for some people(I have to use trixx for voltage and ccc for overclocking and fan control)

6-the 6800 series only supports crossfire with two cards so theres only one spot for a bridge.

7-Ive been using nvidia cards for years .Just got my first set of amd cards.This is what ive learned in the past week.so if anyone has better answers feel free but I had so much trouble finding info I thought I would try and help.

Knowledge is power im here to share

ty so much bro..+rep

and ..my card doesnt go gpu 100mhz ddr 300mhz on idle when i disable to ulps?is it right?already working on overlock setttings..


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
ty so much bro..+rep

and ..my card doesnt go gpu 100mhz ddr 300mhz on idle when i disable to ulps?is it right?already working on overlock setttings..

Im not sure for one card but with crossfire the first card downclocks when it wants to and the second not at all.

btw: ive tried raising the voltage and than turning ulps back on not a good idea.completely unstable soon as the second card gets any load bsod
my temps right now idle:first card 41c second card 60c

These drivers are a nightmare


----------



## calebkan

hımm..

so on crossfire ,we must disable ulps already?

or

we can use cards default mhz and voltage when ulps enable
?

bsod coming already when overclocking in crossfire?

sorry i asked many questions but i still trying to learn this


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
hımm..

so on crossfire ,we must disable ulps already?

or

we can use cards default mhz and voltage when ulps enable
?

bsod coming already when overclocking in crossfire?

sorry i asked many questions but i still trying to learn this









no you dont have to disable ulps with crossfire you can overclock just fine.The problem is you cant raise the voltage with it enabled so your overclock will be lower.

dont worry about the questions im happy to help


----------



## calebkan

ah its ok now...ty again









The problem is you cant raise the voltage with it enabled..

thats it..its ok now..


----------



## smoke420

I have great news and if u knew and didnt say I really hate you but il get over it .lol

ab 2.1.0 beta 5 is out and as far as i can tell everything works finaly.it overclocks both cards,controls both fans ,and raises voltage with ulps enabled

spoke to soon wont control second fan or change clocks on both cards im about to pull my hair out
well i got one out of the three and the most important one at that so im still happy I guess.


----------



## calebkan

heh







its a good for us









but why still beta







..

and we need 10.12 drivers...


----------



## arrow0309

Guys I need some help








Not quite sure what to choose as cooling solution (air cooling) for my 6870.
I was thinking of the accelero xtreme plus however is a bit too long and why not even too expensive for what i need








It seems that I have to choose from these 2 models:



















One is the accelero S1 rev 2 with 2 120 fans, and the other one is the twin turbo pro (92mm stock fans)
All that matters is load (oc) cooling, what do you think


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
heh







its a good for us









but why still beta







..

and we need 10.12 drivers...

still beta because its not tested or working right.At this rate will be on beta 52 before it works.

looks like 10.12 is our only help.I have to say from what ive read this ulps/power play issue is not new.A few drivers have already came out that didn't fix it.If 10.12 doesn't fix it then will be waiting for









This is BS if 10.12 doesnt fix these issues im selling my rig and going intel nvidia for life call me a fan boy if you want but it worked.dont get me wrong I like to tweak and tune but for a reason.ive had these cards for two weeks and in that time driver sweeper has been my most used program.

god amd I hope you see this i didn't spend $400 to run driver sweeper.now im pi$$ed my next stop is to newegg to update my review.maybe try for a refund.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
still beta because its not tested or working right.At this rate will be on beta 52 before it works.

looks like 10.12 is our only help.I have to say from what ive read this ulps/power play issue is not new.A few drivers have already came out that didn't fix it.If 10.12 doesn't fix it then will be waiting for









This is BS if 10.12 doesnt fix these issues im selling my rig and going intel nvidia for life call me a fan boy if you want but it worked.dont get me wrong I like to tweak and tune but for a reason.ive had these cards for two weeks and in that time driver sweeper has been my most used program.

god amd I hope you see this i didn't spend $400 to run driver sweeper.now im pi$$ed my next stop is to newegg to update my review.maybe try for a refund.

Seriously. Once I get some more money, I'm going back to Nvidia. I just want drivers that WORK.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

LoL. I switch products all the time. I have AMD cpus, I have Intel cpus, I have Nvidia cards and AMD/ATi cards. On my AMD/ATi cards I do not have many issues but then again I only use Von Dach modded drivers and don't play BFBC2.

I have had serious issues in the past with both Nvidia and AMD drivers. They all have issues from time to time. I am sure AMD is aware of it and is working on it.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Need some help guys.

Install the 6870's in Xfire and i have the GPU2 99% bug. What is the cure for this problem? Also what AB supports voltage control on these MSI 6870's?


----------



## Jonesey I7

Von Modded 10.10e's for the win~~~~!!


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc*


Need some help guys.

Install the 6870's in Xfire and i have the GPU2 99% bug. What is the cure for this problem? Also what AB supports voltage control on these MSI 6870's?


2.1.0 Beta 3 and up.
you have to enable it in the .ini file.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
2.1.0 Beta 3 and up.
you have to enable it in the .ini file.

Which Ini file?


----------



## Bassdoken

afterburner.cfg, actually. I have no idea where I got the .ini from.









man I'm bad at this. you just need to go into the settings to unlock voltage. >.<
But to get overclocking higher than what CCC allows, you do need to edit the .cfg file, and change the following setting:

Quote:

EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 1


----------



## shnur

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Guys I need some help








Not quite sure what to choose as cooling solution (air cooling) for my 6870.
I was thinking of the accelero xtreme plus however is a bit too long and why not even too expensive for what i need








It seems that I have to choose from these 2 models:

*snip*

One is the accelero S1 rev 2 with 2 120 fans, and the other one is the twin turbo pro (92mm stock fans)
All that matters is load (oc) cooling, what do you think










If you have the space, I'd go with the first one, I don't think you'll have enough space for crossfire though if you ever intend to. 
You'll have more noise as well, but the second model pushes hot air down... don't really see the point in that


----------



## Jean-Luc

Xfire 6870 guys. How do you even enable Crossfire? What Drivers are you using? I can't seem to get crossfire working. I can't even find where to enable it. I'm on 10.10e


----------



## shnur

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc*


Xfire 6870 guys. How do you even enable Crossfire? What Drivers are you using? I can't seem to get crossfire working. I can't even find where to enable it. I'm on 10.10e


For some, it works on 10.10 no hotfix, other it works on 10.10e. Try rolling back


----------



## nagle3092

I have yet to use a different driver since vods 10.10d release and I have yet to have a problem. I recommend that driver but make sure you run the express uninstall all from add/remove dont forget to remove physx as well. Then go into device manager and delete the driver from there as well (if it didnt). Reboot into safe mode run driver sweeper and Ccleaner reboot into normal then install the latest chipset driver(amd users) then reboot then install the driver. I have done it this way for quite some time and I cant the last time I had any issues with crossfire.


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *shnur* 
For some, it works on 10.10 no hotfix, other it works on 10.10e. Try rolling back

If you look at his system he has one now. The driver will not show XFire till he has 2 cards so its cool.
Just plug in the "coming" card and then we worry about it


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
I have yet to use a different driver since vods 10.10d release and I have yet to have a problem. I recommend that driver but make sure you run the express uninstall all from add/remove dont forget to remove physx as well. Then go into device manager and delete the driver from there as well (if it didnt). Reboot into safe mode run driver sweeper and Ccleaner reboot into normal then install the latest chipset driver(amd users) then reboot then install the driver. I have done it this way for quite some time and I cant the last time I had any issues with crossfire.

Im willing to try that ive tried everything else I could thank of.but one question do you have voltage control, ulps enabled, and control of clocks and fans on both cards?if not I can just wait and hope 10.12 will fix these issues.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
Im willing to try that ive tried everything else I could thank of.but one question do you have voltage control, ulps enabled, and control of clocks and fans on both cards?if not I can just wait and hope 10.12 will fix these issues.

I dont have my cards overclocked right now.


----------



## Mindprison

Here's mine... And I think someone surely asked this before but it's too much to go through houndreds of pages of posts so I'll ask again.. Is my Phenom rly a bottleneck for two 6870s or I'm having worse perfomance than expected because of the drivers. I've looked at lots of benchmarks for crossfire of those two with i7 as processor and they get 50+ fps more than I do.. That's a lot.. So what's the real problem here? Thx


----------



## Jean-Luc

Someone start up the 1100 Club for 6870's. Sucks one of my 6870's is defective. Have to RMA it to newegg for a new one. 3.4Ghz boys. Modifying my H70 and on air ATM.










http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/wnb6w/


----------



## skyline385

PLEASE HELP
hello guys,
i am facing an odd problem with my ASUS EAH6850 GPU

System Specs -
C2D E8400 (default 3.0 GHz)
MSI P7N Platinum (nForce 750i)
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
ASUS EAH6850
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Cooler Master Xtreme Power 500W

Whenever i play some heavy games (maxed out at *1440 x 900*) CPU load is 100% where GPU load remains below 50%. This cause very very slight stuttering at some points in the games. This remains same whether AA is 24x or OFF i.e. AA has no effect on it. Now, people told me E8400 wont be much of a bottleneck for 6850.So is it the 500W power supply responsible for this? Also because of just 500W its hard for me to overclock my CPU. Can anyone explain the problem here?
Also i tried running 3dMark06 and it just wont start. Stops after it shows Creating Shaders during load screen. Someone please help here.


----------



## strezz

Count me in boys.


----------



## kpo6969

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyline385* 
PLEASE HELP
hello guys,
i am facing an odd problem with my ASUS EAH6850 GPU

System Specs -
C2D E8400 (default 3.0 GHz)
MSI P7N Platinum (nForce 750i)
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
ASUS EAH6850
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Cooler Master Xtreme Power 500W

Whenever i play some heavy games (maxed out at *1440 x 900*) CPU load is 100% where GPU load remains below 50%. This cause very very slight stuttering at some points in the games. This remains same whether AA is 24x or OFF i.e. AA has no effect on it. Now, people told me E8400 wont be much of a bottleneck for 6850.So is it the 500W power supply responsible for this? Also because of just 500W its hard for me to overclock my CPU. Can anyone explain the problem here?
Also i tried running 3dMark06 and it just wont start. Stops after it shows Creating Shaders during load screen. Someone please help here.

Your 500w psu is rated at only *30*amps so my guess is not enough juice.
I have 520w psu with *40*amps and E8400 and same card with no such issues.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kpo6969* 
Your 500w psu is rated at only *30*amps so my guess is not enough juice.
I have 520w psu with *40*amps and E8400 and same card with no such issues.

But i have heard that if PSU is the problem, the GPU wont just run like there will be black screens and all. Also many sites show 30A/500W (it being less power consuming than 5xxx series) as sufficient for 6850. Thats why i am totally confused with my problem.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyline385* 
PLEASE HELP
hello guys,
i am facing an odd problem with my ASUS EAH6850 GPU

System Specs -
C2D E8400 (default 3.0 GHz)
MSI P7N Platinum (nForce 750i)
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
ASUS EAH6850
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Cooler Master Xtreme Power 500W

Whenever i play some heavy games (maxed out at *1440 x 900*) CPU load is 100% where GPU load remains below 50%. This cause very very slight stuttering at some points in the games. This remains same whether AA is 24x or OFF i.e. AA has no effect on it. Now, people told me E8400 wont be much of a bottleneck for 6850.So is it the 500W power supply responsible for this? Also because of just 500W its hard for me to overclock my CPU. Can anyone explain the problem here?
Also i tried running 3dMark06 and it just wont start. Stops after it shows Creating Shaders during load screen. Someone please help here.

It sounds like a bottleneck or a psu issue but its not I own two of those in sli .my problem was much worse when trying to run 3dmark06 my system would just restart really unstable .tried lowering voltage and clocks on cpu helped a little but still not stable .tried raising voltage ended up at 1.62 to get 3.8 stable up from 1.56.after all that it turned out to be the drivers.at 1.62 it would bsod instead of just restarting that when i saw somthing like your display driver crashed and timedout.
Try the drivers on the disc then 10.10e if those dont work look into some modded drivers.Von Dach at 3dguru advised
You can use driver 10.11 Beta or 10.10e, if you wait some hours, rflair is releasing 10.11 Catalyst 8.80.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=332395


----------



## kpo6969

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyline385* 
But i have heard that if PSU is the problem, the GPU wont just run like there will be black screens and all. Also many sites show 30A/500W (it being less power consuming than 5xxx series) as sufficient for 6850. Thats why i am totally confused with my problem.

30amps is low for a 500w psu, 500w is usually what's recommended for 6850.
ex: Antec Earthwatts 500 has 34 amps.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
It sounds like a bottleneck or a psu issue but its not I own two of those in sli .my problem was much worse when trying to run 3dmark06 my system would just restart really unstable .tried lowering voltage and clocks on cpu helped a little but still not stable .tried raising voltage ended up at 1.62 to get 3.8 stable up from 1.56.after all that it turned out to be the drivers.at 1.62 it would bsod instead of just restarting that when i saw somthing like your display driver crashed and timedout.
Try the drivers on the disc then 10.10e if those dont work look into some modded drivers.Von Dach at 3dguru advised
You can use driver 10.11 Beta or 10.10e, if you wait some hours, rflair is releasing 10.11 Catalyst 8.80.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=332395

You tried these modded drivers?
Performance gain?
Any risk involved?


----------



## kpo6969

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
It sounds like a bottleneck or a psu issue but its not I own two of those in sli .my problem was much worse when trying to run 3dmark06 my system would just restart really unstable .tried lowering voltage and clocks on cpu helped a little but still not stable .tried raising voltage ended up at 1.62 to get 3.8 stable up from 1.56.after all that it turned out to be the drivers.at 1.62 it would bsod instead of just restarting that when i saw somthing like your display driver crashed and timedout.
Try the drivers on the disc then 10.10e if those dont work look into some modded drivers.Von Dach at 3dguru advised
You can use driver 10.11 Beta or 10.10e, if you wait some hours, *rflair is releasing 10.11 Catalyst 8.80.*

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=332395

Already out and installed, so far so good.
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=334165


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kpo6969* 
30amps is low for a 500w psu, 500w is usually what's recommended for 6850.
ex: Antec Earthwatts 500 has 34 amps.

yeah i agree its low. I made a stupid mistake of buying this PSU. But i think it should be OK for 6850. Like i said many forums say 30A is enough. Anyway i am gonna try this Von modded drivers ( they claim to resolve micro stuttering )


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyline385* 
You tried these modded drivers?
Performance gain?
Any risk involved?

just installed von modded 10.10e.cant say much still testing .for my there way more stable so far.will post some scores in a min.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kpo6969* 
Already out and installed, so far so good.
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=334165

uh which will be better here?
Von Mod 10.10e or rflair 10.11 (official amd drivers have no support for 68xx in 10.11)


----------



## smoke420

3DMark Score
28113.28 3DMarks
Graphics Score
25099.51
CPU Score
43941.97

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2786238
von mod 10.10e is the only one ive tried so far. just installed 20 min ago and best gpu score so far.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
3DMark Score
28113.28 3DMarks
Graphics Score
25099.51
CPU Score
43941.97

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2786238
von mod 10.10e is the only one ive tried so far. just installed 20 min ago and best gpu score so far.

k thanks
will try von mod
lets see if it solves my problem


----------



## calebkan

hi guys,

i want to do crossfire with 2x6870 and i am using Phenom II X4 965 C3 @ 4.00 Ghz 1.50 v..2xhdd 2x ddr3 ..

but i have corsair 650tx 52A

so its ok for 2x6870?

i calculated how much watt i needed and its around 575watt--630 watt..630watt full load system..

so my 650tx psu can hold my system with crossfire 2x6870 but it must be workıng on nearly full load..

can psu working full load .?is it dangerous or ?

i need 600watt power when my system going to full load with crossfire 2x6870..

its ok or it will be dangerous for all my system?

ty


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
hi guys,

i want to do crossfire with 2x6870 and i am using Phenom II X4 965 C3 @ 4.00 Ghz 1.50 v..2xhdd 2x ddr3 ..

but i have corsair 650tx 52A

so its ok for 2x6870?

i calculated how much watt i needed and its around 575watt--630 watt..630watt full load system..

so my 650tx psu can hold my system with crossfire 2x6870 but it must be workıng on nearly full load..

can psu working full load .?is it dangerous or ?

i need 600watt power when my system going to full load with crossfire 2x6870..

its ok or it will be dangerous for all my system?

ty

i dont think PSUs ever work on full load. All manufacturers give their PSU efficiency (70-85% generally) depending on brand. Calculate keeping in mind the PSU efficiency.


----------



## calebkan

so i am going to downclock my cpu







and i cant o/c my 6870s


----------



## strezz

I just got my 2 6850's from Sapphire and their running sweet on stock clocks, what type of clocks can i expect when i overclock these these babies? also is there a way to increase the voltage? Because it seems trixx can only lower the voltage.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyline385* 
i dont think PSUs ever work on full load. All manufacturers give their PSU efficiency (70-85% generally) depending on brand. Calculate keeping in mind the PSU efficiency.

The wattage on the label describes the output they can provide to the computer, not the amount of power they draw from the socket.


----------



## calebkan

so can i use 6870 crossfire on corsair 650tx? its 52A..

some guys saying,cpu is needed 10-15 Amper and 2x6870 needed 25 amper..

and can psu work under load many hours?


----------



## Jean-Luc

Updated. 4Ghz, 1100core, 1200m


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc* 
Updated. 4Ghz, 1100core, 1200m










Can you pass 10 min of OCCT with that?


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Can you pass 10 min of OCCT with that?

Haven't tried. Passed an hour of BC2.








I'll run OCCT


----------



## nagle3092

Make sure you run it full screen with shader complexity 8 and error checking on.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc* 
Updated. 4Ghz, 1100core, 1200m










Vantage?








3D Mark 11 or go home


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
Make sure you run it full screen with shader complexity 8 and error checking on.

Will do

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
Vantage?








3D Mark 11 or go home









I'll download it


----------



## [EX3]Cobra_XP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc* 
Updated. 4Ghz, 1100core, 1200m










Nice!!!!!!!!


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:



Originally Posted by *[EX3]Cobra_XP*


Nice!!!!!!!!










That's only at 1.3v. I upped available voltage tuning to 1.45


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc*


That's only at 1.3v. I upped available voltage tuning to 1.45










So did it pass OCCT?


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


So did it pass OCCT?


I didn't even do it yet bro. Trying to Root and overclock my Droid X at the moment. I'll have OCCT results shortly


----------



## nagle3092

Ok sounds good, if your run fraps while you run OCCT you can take a screen shot.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *shnur*


If you have the space, I'd go with the first one, I don't think you'll have enough space for crossfire though if you ever intend to. 
You'll have more noise as well, but the second model pushes hot air down... don't really see the point in that










Thanks for your advice man, i've allready changed my mind going for the Zalman vf3000A + AC VR001








And yes, i'm planning to do xfire soon


----------



## smoke420

3DMark Score
P6875
Graphics score
7999
Physics Score
5105

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/116387
occt temps scare me..If I can bench and game all day and run furmark for 30mins why run occt.If my driver crashes at some point il lower my clocks but im not going to sit there and watch my cards go over 80c.occt too extreme for me doesn't seem safe.stock clocks and voltage my cards dont come close to 70c while in game or benches and 73c max with furmark but occt 10 mins. 84c?they past the test but at the risk of catching fire.lol


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


3DMark Score
P6875
Graphics score
7999
Physics Score
5105

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/116387
occt temps scare me..If I can bench and game all day and run furmark for 30mins why run occt.If my driver crashes at some point il lower my clocks but im not going to sit there and watch my cards go over 80c.occt too extreme for me doesn't seem safe.stock clocks and voltage my cards dont come close to 70c while in game or benches and 73c max with furmark but occt 10 mins. 84c?they past the test but at the risk of catching fire.lol


That's a pretty nice score. Can you run it with just one 6850 to see how it scales? At my best, I got ~4230 points, and that was at 1ghz core / 1.2ghz mem


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


That's a pretty nice score. Can you run it with just one 6850 to see how it scales? At my best, I got ~4230 points, and that was at 1ghz core / 1.2ghz mem


sorry cant do it .I have 4 gpu's and it was a nightmare to get them to work together.xfire 6850,gtx260 216 core(physx),and a old 8500gt to watch movies on my big none hd crt tv.lol


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


sorry cant do it .I have 4 gpu's and it was a nightmare to get them to work together.xfire 6850,gtx260 216 core(physx),and a old 8500gt to watch movies on my big none hd crt tv.lol


lol.
can't just disable crossfire in CCC?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *skyline385*


PLEASE HELP
hello guys,
i am facing an odd problem with my ASUS EAH6850 GPU

System Specs - 
C2D E8400 (default 3.0 GHz)
MSI P7N Platinum (nForce 750i)
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
ASUS EAH6850
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Cooler Master Xtreme Power 500W

Whenever i play some heavy games (maxed out at *1440 x 900*) CPU load is 100% where GPU load remains below 50%. This cause very very slight stuttering at some points in the games. This remains same whether AA is 24x or OFF i.e. AA has no effect on it. Now, people told me E8400 wont be much of a bottleneck for 6850.So is it the 500W power supply responsible for this? Also because of just 500W its hard for me to overclock my CPU. Can anyone explain the problem here?
Also i tried running 3dMark06 and it just wont start. Stops after it shows Creating Shaders during load screen. Someone please help here.


new drivers helped and my system is stable but after giving both cards 1.3 volts the problem returned.so its both your drivers and psu.had a ide to sata adapter and old hdd removed them both problem gone.looks like we both will need new psu's soon.

our cards suck more juice than the reference 6850's









source http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/..._card_review/9


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


lol.
can't just disable crossfire in CCC?


3DMark Score
P4196
Graphics score
4063
Physics Score
5088

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/118087

xfire scaling is no joke same clocks and voltage gpu scores

1 card-4063

2 cards-7999


----------



## inediblebuffalo

Hey,

Just got me a Gigabyte 6850. I'm having some major driver issues. They keep crashing, my screen will freeze and sometimes it'll unfreeze and windows 7 (64bit) will tell me it has recovered and sometimes it won't and I have to reboot.

I have a 400W Corsair PSU and a Phenom II X3 710 CPU. Neither are OCed yet and this is a brand new clean install. GPU temps max at 60C with FurMark.

I was able to get Crysis working for a bit and played it on max settings at 1920*1080 for a good hour. It won't open now and random things seem to make the drivers crash. I'm using CCC 10.10 and the drivers I downloaded from ATI's site today. "Driver Packaging Version8.782-100930m-106921C-ATI"

Anyone know what is causing the driver crashes and hopefully a fix?

EDIT!: So I just discovered that fullscreen games that usually crash run fine in windowed mode (SC2 and Crysis). Is there a fix?

Cheers!


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
new drivers helped and my system is stable but after giving both cards 1.3 volts the problem returned.so its both your drivers and psu.had a ide to sata adapter and old hdd removed them both problem gone.looks like we both will need new psu's soon.

our cards suck more juice than the reference 6850's









source http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/..._card_review/9

looks like it
tried von modded drivers but couldnt get it resolved much
might have to get a new psu i guess
damn it ,was saving for a quad core cpu


----------



## arrow0309

Think I'll go this way


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc* 
I didn't even do it yet bro. Trying to Root and overclock my Droid X at the moment. I'll have OCCT results shortly

You ever get that OCCT run?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nagle3092* 
You ever get that OCCT run?

By the way, I did this OCCT in that way and still get errors even at 960/1.25v.








The thing drives me insane and i'm wondering if is really necessary








Hope the things change with my new cooler I'm going to get


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyline385* 
PLEASE HELP
hello guys,
i am facing an odd problem with my ASUS EAH6850 GPU

System Specs -
C2D E8400 (default 3.0 GHz)
MSI P7N Platinum (nForce 750i)
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
ASUS EAH6850
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Cooler Master Xtreme Power 500W

Whenever i play some heavy games (maxed out at *1440 x 900*) CPU load is 100% where GPU load remains below 50%. This cause very very slight stuttering at some points in the games. This remains same whether AA is 24x or OFF i.e. AA has no effect on it. Now, people told me E8400 wont be much of a bottleneck for 6850.So is it the 500W power supply responsible for this? Also because of just 500W its hard for me to overclock my CPU. Can anyone explain the problem here?
Also i tried running 3dMark06 and it just wont start. Stops after it shows Creating Shaders during load screen. Someone please help here.

OK i even tried 3DMark 11 but still same problem. Computer stops responding during loading screen. I googled and no one else seems have to such a problems.
*SOMEONE PLEASE HELP HERE*


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyline385* 
OK i even tried 3DMark 11 but still same problem. Computer stops responding during loading screen. I googled and no one else seems have to such a problems.
*SOMEONE PLEASE HELP HERE*

You should be OCed your cpu at min 3.8 Ghz, if necesary get a bigger PSU








I know a gui that had been experienced similar stuff, (low fps on 6870 because of wrong pci ex connection @ formerly used 1 molex to pci e adaptor instead of the psu pci e connector to use on the 2Â° plug) and the things get much better afterwards


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


Originally Posted by *arrow0309* 
You should be OCed your cpu at min 3.8 Ghz, if necesary get a bigger PSU








I know a gui that had been experienced similar stuff, (low fps on 6870 because of wrong pci ex connection @ formerly used 1 molex to pci e adaptor instead of the psu pci e connector to use on the 2Â° plug) and the things get much better afterwards









i used the default pci-e 6pin connector to coonect my psu
also just on 500w psu , is it possible for me to oc my cpu? i mean if the prob is due to low power , then oc will make it worse.


----------



## calebkan

i bought asus eah6870 voltage tweak and its too weak for overclock..so whats the voltage tweak?

i am usıng now 1020 gpu and 1120 ram..and 1.250v...

ddr didnt go more i dont understand why?


----------



## smoke420

the highest I got is 1145 ram.Most likely due to no cooling on the ram.haven't seen a reference card taken apart but our cards have nothing touching the ram to cool them some little heatsinks may help


----------



## calebkan

omg nothing tauching the ram for cooling?omg why?its a voltage tweak edition and rams doenst cooling!!great work asus!!

i will going to watercooling for this card so it will be great?

and i know max speed is 1250mhz on 6870s.is it right?


----------



## Riou

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
omg nothing tauching the ram for cooling?omg why?its a voltage tweak edition and rams doenst cooling!!great work asus!!

i will going to watercooling for this card so it will be great?

and i know max speed is 1250mhz on 6870s.is it right?

Reference 6870's have ram cooling. There are thermal pads that contact a large piece of metal to the ram.

The 6850's on the market do not have any ram sinks. The reference 6850 did have ramsinks, but no AIB has released any reference 6850's. They are all non-reference.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
omg nothing tauching the ram for cooling?omg why?its a voltage tweak edition and rams doenst cooling!!great work asus!!

i will going to watercooling for this card so it will be great?

and i know max speed is 1250mhz on 6870s.is it right?

I have the 6850's not a reference cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121399

if this is your card it looks like a reference cooler and like I said never seen one taken apart but the ram looks to be cooled.want to be sure take it apart or ask someone that has.if you take it apart changing thermal compound will help temps anyway(not for ram).But watercooling is the best solution for heat so have fun
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ASUS%20EAH6870


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Riou* 
Reference 6870's have ram cooling. There are thermal pads that contact a large piece of metal to the ram.

The 6850's on the market do not have any ram sinks. The reference 6850 did have ramsinks, but no AIB has released any reference 6850's. They are all non-reference.

ya thats my bad saw the model and thought it was the same card didn't notice it was a 6870 to his next post


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
the highest I got is 1145 ram.Most likely due to no cooling on the ram.haven't seen a reference card taken apart but our cards have nothing touching the ram to cool them some little heatsinks may help

One of the reasons the 6970 Twin Frozer is worth the extra money.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc* 
One of the reasons the 6970 Twin Frozer is worth the extra money.










no ones fault but my own should have done more research.at some point may watercool them but no real need .lets face it I have a single 22" monitor max res of 1920/1080 and 60fps smooth in game is all I need.any improvement right now would be for benchmarks and im not paying a dime for that.lol

Would love some new drivers though


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
no ones fault but my own should have done more research.at some point may watercool them but no real need .lets face it I have a single 22" monitor max res of 1920/1080 and 60fps smooth in game is all I need.any improvement right now would be for benchmarks and im not paying a dime for that.lol

Would love some new drivers though

I can bench at 1100c/1250m but after 10 minutes of so the drivers like to take a ****.


----------



## gonX

GDDR5 doesn't output that much heat. The passive airflow over them should be more than adequate.


----------



## BankaiKiller

Why am I not on list yet? allready posted screen shot...


----------



## calebkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


GDDR5 doesn't output that much heat. The passive airflow over them should be more than adequate.



so why i am not going to over 1100mhz ddr?my asus eah6870 rams doesnt go over 1100..


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


By the way, I did this OCCT in that way and still get errors even at 960/1.25v.








The thing drives me insane and i'm wondering if is really necessary








Hope the things change with my new cooler I'm going to get


I don't know if you got your issue resolved but try 975core/1125memory/1.2v with 50% fans.

That's how my Gigabyte 6870 likes it. Doesnt go above 65c in games. Also depending on airflow in your case you can do same OC with 45% for a little less noise. Both work to keep my card under 70c gaming.

Hope that helped.


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *calebkan*


so why i am not going to over 1100mhz ddr?my asus eah6870 rams doesnt go over 1100..


Badly binned chips probably.


----------



## kilimats

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BankaiKiller* 
Why am I not on list yet? allready posted screen shot...

whats so special about being on that list ? is it some kind of recognition for you guys ?


----------



## Jean-Luc

Stay away from going over 1200m. I just tried 1250m and now i must have killed a chip as i can't even run Vantage anymore. RMA time


----------



## calebkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Badly binned chips probably.


binned?

and i think i dont have some luck..


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *calebkan*


binned?

and i think i dont have some luck..










Yes. Binning is determined by the quality of the chip. So let's say if a 6870 can do 1ghz core and 1.2ghz mem on stock voltage, then you've got a pretty high binned chip. If you can only do 980 core and 1.1ghz mem at max voltage, your binning is pretty low.


----------



## Jonesey I7

any one using the ek full cover block on the 6870 yet?


----------



## calebkan

i am still waiting my order ek full cover for 6870...

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Yes. Binning is determined by the quality of the chip. So let's say if a 6870 can do 1ghz core and 1.2ghz mem on stock voltage, then you've got a pretty high binned chip. If you can only do 980 core and 1.1ghz mem at max voltage, your binning is pretty low.


hımm ty for informatıon bro..
and more voltage over 1.3 can help me?

now using 1.250v and 1020 gpu--1120 mem


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
i am still waiting my order ek full cover for 6870...

hımm ty for informatıon bro..
and more voltage over 1.3 can help me?

now using 1.250v and 1020 gpu--1120 mem

RS stable? ever tried a OCCT 10' run with error check and shader complexity 8


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
i am still waiting my order ek full cover for 6870...

hımm ty for informatıon bro..
and more voltage over 1.3 can help me?

now using 1.250v and 1020 gpu--1120 mem

1.3v is max voltage.


----------



## calebkan

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
1.3v is max voltage.


no ..more is possible over 1.3v with a voltage unlocker

http://www.overclock.net/ati/861293-...-unlocker.html


----------



## DB006

Yeah, you can edit the .cfg file for Afterburner to allow higher than 1.3v


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebkan* 
no ..more is possible over 1.3v with a voltage unlocker

http://www.overclock.net/ati/861293-...-unlocker.html


Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
Yeah, you can edit the .cfg file for Afterburner to allow higher than 1.3v

Without doing that, 1.3v is the max you can go.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DB006* 
Yeah, you can edit the .cfg file for Afterburner to allow higher than 1.3v

Sometimes modifying the cfg. file happens that in oc and overvolt AB won't return to the lower clocks in iddle mode and you only have to create 2 profiles, one for default and one for oc.
It won't happen this way using Sapphire Trixx


----------



## masonkian

cnat get trixx to work in CF


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


Originally Posted by *arrow0309* 
Sometimes modifying the cfg. file happens that in oc and overvolt AB won't return to the lower clocks in iddle mode and you only have to create 2 profiles, one for default and one for oc.
It won't happen this way using Sapphire Trixx









Trixx requires you to have a SSC or whatever it is. I don't feel like signing up for that.
Unless there is a download that's not from Sapphire that I don't know about...


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bassdoken* 
Trixx requires you to have a SSC or whatever it is. I don't feel like signing up for that.
Unless there is a download that's not from Sapphire that I don't know about...









http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php...85532&gk=forex

source post 59
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...=261272&page=3


----------



## smoke420

cant get the msi unlocker to work placed both files in install directory,changed cfg,even tried changing the profile as suggested for asus cards.but when i use provided exe. all I get is
Failed to open MSIAfterburner.exe..any help would be great I know this is not the best place to ask but a lot of people here use it


----------



## goldcrow

Is it worth it going from my 4850 now to a 6850? Are the gains mind-blowing? Currently playing Assassin's creed, AC2, Just Cause 2, GTA IV, and maybe COD: Black Ops. Was about to buy it already a few weeks ago but I had more important things to spend on then. Was asking 'cause I already found a buyer for the 4850 for around $70 and gonna buy the 6850 hopefully this week if I see it's worth it.


----------



## masonkian

trixx wont work with hd 6870 CF ?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *masonkian* 
trixx wont work with hd 6870 CF ?

dont see why not works for 6850 CF sort of just make no changes in ccc.easiest way i found
1.msconfig uncheck mom.exe and ccc.exe in startup tab(ccc wont run at startup)

2.restart

3.run trixx before any other overclocking program.

4.only change voltage in trixx(all other settings will apply only to first card e.g. overclocking and fan control)

5.close trixx

6.open ccc and do overclock and control fans from there.

btw in my experience after opening ccc just stoping the processes to change voltage again doesn't always work.

I have to use this method on msi ab aswell.but I cant complain ulps is still working (my biggest issue) and most of the time the voltage stays where I set it so no need to do it every reboot.hope this helps


----------



## masonkian

done all that its just wont load ?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *masonkian* 
done all that its just wont load ?

beyond that sorry to say I have no idea.try msi afterburner does the same thing and more and even looks better doing it.lol

wait for some better answer.theres a lot more smarter people in here them me.The reason I answered first is the same reason I know what I do.im always here.(I never sleep)


----------



## masonkian

lol cheers bud

with one card trixx works great its only in CF i have issues and many others too


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *masonkian* 
lol cheers bud

with one card trixx works great its only in CF i have issues and many others too

What drivers? im using von modded 10.10e (didn't help performance as they claim(or hurt) but did great for my stability issues


----------



## masonkian

im using the 10.10E off guru3d

are these the same as yours ?


----------



## smoke420

1000/1170
3DMark Score
P6889
Graphics score
8140
Physics Score
4933

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/149141

well stability =higher overclock =best scores yet (so ya the drivers help a lot)

anyway enough benches time for some maxed out metro 2033


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


Originally Posted by *masonkian* 
im using the 10.10E off guru3d

are these the same as yours ?

yup the same but there new ones you can try

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=332395


----------



## PowerTrip

I currently have 2 4850's in crossfire, is it worth getting myself a 6870 for xmas?
I play BF:BC2 mostly and with Vietnam coming out, I'm sure I'll be using the 6870 for many months to come.


----------



## Jonesey I7

Von modded 10.10e's FOR THE WIN!!!


----------



## PixelFreakz

I just got my 6870 twin frozr about 2 weeks ago... and it started to show artifacts in SCII... I ran furmark and it got up to 90 before I stopped it before 2 minutes was up... is this normal for an ambient of about 21C?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *PixelFreakz*


I just got my 6870 twin frozr about 2 weeks ago... and it started to show artifacts in SCII... I ran furmark and it got up to 90 before I stopped it before 2 minutes was up... is this normal for an ambient of about 21C?


I hate to answer not owning that card but two things I know for sure these cards run cool and the twin fan coolers on that card are great,even with out changing fan speed it should run a lot cooler

they do dump heat back in to your case (need a pretty good one).


----------



## Electroneng

Quote:

I currently have 2 4850's in crossfire, is it worth getting myself a 6870 for xmas?
I play BF:BC2 mostly and with Vietnam coming out, I'm sure I'll be using the 6870 for many months to come.
I would say go for it. The 6870 will be stronger then the 4850's and will give you DX11.

AMD seems to have gotten it right on these cards. Great performance, low power usage, and superb scaling if you ever want to Crossfire. In my opinion, the 6870 and 6850 cards are the best bang for the buck available.


----------



## calebkan

today my waterblock arrived..

Ek FC-6870 FULL NİCKEL

i am testing atm...

first results is

1030mhzgpu
1130mhz mem
1.3v
---
ambient 23c
idle 34c
load(under furmark 12 min atm) 53c

i think not bad:


----------



## calebkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jonesey I7*


Von modded 10.10e's FOR THE WIN!!!


i didnt try this driver yet..is it good?


----------



## masonkian

yes i just started using it and i am very impressed


----------



## WIGILOCO

I love my 6870! I will get new monitor tomorrow http://www.jimmspc.fi/tuote/9H.L3XLB.QBE?t=false and games will look so much better than with my 19" 1440x900 monitor now


----------



## calebkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *masonkian*


yes i just started using it and i am very impressed


hımm ok ty..i am going to try..where was the link?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *masonkian*


yes i just started using it and i am very impressed


Me too







even that I have to say the game I'm playing right now Black Ops with very good framerate at default clocks shows me somtimes graphic corruption like some areas with black vegetation combined to green ones (like grass or trees)








Not sure that is the game (to be patched) or the driver


----------



## shnur

Quote:


Originally Posted by *goldcrow* 
Is it worth it going from my 4850 now to a 6850? Are the gains mind-blowing? Currently playing Assassin's creed, AC2, Just Cause 2, GTA IV, and maybe COD: Black Ops. Was about to buy it already a few weeks ago but I had more important things to spend on then. Was asking 'cause I already found a buyer for the 4850 for around $70 and gonna buy the 6850 hopefully this week if I see it's worth it.

You got a nice price for your 4850, I sold my 4870 for the same price two weeks ago.

I would go for it, it's a great card and they're very cheap. You'll see about 100% increase from the 4850.


----------



## armen16

Hi to everyone. Excuse me and go easy since I just registered being a new member. I'm planing to get a Sapphire 6870 1GB but I'm not sure if it will work on my system. I don't want to build a new rig for a mean time since I'm a student and its hard for me. These are my computer specs. Some of my friends said not to worry it will run good.

Cored 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz
P35 Neo
2GB Kingston 400MHz
550W Thermaltake
8600GT 512MB

People suggested me to get these:
XFX 750W PSU Non Modular
Deep Cool Ice Blade Pro (The best I can afford and told me to overclock a little)

Any help will be highly appreciated. Thank you so much.


----------



## calebkan

hı..
i i think you run with 6870 in theese system ..it will work good..but you cant crossfire with 550watt..
and you can do some overclock your cpu..like 3.5ghz around..

3.5ghz cpu and 6870 will be great...


----------



## armen16

Quote:



Originally Posted by *calebkan*


hı..
i i think you run with 6870 in theese system ..it will work good..but you cant crossfire with 550watt..
and you can do some overclock your cpu..like 3.5ghz around..

3.5ghz cpu and 6870 will be great...


Thanks for your reply. Didn't expect someone would reply.









I won't be doing any crossfire just a single 6870 and making sure.

That's why I said I'm getting a 750W XFX PSU for future use also a cooler.

If anyone else can give me suggestions or whatever it would be nice.

Thank you.


----------



## shnur

Quote:



Originally Posted by *armen16*


Hi to everyone. Excuse me and go easy since I just registered being a new member. I'm planing to get a Sapphire 6870 1GB but I'm not sure if it will work on my system. I don't want to build a new rig for a mean time since I'm a student and its hard for me. These are my computer specs. Some of my friends said not to worry it will run good.

Cored 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz
P35 Neo
2GB Kingston 400MHz
550W Thermaltake
8600GT 512MB

People suggested me to get these:
XFX 750W PSU Non Modular
Deep Cool Ice Blade Pro (The best I can afford and told me to overclock a little)

Any help will be highly appreciated. Thank you so much.


You can fill your system specs in the control panel







It'll help everybody
http://www.overclock.net/specs.php

Otherwise I don't think you should upgrade the powersupply. It'll fun fine for every single GPU configs.

You might want to change that 8600gt for something like a 6850, 6870 is a bit though on budget maybe?

I never heard of that cooler but some reviews put it as pretty good.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *calebkan*


hı..
i i think you run with 6870 in theese system ..it will work good..but you cant crossfire with 550watt..
and you can do some overclock your cpu..like 3.5ghz around..

3.5ghz cpu and 6870 will be great...


I second that, except maybe the 6870 is out of budget range?


----------



## strezz

Is this an ok score for 3dmark06 for crossfired 6850's at stock clocks?


----------



## armen16

@shnur
Thank you for the tip. Updated.
Yeah I have enough budget for a Sapphire 6870, XFX 750W PSU and a CPU cooler.

I was just worried it might not work on my system.


----------



## shnur

Quote:



Originally Posted by *armen16*


@shnur
Thank you for the tip. Updated.
Yeah I have enough budget for a Sapphire 6870, XFX 750W PSU and a CPU cooler.

I was just worried it might not work on my system.


I wouldn't go for the PSU at this moment, you will see 0 improvements on it, either save the cash for a major system upgrade to Sandy Bridge in Q1 2011 or you may want to find another 2gb of RAM in the For Sale section of this forum, or a hard drive/screen, whichever you find is more important to you; but PSU will be a waste of money.

EDIT: or a case


----------



## armen16

Quote:



Originally Posted by *shnur*


I wouldn't go for the PSU at this moment, you will see 0 improvements on it, either save the cash for a major system upgrade to Sandy Bridge in Q1 2011 or you may want to find another 2gb of RAM in the For Sale section of this forum, or a hard drive/screen, whichever you find is more important to you; but PSU will be a waste of money.

EDIT: or a case










I'm not sure cos they told me my PSU isn't truly rated. So I need to get my self a 650W or 750W one. The cooler I'll be getting is a 150W solution for good cooling. I'm planing now for a good PSU, Graphic Card and a cooler since these are the things I'll be using for the long run. Then in the future all I need to get is Sandy Bridge processor, 4GB Ram's, motherboard and maybe a 1TB HD while I don't have to worry about my power since I already got the 750W.

I think its a fine idea though. But thank you so much for the suggestions. Feel free to say anything or suggest.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *strezz*


Is this an ok score for 3dmark06 for crossfired 6850's at stock clocks?










Run 3D Mark 11, then ask. I have no idea what a normal score for 06 is.

Does anyone know how to overclock, but still have idle clocks (without making two profiles)? This is really irritating me.


----------



## calebkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *strezz*


Is this an ok score for 3dmark06 for crossfired 6850's at stock clocks?










Hımm..you must be around 24 k i think..

look at this,

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...ssFire/21.html


----------



## smoke420

your not going to get those scores that review was a Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.8 GHz

no your good. I just got 21305 but my cpu is at 3725 and ram 1420

http://3dmark.com/3dm06/15150990


----------



## WIGILOCO

When does the user list update at?


----------



## Gumpy Joe

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*


When does the user list update at?


If that's you in your avatar, you look a lot like a young Heikki Kovalainen.


----------



## calebkan

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smoke420* 
your not going to get those scores that review was a Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.8 GHz

no your good. I just got 21305 but my cpu is at 3725 and ram 1420

http://3dmark.com/3dm06/15150990


ah right my mistake..

so this scores are normal..


----------



## strezz

i overclocked my cards slightly to 960/1100 and i only got a small increase with the gpu scores in 3dmark06

Stock clocks (gpu)- 19980
Overclocked - 20298

Would you guys consider that a good boost?


----------



## bfgDennis

I go myself a couple of 6870's, just wondering can I run these in crossfire with a 850W pw?


----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *bfgDennis*


I go myself a couple of 6870's, just wondering can I run these in crossfire with a 850W pw?


Without a problem, I ran 6870 cf on 600W.


----------



## calebkan

oh really? so i can run to..i have corsair 650tx...its good for me..:teaching: maybe psu can warm more


----------



## gonX

As long as you don't have a very wattage-intensive CPU you should be fine with a 600W PSU.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Just did these this morning


----------



## WIGILOCO

I have now dual monitor setup and my idle clocks are 300/1050 and they used to be 300/100 when I used one monitor. Temps arise from idle 39C to idle 50C. Normal?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*


I have now dual monitor setup and my idle clocks are 300/1050 and they used to be 300/100 when I used one monitor. Temps arise from idle 39C to idle 50C. Normal?


Yes its normal, its to prevent screen tearing.


----------



## WIGILOCO

Okay thank you. Is there way with Win7 to make my primary 24" screen have a different desktop background than my other 19" monitor? That would be sweet.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*


Okay thank you. Is there way with Win7 to make my primary 24" screen have a different desktop background than my other 19" monitor? That would be sweet.


Display Fusion, its free (unlimited trial) some features are blocked but you can still use it to display different wallpapers on different screens. Its a nice piece of software, I used to use it when I had 2 monitors.


----------



## arrow0309

New drivers in town  Featuring the brand new CCC  [URL=http://downloads.guru3d.com/AM...Vista-(32|64)-new-CCC-download-2654.html[/url]


----------



## YoursTruly

So, I'm ready to overclock my 6870. What are some numbers I should try imputing? Voltage? Core clock? Mem clock? I'm using Afterburner for this, which I originally got just to turn the fans down. Their default fan speed were 70% which is like listening to a banshee.


----------



## Mindprison

Ok ppl post your fps results in these benchmarks and settings with 6870 in crossfire: Far Cry 2 Benchmark , Ranch Small, 3x Runs, Full HD, Ultra Details, DX10, 4XAA Dirt 2 Benchmark, Ultra Details (Except Post Processing on Medium), Full HD, 4XAA Crysis Warhead Benchmark Tool Beta, Enthusiast, 4XAA, DX10, 3x Runs, FROST map The point of this that I want to know how different CPUs scale in these benchmarks because I think I have a bottleneck with mine and want to be sure. Thx


----------



## skyline385

Hello again guys,

I tried running 3dMark 11 and Vantage as well as Unigine 2.0 and it just wont start even with the new drivers (after trying all old ones ; modded and official). Stops during load screen and i cant exit out of it. Have to reboot system manually. Someone please help here as i am really worried here. I googled and no one else seem to have such a problem.

System Specs -

Windows 7 x64
Intel C2D E8400 (3.0 GHz)
MSI P7N Platinum (nForce 750i)
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Cooler Master Xtreme Power 500W (30A on 2 +12V Rails)


----------



## Bassdoken

Ugh. Needs moar Linux drivers.
10.12 is nice, though. I guess. Same performance, just new CCC UI it seems.


----------



## Mindprison

Skyline did you try to reinstall Windows and than use the drivers?


----------



## crucifix85

i have a msi 6850 add me pls. Normal 3dmark 11 score for a 6850?

nm link didnt work but the score was like 3384 or something.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mindprison;11637191*
> Skyline did you try to reinstall Windows and than use the drivers?


i got same prob in win x86.......then i added more ram and upgraded to x64.......still same prob......game all run fine maxed out with some micro stuttering (am wondering whether its the psu)


----------



## Mindprison

What PSU are u using atm?


----------



## Mindprison

Oh sorry I see now, hm I don't think it's the psu, the one you're using is just fine.


----------



## Mindprison

Does your PC hang in any other things other than benchmarks and games?


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mindprison;11637319*
> Oh sorry I see now, hm I don't think it's the psu, the one you're using is just fine.


seriously i just dont understand here.......cant run any benchmark on my pc whereas games run fine...........
however , recently my mobo was damaged and a local dealer replaced an IC on the board......could it be causing this?.....he did say that he is replacing it with the exact IC type damaged


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mindprison;11637341*
> Does your PC hang in any other things other than benchmarks and games?


System runs smooth......CPU goes well even through the torture tests


----------



## Mindprison

Hmm if your mbo had a problem than it would probably cause problems in more thing than just benchmarks... Did you try to run furmark extreme burning mode on gpu?


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mindprison;11637482*
> Hmm if your mbo had a problem than it would probably cause problems in more thing than just benchmarks... Did you try to run furmark extreme burning mode on gpu?


nope....


----------



## skyline385

i dnt have much hopes fr it.......so far all gpu benchmarks have failed and i am afraid it migh be damaging the gpu coz i hav to reboot out of every benchmark ( system always hangs while loadin )


----------



## Mindprison

Hm you could try putting some other card in your system instead of this one and than run the benchmarks. And if you don't see the problems than, than it's probably something wrong with your card and you should RMA it.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mindprison;11637561*
> Hm you could try putting some other card in your system instead of this one and than run the benchmarks. And if you don't see the problems than, than it's probably something wrong with your card and you should RMA it.


i guess dat could work but i dnt have a spare. My last 8800GT stopped working fr some reason and i had to replace it with this 6850.


----------



## skyline385

@ Mindprison
You sure 30A on 2 +12V rails (18A per rail) is enough coz while benchmarking , GPU is required to run at full load but maybe is unable to get the power from the PSU......hmmm?


----------



## Mindprison

Honestly I don't know much about PSUs in technical terms, but I'm sure your supply should be more than enough for one 6850, considering it doesn't draw much power.


----------



## skyline385

Yeah coz when i checked while buying, i found it to be drawing almost the same power power at full load as my old 8800GT and i had ran benchmarks on that few years ago.


----------



## Mindprison

Yeap... so the best thing to do is to try another card, maybe take one from a friend, brother, cousin or someone


----------



## skyline385

damn it........am so screwd......posted on many forums but no one can find the source of the problem


----------



## grunion

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11637825*
> damn it........am so screwd......posted on many forums but no one can find the source of the problem


System specs here.

What os are you running?
How long has it been since a fresh os install?
Waht games have the slow downs?


----------



## Mindprison

It could easily be something wrong with the gpu, since you don't see any problems in things that are not gpu intensive.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *grunion;11637899*
> System specs here.
> 
> What os are you running?
> How long has it been since a fresh os install?
> Waht games have the slow downs?


System Specs -

Windows 7 x64
Intel C2D E8400 (3.0 GHz)
MSI P7N Platinum (nForce 750i)
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Cooler Master Xtreme Power 500W (30A on 2 +12V Rails)

I recently got my 6850 and installed win 7 x86 but was getting this prob so added some more ram and upgraded to x64 version only to find the prob still occuring.......both were clean installs after proper formatting.
Games generally run fine with some micro stuttering.........prob is benchmarks......none of em run (tried 3DMark Vantage and 11 as well as Unigine 2.0). All of em cause system to hang while loading the scenario.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mindprison;11637905*
> It could easily be something wrong with the gpu, since you don't see any problems in things that are not gpu intensive.


yeah am gonna try to contact ASUS


----------



## Bassdoken

You may want to get a new PSU as well. That one is known to be not very good.


----------



## grunion

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11637970*
> System Specs -
> 
> Windows 7 x64
> Intel C2D E8400 (3.0 GHz)
> MSI P7N Platinum (nForce 750i)
> 4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
> ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU
> X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
> Cooler Master Xtreme Power 500W (30A on 2 +12V Rails)
> 
> I recently got my 6850 and installed win 7 x86 but was getting this prob so added some more ram and upgraded to x64 version only to find the prob still occuring.......both were clean installs after proper formatting


Use the link I gave you for your specs.

Does cpu-z show 16x pci-e link width?
Also verify that no power saving features for your proc are active, can sometimes be an issue.
Have you monitored in game clock speeds to verify gpu speeds aren't dropping out?

Regarding benchmarks, make sure everything is up to date with W7.

Oh and switch your x-fi to gaming mode, Heaven won't run in entertainment mode.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *grunion;11638020*
> Use the link I gave you for your specs.
> 
> Does cpu-z show 16x pci-e link width?
> Also verify that no power saving features for your proc are active, can sometimes be an issue.
> Have you monitored in game clock speeds to verify gpu speeds aren't dropping out?
> 
> Regarding benchmarks, make sure everything is up to date with W7.
> 
> Oh and switch your x-fi to gaming mode, Heaven won't run in entertainment mode.


ok i filled it under "skyline385 PC" in my profile
yeah CPU-Z shows x16 lane
am using no power saving features
always use Gaming mode
*but how do i monitor in-game clock speed?*


----------



## Bassdoken

get Afterburner. 2.1.0 Beta 3+


----------



## skyline385

@grunion
ok there is something wrong here......i ran gpu-z with log in background and ran just cause 2 benchmark......clock and memory speeds seem to drop at points with a fall in Vcore.
Vcore/Core/Memory
1.148/790/1000 (Original)
1.094/600/1000 (Recorded during medium load)
0.945/100/300 (Recorded during heavy load)

Even now gpu-z is howing 100/300 as core/clock.....what is the meaning of this?
how is this much drop possible? definitely PSU prob then?


----------



## skyline385

installed afterburner
still showing 100/300 speeds.........

tried heaven again........still just a black screen with some music playing and fps counter showing 20 constant


----------



## DB006

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11638416*
> @grunion
> ok there is something wrong here......i ran gpu-z with log in background and ran just cause 2 benchmark......clock and memory speeds seem to drop at points with a fall in Vcore.
> Vcore/Core/Memory
> 1.148/790/1000 (Original)
> 1.094/600/1000 (Recorded during medium load)
> 0.945/100/300 (Recorded during heavy load)
> 
> Even now gpu-z is howing 100/300 as core/clock.....what is the meaning of this?
> how is this much drop possible? definitely PSU prob then?


That's the default idle clocks that the 68** cards drop to when not in use.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DB006;11638525*
> That's the default idle clocks that the 68** cards drop to when not in use.


ok thats a relief........so i am back to where i started from with my stupid GPU problem


----------



## crucifix85

im crashing running 3dmark 11 and bad company 2 every once in awhile. Im not sure if voltage is enough for it to be stable,which came over clocked from MSI. How much can i bump up the volts and still be safe?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11638612*
> ok thats a relief........so i am back to where i started from with my stupid GPU problem


you need to try a different psu I had similar problems until I removed a hdd, fan controler and a powered ide to sata adapter.the asus cards need a good amount of power.read the review

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/11/17/asus_eah6850_directcu_video_card_review/9

run a bench and watch gpu-z the VDDC Current will raise until your psu gives up


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *crucifix85*


im crashing running 3dmark 11 and bad company 2 every once in awhile. Im not sure if voltage is enough for it to be stable,which came over clocked from MSI. How much can i bump up the volts and still be safe?


That's definitely enough voltage. My weaker card is stable at 910mhz/1150mhz with the same voltage. I think you may need to RMA.

Anyways as long as you stay under 1.3v you are safe.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


you need to try a different psu I had similar problems until I removed a hdd, fan controler and a powered ide to sata adapter.the asus cards need a good amount of power.read the review

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/..._card_review/9

run a bench and watch gpu-z the VDDC Current will raise until your psu gives up


ok some progress......i removed optical drive cables plus one fan cable and ran 3dmark11.got error "Workload Single init returned error message: File: device.cpp
Line: 65
Function: void __cdecl eva::d3d11::device:







impl::initialize(class eva::d3d11::device &,const struct eva::d3d11::device_creation_parameters &)

Expression: D3D11CreateDevice( adapter, parameters.driver_type, software, parameters.flags, &parameters.feature_levels[0], static_cast<UINT>(parameters.feature_levels.size() ), D3D11_SDK_VERSION, m_native.receive(), &m_feature_level, m_native_immediate_context.receive()): DX11 call failed.

Unsupported.
DXGI_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED: "

*Also VDDC current increases to about 9.0A and falls to 2.0A during the test.....at idle it shows 2A with 100/300 core/memory speeds .......................*


----------



## skyline385

new error damnit (old one was caused due to gpu-z running in background)
"Workload Single init returned error message: eva::d3d11::rendering::scene_renderer::render(): draw_depth_task for thread 0: File: device_context.cpp
Line: 515
Function: struct ID3D11CommandList *__cdecl eva::d3d11::deferred_device_context::do_finish_com mand_list(bool)

Expression: native()->FinishCommandList( restore_deferred_context_state, &result): DX11 call failed.

Device hung due to badly formed commands.
DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG: ID3D11DeviceContext::FinishCommandList: "

Also *windows showed display driver stopped responding and has been recovered*


----------



## skyline385

Also i tried Furmark tests (both of em) and they run fine.......but it shows GPU power consumption as 57W/50A....how come


----------



## skyline385

Ok i think its definitely PSU bottleneck.....ran just cause 2 benchmark with everything maxed out with GPU-Z log.......VDDC current increases to about 30A, then 33A and 32A at one instance (dont know how) and then starts to fall to about 23-24A.......can anyone confirm this for me.......coz then i am definitely replacing the PSU


----------



## gonX

Please don't quad post. Just edit your previous post if you want to update.

It's very likely that it's your PSU. I had issues with the same PSU (except it was 550w) with my overclocked i7 and a 8800GT.


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

I can't tweak voltage on my HD 6850 PCS+.. is it normal?


----------



## strezz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari*


I can't tweak voltage on my HD 6850 PCS+.. is it normal?


Have you tried afterburner beta 5?


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:



Originally Posted by *strezz*


Have you tried afterburner beta 5?


YEp... i'm using catalyst 10.10 and i'v enable that overclock thing on msi configs.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari*


I can't tweak voltage on my HD 6850 PCS+.. is it normal?


Is it a reference card?


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc*


Is it a reference card?


what do you mean?


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari*


what do you mean?


Does it look like this


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc*


Does it look like this











I've never seen one like this (reference cooler) however most of the 6850's are reference cards (pcb Amd). This is not the case however of the guy who owns a Powercolor 6850 Pcs+ (non reference pcb and the lack of the vr chip "Chill" responsable for the OS voltage tuning makes this operation impossible)


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


I've never seen one like this (reference cooler) however most of the 6850's are reference cards (pcb Amd). This is not the case however of the guy who owns a Powercolor 6850 Pcs+ (non reference pcb and the lack of the vr chip "Chill" responsable for the OS voltage tuning makes this operation impossible)











Quote:



Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari*


I can't tweak voltage on my HD 6850 PCS+.. is it normal?



Try using sapphire Trixxx to control the voltage, it works on alot of non-reference cards. It works on my Toxic 5850s that "didnt" have voltage control with afterburner.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


Try using sapphire Trixxx to control the voltage, it works on alot of non-reference cards. It works on my Toxic 5850s that "didnt" have voltage control with afterburner.


Best place to get the latest Trixxx?


----------



## nagle3092

http://www.sapphiretech.com/ssc/TriXX/


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11643594*
> http://www.sapphiretech.com/ssc/TriXX/


Have to join and register a card now


----------



## caffeinescandal

hey guys, I got the ASUS EAH6850 on my rig. It died due to my powersupply taking a crap on me. Now, it hasnt been 30 days since I got my video card so I am eligible for a return or a replacement from newegg. Should I just get a refund and buy a 6870 or wait til the 6900's come out?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc;11643673*
> Have to join and register a card now


Here ya go

http://idcore.tistory.com/176


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *caffeinescandal;11643674*
> hey guys, I got the ASUS EAH6850 on my rig. It died due to my powersupply taking a crap on me. Now, it hasnt been 30 days since I got my video card so I am eligible for a return or a replacement from newegg. Should I just get a refund and buy a 6870 or wait til the 6900's come out?


If you have registered your card at ASUS, give them a call an explain the situation. Otherwise call your power supply's company and explain the situation and asking for a partial coverage of your losses. I've heard the last one happen before.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *caffeinescandal;11643674*
> hey guys, I got the ASUS EAH6850 on my rig. It died due to my powersupply taking a crap on me. Now, it hasnt been 30 days since I got my video card so I am eligible for a return or a replacement from newegg. Should I just get a refund and buy a 6870 or wait til the 6900's come out?


whoa...what happened ?
Am using same EAH6850 and my PSU is giving me probs too ( see my posts a few pages back ). My GPU has been running underpowered for some 10 days and i found out just now.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11643745*
> Here ya go
> 
> http://idcore.tistory.com/176


Thank you


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc;11643771*
> Thank you


That one took a bit of digging.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11639507*
> you need to try a different psu I had similar problems until I removed a hdd, fan controler and a powered ide to sata adapter.the asus cards need a good amount of power.read the review
> 
> http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/11/17/asus_eah6850_directcu_video_card_review/9
> 
> run a bench and watch gpu-z the VDDC Current will raise until your psu gives up


Definitely PSU bottleneck.Ran Just Cause 2 maxed out and saw VDDC current getting bottlenecked at 30A . Gonna replace it ASAP.
*Thanks to all who helped.*
Also , i am gonna go for CORSAIR TX650W (52A on 12V rail)
Is it good , the model?


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc;11643102*
> Does it look like this


hmm, this is my card:










I`m at work now, when i get home i`ll try trixx from sapphire...

thx ever1


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari;11643803*
> hmm, this is my card:
> 
> [URL=http://http//www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6850_PCS_Plus/images/card1.jpg%5B/IMG]http://http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6850_PCS_Plus/images/card1.jpg[/IMG[/URL]]
> 
> I`m at work now, when i get home i`ll try trixx from sapphire...
> 
> thx ever1[/QUOTE]
> 
> No worries. I forgot the 6850 didn't have a lot of reference designs as the 6870 did.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11643789*
> Definitely PSU bottleneck.Ran Just Cause 2 maxed out and saw VDDC current getting bottlenecked at 30A . Gonna replace it ASAP.
> *Thanks to all who helped.*
> Also , i am gonna go for CORSAIR TX650W (52A on 12V rail)
> Is it good , the model?


It's not a PSU bottleneck, that PSU just sucks. The only good Cooler Master PSUs are their Silent Pro series. Everything else is garbage.
A TX650W is good, though. What is your budget? I could probably find something better.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;11644473*
> It's not a PSU bottleneck, that PSU just sucks. The only good Cooler Master PSUs are their Silent Pro series. Everything else is garbage.
> A TX650W is good, though. What is your budget? I could probably find something better.


But during the game run VDDC current was maxing out at 30-31A whereas max GPU load was 75% at the point of max current available......so i figured its a PSU bottleneck coz its not getting enough power to increase load.....mind u that game was running maxed out at 4xAA and 16xAF to the point of FPS falling below 25 at some points...anyways am hoping for atleast some performance increase from new PSU ( possible,right? ). Also any PSU in the range of TX650W is good enough for me bcoz i am already over my budget here


----------



## WIGILOCO

How is the 10.12 drivers workin on 6800 series? Should I go them from 10.10? Huh?


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO;11644761*
> How is the 10.12 drivers workin on 6800 series? Should I go them from 10.10? Huh?


They're decent. I would upgrade to them.


----------



## nagle3092

Yeah they are a little better than 10.10 not much but every bench I ran I got slightly better scores. I vote upgrade.


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11643789*
> Definitely PSU bottleneck.Ran Just Cause 2 maxed out and saw VDDC current getting bottlenecked at 30A . Gonna replace it ASAP.
> *Thanks to all who helped.*
> Also , i am gonna go for CORSAIR TX650W (52A on 12V rail)
> Is it good , the model?


After reading this, do you think I will be okay with my Corsair CX400 PSU?


----------



## caffeinescandal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;11643748*
> If you have registered your card at ASUS, give them a call an explain the situation. Otherwise call your power supply's company and explain the situation and asking for a partial coverage of your losses. I've heard the last one happen before.


hmm I havent really registered it. I usually wait til after a month of using the product til I register, just in case stuff like what just happened to me happens.

I have called corsair about this. I sent the psu in and they agreed to replace whatevers broken with proof that I owned it. They'll replace it if they determine that the psu did in fact took my components out.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11643750*
> whoa...what happened ?
> Am using same EAH6850 and my PSU is giving me probs too ( see my posts a few pages back ). My GPU has been running underpowered for some 10 days and i found out just now.


Yeah idk if the 6850's are power hungry or whatnot but im pretty sure mine was a power issue too. I got into folding before my rig got toasted, and when my cpu is maxed out, my psu only goes up to 75% under load. Also under GPU-Z, i noticed it was 40A under load, thats the max on the 12v rail on the corsair psu.








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11644826*
> After reading this, do you think I will be okay with my Corsair CX400 PSU?


The specs for the 12v rail on that psu is 30A, I would look into getting a bigger psu.

So... since im still eligible for a refund with newegg, should I go ahead and return the video card and wait for the 6970 or get the 6870, or just get it replaced?


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO;11644761*
> How is the 10.12 drivers workin on 6800 series? Should I go them from 10.10? Huh?


Where can i find it??


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11644826*
> After reading this, do you think I will be okay with my Corsair CX400 PSU?


dude we are people here who are having probs on 6850 with 30A and 40A on 12V rail........definitely u require a bigger PSU.........i dont know if its ASUS 6850 prob or in all cards but its definitely power hungry


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari;11644903*
> Where can i find it??


http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *caffeinescandal;11644846*
> The specs for the 12v rail on that psu is 30A, I would look into getting a bigger psu.


Really? I thought that the Asus 6850 drew ~150W of power at full load. Surely my PSU is fine? I was told this was the one to get by multiple people.


----------



## caffeinescandal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11644935*
> Really? I thought that the Asus 6850 drew ~150W of power at full load. Surely my PSU is fine? I was told this was the one to get by multiple people.


yeah it draws ~150W but one thing you have to consider too is the amount of A its draws on the 12v rail. My 12v rail, im assuming blew cause it was drawing 40A under full load, and thats a 550W psu.

edit:it draws 150W idle, and over 272W under load. oops. thanks skyline.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *caffeinescandal;11644846*
> 
> Yeah idk if the 6850's are power hungry or whatnot but im pretty sure mine was a power issue too. I got into folding before my rig got toasted, and when my cpu is maxed out, my psu only goes up to 75% under load. Also under GPU-Z, i noticed it was 40A under load, thats the max on the 12v rail on the corsair psu.


So what u r saying is that even at 40A rail it was max running at 75% load (your GPU).........seriously somethings wrong here...it shouldnt require more than 40A for full load


----------



## caffeinescandal

Yeah I may have gotten a defective card, but one things for sure. If i go from 75% -100% load, it'll max out at 40-42A. My psu was only rated at 40A under the 12v rail so that may have been the cause.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11644935*
> Really? I thought that the Asus 6850 drew ~150W of power at full load. Surely my PSU is fine? I was told this was the one to get by multiple people.


*Wrong!!!*

It draws about 150W at Idle at 272W at full load

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/11/17/asus_eah6850_directcu_video_card_review/9

dude seriously


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *caffeinescandal;11645001*
> Yeah I may have gotten a defective card, but one things for sure. If i go from 75% -100% load, it'll max out at 40-42A. My psu was only rated at 40A under the 12v rail so that may have been the cause.


In my currently underpowered state of my ASUS EAH6850 (only 30A on rail) , its not able to run any GPU based benchmarks.......games all run fine even maxed out.......did u face any such problem?

Also am gonna go for Corsair TX650W (52A on rail)..dat should be enough


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *caffeinescandal;11644958*
> yeah it draws ~150W but one thing you have to consider too is the amount of A its draws on the 12v rail. My 12v rail, im assuming blew cause it was drawing 40A under full load, and thats a 550W psu.
> 
> edit:it draws 150W idle, and over 272W under load. oops. thanks skyline.


So u tell me how can 400w be enough and that is assuming his PSU is still able to chuck out the 400W specified.........definitely needs to go for a new one


----------



## nagle3092

^ You were already told by a Moderator to stop double, triple and quad posting.


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

I`m running in xfx 650w with 52A in 12V... i`m thiking going to CF.

Can i do that with my psu?


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11645176*
> ^ You were already told by a Moderator to stop double, triple and quad posting.


ya sorry about dat......am new here.....wont happen again ok
anyways i am not spamming so chill
i just dnt know how to take three quotes in one single reply


----------



## WIGILOCO

Okay I upgrade to 10.12 now! Here comes the pain!


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11645205*
> ya sorry about dat......am new here.....wont happen again ok


Read this.......

http://www.overclock.net/new-members/524869-overclock-net-site-features-explanations-must.html


----------



## caffeinescandal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11645035*
> In my currently underpowered state of my ASUS EAH6850 (only 30A on rail) , its not able to run any GPU based benchmarks.......games all run fine even maxed out.......did u face any such problem?
> 
> Also am gonna go for Corsair TX650W (52A on rail)..dat should be enough


stock it ran fine, if doing regular things like web browsing and whatnot. I never tried benchmarking but i did run OCCT power supply test and gpu test. all passed. I ran modern warfare 2 and I only hard crashed once. It ran fine though. Then when I started folding, thats when it went downhill.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari;11645194*
> I`m running in xfx 650w with 52A in 12V... i`m thiking going to CF.
> 
> Can i do that with my psu?


well I would get a stronger psu. You never know how reliable the 52A in the 12v rail is. it may be lower.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *caffeinescandal;11645270*
> stock it ran fine, if doing regular things like web browsing and whatnot. I never tried benchmarking but i did run OCCT power supply test and gpu test. all passed. I ran modern warfare 2 and I only hard crashed once. It ran fine though. Then when I started folding, thats when it went downhill.


"when I started folding, thats when it went downhill."
elaborate plz

i havent actually hard crashed in any of my games yet but happened a few times in windows when i OC my cpu on my measly 500W PSU. I had to then reset it ti stock 3.0 GHz.


----------



## caffeinescandal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11645342*
> "when I started folding, thats when it went downhill."
> elaborate plz
> 
> i havent actually hard crashed in any of my games yet but happened a few times in windows when i OC my cpu on my measly 500W PSU. I had to then reset it ti stock 3.0 GHz.


Well I got into folding, so I set everything up. My cpu was an athlon II x3 unlocked to 4 cores and oc'd from 3ghz to 3.45ghz. my gpu was at stock. So when I set it up, my cpu was running under full load and gpu at 75% full load. I thought something was wrong so I set up folding to limit to 3 cores and thats how I got everything under full load. It worked fine, I left it overnight and woke up and it was all still folding. I left for class to take a final and when I came back 2 hours later, My computer was off. Wont turn on after that and I had to borrow my roommates parts to troubleshoot my rig.


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11645011*
> *Wrong!!!*
> 
> It draws about 150W at Idle at 272W at full load
> 
> http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/11/17/asus_eah6850_directcu_video_card_review/9
> 
> dude seriously


Thats the total system wattage. Without the Graphics card, it draws 127W. So you will find I am correct (272W-127W=145W). Don't try and make it seem like I am stupid.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11645575*
> Thats the total system wattage. Without the Graphics card, it draws 127W. So you will find I am correct (272W-127W=145W). Don't try and make it seem like I am stupid.


I was kinda thinking that too but how does the entire system only draw 126W with a 460GTX idle when the base wattage is 127W? I'm thinking [H] messed up in some way here.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *caffeinescandal;11645520*
> Well I got into folding, so I set everything up. My cpu was an athlon II x3 unlocked to 4 cores and oc'd from 3ghz to 3.45ghz. my gpu was at stock. So when I set it up, my cpu was running under full load and gpu at 75% full load. I thought something was wrong so I set up folding to limit to 3 cores and thats how I got everything under full load. It worked fine, I left it overnight and woke up and it was all still folding. I left for class to take a final and when I came back 2 hours later, My computer was off. Wont turn on after that and I had to borrow my roommates parts to troubleshoot my rig.


ohk
so u gonna w8 for 6970 ? i think its best to get a refund......even the price of current 6850 will come down by the time 69xx series come out


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11645050*
> So u tell me how can 400w be enough and that is assuming his PSU is still able to chuck out the 400W specified.........definitely needs to go for a new one


I got this PSU less than a week ago. And its a 450W unit re-branded.


----------



## caffeinescandal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11645634*
> ohk
> so u gonna w8 for 6970 ? i think its best to get a refund......even the price of current 6850 will come down by the time 69xx series come out


I think that'll be the best move for me right now, well since I dont have a rig to game on or use, might as well refund it and just buy the 6970 when it comes out, or a 6870 when the price drops.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11645682*
> I got this PSU less than a week ago. And its a 450W unit re-branded.


It may work, if it has more than 40A on the 12v rail, cause thats what I have and my corsair psu took a dump.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;11645614*
> I was kinda thinking that too but how does the entire system only draw 126W with a 460GTX idle when the base wattage is 127W? I'm thinking [H] messed up in some way here.


i kinda though so too but apparently other sites also showing the same thing.............i mean the gpu take 30-40A on 12V in full load so how can it be below 150W


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;11645614*
> I was kinda thinking that too but how does the entire system only draw 126W with a 460GTX idle when the base wattage is 127W? I'm thinking [H] messed up in some way here.


Argue about the numbers if you want .he needs a new psu.with 1.33v and 1000gpu\1200ram Ive seen 71a on the first and 68a on the second(and my psu isn't cutting it for my current setup) .so if you plan on getting the best out of your card you need a good psu.dont know how accurate gpu-z is but with a good overvolt and overclock current doubles

Could both of my cards be bad?


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11645775*
> Argue about the numbers if you want .he needs a new psu.with 1.33v and 1000gpu\1200ram Ive seen 71a on the first and 68a on the second(and my psu isn't cutting it for my current setup) .so if you plan on getting the best out of your card you need a good psu.dont know how accurate gpu-z is but with a good overvolt and overclock current doubles
> 
> Could both of my cards be bad?


I am seroiusly doubting these DirectCU 6850 ASUS models. There are currently three guys (including me) here facing power hungry nature from their 6850 cards ; cards which are said to be less power consuming

*UPDATE*

My 6850 goes at full load (100% as monitored by GPU-Z)at 43A and then the game crashes (Video driver has stopped responding ERROR) on my 30A Rail 500W PSU.............hats off to ASUS for biulding cards which take in 43A at full load.......WOW


----------



## WIGILOCO

Okay no difference on 10.10 & 10.12 with 6870 on 3Dmark11. Same score (not even 10 marks difference)


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11645845*
> I am seroiusly doubting these DirectCU 6850 ASUS models. There are currently three guys (including me) here facing power hungry nature from their 6850 cards ; cards which are said to be less power consuming
> 
> *UPDATE*
> 
> My 6850 goes at full load (100% as monitored by GPU-Z)at 43A and then the game crashes (Video driver has stopped responding ERROR) on my 30A Rail 500W PSU.............hats off to ASUS for biulding cards which take in 43A at full load.......WOW


If that is the case, mine is getting returned immediately. Getting it for Christmas, so I'll see then. Won't be happy though, if on Christmas day, I have to resort back to my ATI 4670.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11646525*
> If that is the case, mine is getting returned immediately. Getting it for Christmas, so I'll see then. Won't be happy though, if on Christmas day, I have to resort back to my ATI 4670.


I'll have to look into how power hungry mine is at 1080 core


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11646525*
> If that is the case, mine is getting returned immediately. Getting it for Christmas, so I'll see then. Won't be happy though, if on Christmas day, I have to resort back to my ATI 4670.


i think the prob is with the ASUS DCU models.........the AMD stock speed models were always said to take only 25-30 A at full load........try to check up on them....maybe they might work for you


----------



## gonX

I'm pretty sure the amperage is relative. So it doesn't pull 40A on the 12V line, but rather 40A into the core itself. PCI-E 2.0 only allows for a 225W according to the official specs with a single additional PCI-E connector (150W from bus + 75W from additional plug).
If it was pulling 40A on the 12V line it'd be using almost 450W. I think you'd be able to feel that


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

I'v just notice i'm having problems running Dirt 2.

Fps is caped at 55fps no matter what resolution (my max is 1900x1080) and details set to ultra.

Any1 know what to do?


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari;11646971*
> I'v just notice i'm having problems running Dirt 2.
> 
> Fps is caped at 55fps no matter what resolution (my max is 1900x1080) and details set to ultra.
> 
> Any1 know what to do?


is vertical sync enabled?


----------



## WIGILOCO

Just ran Dirt 2 demo benchmark with all max 8x AA and things, 59fps avg with 1920x1080. Good?


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda;11647129*
> is vertical sync enabled?


it's off


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO;11647212*
> Just ran Dirt 2 demo benchmark with all max 8x AA and things, 59fps avg with 1920x1080. Good?


I got 43fps avrgs.... someting is wrong here.

EDIT: I'v changed some features at ati catalyst and got avgr 63fps with msa 8x.. Now it's right.

Oc'd i got avrg 68.8 950/1150


----------



## Eyelegal

CBF reading entire thread. 6870 is currently idling @ 59c in ambient temp of ~18c. Have reseated twice, are these really the temps i should be expecting?

Almost 60c idle in cool ambient temps seems overly high, when i used to get annoyed when my 5850 broke 45c idle. Its a little disconcerting.


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eyelegal;11647624*
> CBF reading entire thread. 6870 is currently idling @ 59c in ambient temp of ~18c. Have reseated twice, are these really the temps i should be expecting?
> 
> Almost 60c idle in cool ambient temps seems overly high, when i used to get annoyed when my 5850 broke 45c idle. Its a little disconcerting.


It's not right... you should be getting under 40ºc

Set clocks at stock and restart your system.


----------



## Eyelegal

Ty, hope i dont run out of ipa.

Just benched Dirt2 with sig rig while waiting, 65.5fps average, 6870 was hitting 84c >.>

Also, those temps are without oc.


----------



## Eyelegal

Reseated AGAIN, this time core temps are better @ 47c right now idle, but still slowly creeping up. And now mem temps are higher, so going to have to reseat...again...

Keeping fan @ 35%.

Just climbed to 48c core and still rising, probably because of mem temps >.>
Oh computer lord please just give me happy temps...

Can anybody else advise?


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eyelegal;11649564*
> Reseated AGAIN, this time core temps are better @ 47c right now idle, but still slowly creeping up. And now mem temps are higher, so going to have to reseat...again...
> 
> Keeping fan @ 35%.
> 
> Just climbed to 48c core and still rising, probably because of mem temps >.>
> Oh computer lord please just give me happy temps...
> 
> Can anybody else advise?


Is your card downclocking? And if your running 2 monitors off of 1 card it should be at 300/1050 so your card is going to run hotter. 48c aint bad, try to see what its at when loaded for a bit.


----------



## Eyelegal

Aha, wondered why mem speed didnt downclock.

Oh well, temps are more uniform now. Il leave it how it is and see how it goes.
Ty for help.


----------



## gonX

Don't worry about idle temps. You can't use them for anything. Load temperatures are a lot more relevant.


----------



## Eyelegal

I think you should understand what im saying. My cards mem is runaway heating, causing other components to follow suit. As in it gets hotter and hotter and hotter and the cooler cant keep up. This happens at idle and under load. And presumably the cooler you keep your card at idle, which is most of the time, the lower your load temps and the longer your card lasts. So...yeah pretty sure idle temps are important?

Having to keep my fan at 40% just to keep my system from heating up at idle is a problem to me. The issue has gotten better as the thermal pads have possibly tempered under high load temps (up to 97c, while the core sticks at around 75c), but im definitely still not happy with the situation.

Anybody else agree that the 6870 reference cooling solution is terribly thought out in regards to memory? The plastic that routes the air through the sink actually physically directs the air AROUND the side ram chips. And the ones running across the card are stuck right under the blower, its just slightly moronic. They fixed vrm temps and caused another problem, at least for me.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;11654799*
> Don't worry about idle temps. You can't use them for anything. Load temperatures are a lot more relevant.


Im very worried about my idle temps.I idle at 60c sometimes with no reason also reseated both cards.disabling ulps is out of the question because of it.60c doesn't seem bad but when you take into account that this is the coldest part of the year for some of us its going to be a problem.also next year when it warms up I have a feeling load temps are going to be really high as well.


----------



## Eyelegal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11655638*
> Im very worried about my idle temps.I idle at 60c sometimes with no reason also reseated both cards.disabling ulps is out of the question because of it.60c doesn't seem bad but when you take into account that this is the coldest part of the year for some of us its going to be a problem.also next year when it warms up I have a feeling load temps are going to be really high as well.


Relieved to know its not just me getting problems like that.

What are your memory temps like?

Also anybody else noticed the random jump in core speed from idle to full when not doing anything graphical? Its random sometimes and uniform other times.









Can see it in that graph


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eyelegal;11655665*
> Relieved to know its not just me getting problems like that.
> 
> What are your memory temps like?
> 
> Also anybody else noticed the random jump in core speed from idle to full when not doing anything graphical? Its random sometimes and uniform other times.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can see it in that graph


how are you measuring ram temps?

and yes I have that problem aswell.but have noticed that the temps raise 3-4 c then drop instantly with the clocks. somtimes go 1c cooler as if the card was cooling the time.(was hoping it was just false readings starting to dought it)


----------



## strezz

here's my temps for my 6850's. A/C FTW!!









without A/C its idling at 50ish


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *strezz;11655890*
> here's my temps for my 6850's. A/C FTW!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> without A/C its idling at 50ish


my clocks only drop to 100gpu/300ram but I can get those temps on the second card with ulps enabled in a freezing room.(I mean freezing my cpu is at 19c) are these the temps of your second card?


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

with just the desktop set to basic watching gpu-z on my tv with my nvidia card the second card basiclly dead but the first cards clocks and temps raise then drop for no reason.three different drivers two different ccc's.I dont know whats causing the problem but at this point dont thank its going to get fixed.shame I modded my coolers or I would be looking for a refund.at this point this is my first and last set of amd cards.things keep going this way and nvidia wont have to do any advertising. amd customers will leave because they have to.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eyelegal;11655665*
> Relieved to know its not just me getting problems like that.
> 
> What are your memory temps like?
> 
> Also anybody else noticed the random jump in core speed from idle to full when not doing anything graphical? Its random sometimes and uniform other times.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can see it in that graph


yeah i get it when i run GPU-Z but only 1 or 2 times frequently at first, then it settles into idle mode nicely with peaks at large intervals......thought thats happening coz GPU-Z is trying to access the card

*Turn off GPU-Z and monitor card through MSI Afterburner or AMD Overdrive panel in CCC.....you will see there are no peaks in idle mode*

i get 51 at idle with no A/C and ambient temp at about 32-35 so am pretty pleased
Also 51-52 is the tested idle temp of this card

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/11/17/asus_eah6850_directcu_video_card_review/9

and ati cards known to run hot most of the times so i wasnt much suprised to see the temps


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;11654799*
> Don't worry about idle temps. You can't use them for anything. Load temperatures are a lot more relevant.


If your idle temps are pushing 50-60c, you have something to worry about. lol.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eyelegal;11655245*
> I think you should understand what im saying. My cards mem is runaway heating, causing other components to follow suit. As in it gets hotter and hotter and hotter and the cooler cant keep up. This happens at idle and under load. And presumably the cooler you keep your card at idle, which is most of the time, the lower your load temps and the longer your card lasts. So...yeah pretty sure idle temps are important?
> 
> Having to keep my fan at 40% just to keep my system from heating up at idle is a problem to me. The issue has gotten better as the thermal pads have possibly tempered under high load temps (up to 97c, while the core sticks at around 75c), but im definitely still not happy with the situation.
> 
> Anybody else agree that the 6870 reference cooling solution is terribly thought out in regards to memory? The plastic that routes the air through the sink actually physically directs the air AROUND the side ram chips. And the ones running across the card are stuck right under the blower, its just slightly moronic. They fixed vrm temps and caused another problem, at least for me.


Are you overclocked at all?
Also, they moved the VRMs on the PCB. I'm not sure what the fan is directly over. lol. But I do think that blower style fans are teh suck.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;11657422*
> If your idle temps are pushing 50-60c, you have something to worry about. lol.


His temps are fine, he is running 2 monitors so his memory isnt going to downclock. Which in turn is going to keep make his card hotter.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11657485*
> His temps are fine, he is running 2 monitors so his memory isnt going to downclock. Which in turn is going to keep make his card hotter.


I've been reading the thread. I know why. lol.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;11657635*
> I've been reading the thread. I know why. lol.


If you know why then why would you tell him he has something wrong? Do you just enjoy trolling?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11657775*
> If you know why then why would you tell him he has something wrong? Do you just enjoy trolling?


Even if you know whats causing it its still not good if his ambient goes up his idle temps will to.70c idle the card wont last to long.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11658540*
> Even if you know whats causing it its still not good if his ambient goes up his idle temps will to.70c idle the card wont last to long.


His card is idling at 51c which aint to bad for a room around 90f. Still like I said nothing is wrong with the card, its his room temps that need to be fixed.


----------



## armen16

@nagle3092

Up for you. Even you have a better system than someone else. You were trying to help the guy and not show off.

+Rep

New around here but I found it easy to get use to it.


----------



## Eyelegal

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


His card is idling at 51c which aint to bad for a room around 90f. Still like I said nothing is wrong with the card, its his room temps that need to be fixed.


Just note that was at 4am here when i took that shot, not during the day, summer here at the moment. Last night was approx 73f in this room.

Smoke: Im 90% sure GPU Temp 2 is Memory, as thats what it usually is, and was with my 5850.

Got lucky today, fairly cool 22c ambient in here. Fan @ 50% kept temps in check while running GTA4:EFLC, mem didnt manage to break 85c, and hung out just under 80c. 
Core settled at ~65c. All good right now, but again, cool day.
Not exactly quiet tho @50%. Might be a solved problem for me however, not getting the crazy temps with metro now. Im thinking the thermal pads need a bit of time to properly reseat if sink is taken off, along with a good fan curve?

Thanks for the replies. Dont wanna hijack the thread tho.


----------



## i_hax

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


His card is idling at 51c which aint to bad for a room around 90f. Still like I said nothing is wrong with the card, its his room temps that need to be fixed.


I'm not sure why everyone is so concerned with idle temps... they can be all over the place and nothing to worry about. It's the load temps that matter.

Mine idles quite hot at 58C in a 70F(21C) room. However, it's silent as can be with the fan at 24%... but under load it's fine - tops out at 75C @ 33% fan.

Also note that on top of dual monitors, the memory won't clock down if you are running a single display at high refresh rate (100+hz).


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:



Originally Posted by *i_hax*


I'm not sure why everyone is so concerned with idle temps... they can be all over the place and nothing to worry about. It's the load temps that matter.

Mine idles quite hot at 58C in a 70F(21C) room. However, it's silent as can be with the fan at 24%... but under load it's fine - tops out at 75C @ 33% fan.

Also note that on top of dual monitors, the memory won't clock down if you are running a single display at high refresh rate (100+hz).


I see you're running your 6870 at 970/ 1100, may I ask if that is where you hit the OC wall?

I can't seem to get over 975 stable with 1.2v.

Perhaps we have the same problem?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *blackbalt89*


I see you're running your 6870 at 970/ 1100, may I ask if that is where you hit the OC wall?

I can't seem to get over 975 stable with *1.2v*.

Perhaps we have the same problem?


Uh, increase volts?


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*


Uh, increase volts?


Tried up to 1.25v and 55% fans. Need I add more volts and fans for 25mhz?


----------



## blackbalt89

Just tried again. This time I tried for 1000mhz/ 1125mhz/ 1.25v 55% fans thinking that maybe the memory clock was too high when I was trying 1150.

But nope. Still got a few pixel mismatches in GPUtool about 4 minutes in.


----------



## i_hax

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *blackbalt89;11662702*
> Perhaps we have the same problem?


I'll admit I'm being lazy on the overclocking. I basically only play competitive UT2004 and UT3, both which require way less GPU power than I have...

I got that overclock in about 15 seconds and it ran fine in Furmark. I haven't hit a wall or even bothered trying to go higher (yet). I also haven't even looked at the voltage.









Just checked. Stock appears to be 1.172V


----------



## Ben the OCer

Any of you guys having problems with idle clocks not kicking in when your card is overclocked? According to GPU-Z it seems to be running at the overclocked speed all the time. Also have you guys tried the Radeon BIOS Editor to edit the BIOS to make the overclocked clocks more permanent?


----------



## DB006

No, my card clocks down at idle to 100/300 using Trixx to OC. MSI Afterburner caused the clocks to hang at the higher values, and meant more heat.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ben the OCer;11664426*
> Any of you guys having problems with idle clocks not kicking in when your card is overclocked? According to GPU-Z it seems to be running at the overclocked speed all the time. Also have you guys tried the Radeon BIOS Editor to edit the BIOS to make the overclocked clocks more permanent?


I tried it but its not supported (voltage) in RBE yet, if you try to change the voltage the driver wont recognize the card. Even if you reinstall the driver it still wont recognize it. The weird thing is if I change the voltage in the bios thats the only way it will use my fan profile (set in bios). If I only change the fan profile it dont work. Its rather upsetting because Im really really hoping that these cards get support soon because thats the only way I like to have my cards oc'ed.

Also in 10.12 if you oc your cards with CCC they will actually revert to stock clocks now, but there is no voltage support so ocing is limited.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ben the OCer;11664426*
> Any of you guys having problems with idle clocks not kicking in when your card is overclocked? According to GPU-Z it seems to be running at the overclocked speed all the time. Also have you guys tried the Radeon BIOS Editor to edit the BIOS to make the overclocked clocks more permanent?


Yeah. It's annoying. What you can do (that's equally annoying) is set up 2D and 3D profiles. You shouldn't have to do that. It should work like that out of the box. Tsk tsk.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DB006;11664700*
> No, my card clocks down at idle to 100/300 using Trixx to OC. MSI Afterburner caused the clocks to hang at the higher values, and meant more heat.


I dislike Trixx. You either need an external link, or a registered Sapphire card. And it didn't decrease idle clocks for me.


----------



## sunnyFTW

help me flashing my msi 6870 bios to xfx 6870 BE bios pls


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ben the OCer;11664426*
> Any of you guys having problems with idle clocks not kicking in when your card is overclocked? According to GPU-Z it seems to be running at the overclocked speed all the time. Also have you guys tried the Radeon BIOS Editor to edit the BIOS to make the overclocked clocks more permanent?


In Afterburner you can set it so that is uses different profiles depending on if you're running a 3D program or not.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11664740*
> I tried it but its not supported (voltage) in RBE yet, if you try to change the voltage the driver wont recognize the card. Even if you reinstall the driver it still wont recognize it. The weird thing is if I change the voltage in the bios thats the only way it will use my fan profile (set in bios). If I only change the fan profile it dont work. Its rather upsetting because Im really really hoping that these cards get support soon because thats the only way I like to have my cards oc'ed.
> 
> Also in 10.12 if you oc your cards with CCC they will actually revert to stock clocks now, but there is no voltage support so ocing is limited.


btw you can change the voltage with afterburner and use ccc for overclocks.(it will still revert back to 2d clocks)I no longer get crashes with ccc processes running when I apply changes in afterburner.Its not ideal to use two programs but it works.

My first card still randomly raises to its max clocks and drops but one problem at a time I guess.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## born2bwild

Hey... Count me in. 2x XFX Radeon 6870.

Screenshot:








GPU-z Validation; http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/3p6a/


----------



## prondek

Welcome to all member of this fine forum

I just cant get voltage control to work on my new Gigabyte 6850 oc duo
I disabled ulps got newest afterburner/trixx(yes i enabled tweak in option)
I flashed cards witch non oc version bios no effect
I flashed them witch 6870 bios ,as it helped guy on other forum no effect
I tried catalyst 10.12 then i reinstaled windows and tried 10.10 no effect
I disabled CCC no effect
Then i tried single card witch 6850non oc bios ,6870 bios still cant even see my voltage in those programs

Guys from tweaktown got this card to work witch trixx so i guess its posible
If anyone got some ideas whats left for me to do please share it


----------



## Faraz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *born2bwild;11666737*
> Hey... Count me in. 2x XFX Radeon 6870.
> 
> Screenshot:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> GPU-z Validation; http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/3p6a/


How are the load temps/noise of the top card for you? Are both of them OC'd?


----------



## anuclearbomb

Hi guys,
pls add me as a 6850 owner too


----------



## anuclearbomb

Any toxic owner here?
I would like to ask about ocing this card. From many reviews I saw online, the 6850 can run at 1ghz core when you bump your core to 1.3v
However, my toxic can not go pass 935mhz on the core (even when I bump vcore to 1.3, min stable vcore for this speed is 1.2v). Anything beyond will cause lock ups. My load temp stays at around 82 when oced (ambient temp is about 30C).
Is there anything I could do? or I am just unlucky to this core?
thanks


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11666634*
> btw you can change the voltage with afterburner and use ccc for overclocks.(it will still revert back to 2d clocks)I no longer get crashes with ccc processes running when I apply changes in afterburner.Its not ideal to use two programs but it works.
> 
> My first card still randomly raises to its max clocks and drops but one problem at a time I guess.
> 
> 
> 
> Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Question, does the voltage always stay the same when you adjust it with afterburner or does it revert to 0.095 when it goes to 2D clocks then jump to whatever you set it at for 3D? I hate using software to oc my cards but untill I can adjust it in the bios I dont have a choice. I did see there was a "test" bios that gives you 1.45v but I think thats a tad to much for me so Im steering clear of that one.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11669002*
> Question, does the voltage always stay the same when you adjust it with afterburner or does it revert to 0.095 when it goes to 2D clocks then jump to whatever you set it at for 3D? I hate using software to oc my cards but untill I can adjust it in the bios I dont have a choice. I did see there was a "test" bios that gives you 1.45v but I think thats a tad to much for me so Im steering clear of that one.


Yes the voltage does stay high.but the idle temps aren't as bad as when the clocks didn't drop.

I dont mind software for overclocks but would love to make a custom fan profile in the bios.I have no idea how to modify bios so any info would be great. I think fan rpm should depend on temps and the auto setting doesn't ramp up speed fast enough for me.afterburner fan controls would be great but it only works on one card.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11669366*
> Yes the voltage does stay high.but the idle temps aren't as bad as when the clocks didn't drop.
> 
> I dont mind software for overclocks but would love to make a custom fan profile in the bios.I have no idea how to modify bios so any info would be great. I think fan rpm should depend on temps and the auto setting doesn't ramp up speed fast enough for me.afterburner fan controls would be great but it only works on one card.


Ok I might have to give that a try when I get home, I'm running 940/1175 stock right now through CCC since it finally down clocks to normal 2D clocks like its supposed to.
Modding the bios is very easy but there is no support for the 68XX series yet, yeah you can load the bios in RBE change some thing but it doesn't stick once you flash them. Perfect example is the what I was referring to earlier, how the fan profile wouldn't work when I only changed that, but it did when I changed the voltage in the bios as well. The only problem with that was the driver not recognizing the cards then, even after I reinstalled them. Hopefully support for these cards gets added soon.


----------



## skyline385

*Add me too

GPU Validation
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/6gnfe/*


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *anuclearbomb*


Any toxic owner here?
I would like to ask about ocing this card. From many reviews I saw online, the 6850 can run at 1ghz core when you bump your core to 1.3v
However, my toxic can not go pass 935mhz on the core (even when I bump vcore to 1.3, min stable vcore for this speed is 1.2v). Anything beyond will cause lock ups. My load temp stays at around 82 when oced (ambient temp is about 30C).
Is there anything I could do? or I am just unlucky to this core?
thanks


You're just unlucky with that. But still, a 6850 at 935mhz is pretty damn good for the price. Try upping the memory, it helps a lot.


----------



## born2bwild

Quote:



Originally Posted by *faraz1729*


How are the load temps/noise of the top card for you? Are both of them OC'd?


Yes, both of them are overclocked... With a normal fan profile, my top card goes up to 82*C when stressed at 100% for long periods of time, and the fan noise is bearable at 40-50% though it is definitely noticeable when you're not gaming.

My bottom card stays pretty cool though.


----------



## Faraz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *born2bwild*


Yes, both of them are overclocked... With a normal fan profile, my top card goes up to 82*C when stressed at 100% for long periods of time, and the fan noise is bearable at 40-50% though it is definitely noticeable when you're not gaming.

My bottom card stays pretty cool though.


That's good to know. I'm seriously considering going CF with my 6870. I'll just wait a month or so to see if there will be a driver update that will boost the current 6970 performance. If not, I'll either do 570 or 6870 CF.


----------



## Ben the OCer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


In Afterburner you can set it so that is uses different profiles depending on if you're running a 3D program or not.


Thanks, that worked like a charm. Though Afterburner's lower limits are not as low as the default idle clocks of 100MHz core and 300MHz memory. The lowest Afterburner goes is 385MHz core and 500MHz memory. Much better than running full speed all the time but not quite as good as the stock idle clocks. Is there anyway to remove these restrictive lower limits?

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


btw you can change the voltage with afterburner and use ccc for overclocks.(it will still revert back to 2d clocks)I no longer get crashes with ccc processes running when I apply changes in afterburner.Its not ideal to use two programs but it works.

My first card still randomly raises to its max clocks and drops but one problem at a time I guess.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


I usually don't even install CCC because there are better overclocking programs out there. Also would CCC have the same overclocking cap that Afterburner has, except without a work around? Just correct me if I'm wrong, as I haven't used CCC much. Also with the Afterburner method gonX mentioned you can set different voltages for 2D and 3D. Seems like a better solution than using both CCC and Afterburner like you are doing.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nagle3092*


Question, does the voltage always stay the same when you adjust it with afterburner or does it revert to 0.095 when it goes to 2D clocks then jump to whatever you set it at for 3D? I hate using software to oc my cards but untill I can adjust it in the bios I dont have a choice. I did see there was a "test" bios that gives you 1.45v but I think thats a tad to much for me so Im steering clear of that one.


When you use Afterburner to set the clocks, by default, the voltage will stay the same all the time (it won't lower during idle like normal). Though if you manually set the 2D and 3D profiles in Afterburner like gonX mentioned, it will go to whatever voltage you have each set at, so you can have the voltage set lower for the 2D clocks. To do this, click the Settings button in Afterburner, go to the Profiles tab, and there you can set what profiles to use for 2D and 3D.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ben the OCer;11673237*
> When you use Afterburner to set the clocks, by default, the voltage will stay the same all the time (it won't lower during idle like normal). Though if you manually set the 2D and 3D profiles in Afterburner like gonX mentioned, it will go to whatever voltage you have each set at, so you can have the voltage set lower for the 2D clocks. To do this, click the Settings button in Afterburner, go to the Profiles tab, and there you can set what profiles to use for 2D and 3D.


Yeah I know you can set profile but I hate using them, thats why I ALWAYS flash modded bios. I just like things to be more streamlined then having multiple programs doing a little of everything.


----------



## Ben the OCer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11674755*
> Yeah I know you can set profile but I hate using them, thats why I ALWAYS flash modded bios. I just like things to be more streamlined then having multiple programs doing a little of everything.


I totally agree but we don't really have that option as you yourself told me if you want higher than stock voltage, at least right now we don't via RBE. If you set Afterburner to run at startup and automatically apply overclock at startup, it's not that bad, and you can pretty much set it and forget it.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11674755*
> Yeah I know you can set profile but I hate using them, thats why I ALWAYS flash modded bios. I just like things to be more streamlined then having multiple programs doing a little of everything.


Ive got streamlined for you.after uninstalling everything and reinstalling just the drivers 10.12 (no ccc).Afterburner controls both cards perfectly custom fan profiles, overvolting ,and overclocking.the fan on the second card doesn't respond until loaded(because of ulps) as it should.

I am happy now .one program for everything not to mention msi afterburner looks the best.lol


----------



## jason_20087

Hi guys need some advice been looking at getting a msi 460gtx hawk edition for christmas but now noticed the his ati 6850 has dropped to £139 and the gtx is £155 know the 6850 is alittle faster and uses less power but i do like to [email protected] currently on my 8800gt and i know the ati cards are kinda poor right now at folding, just wondering your advice on which to purchase i game at 1920x1080 with q6600 and 4gb ram

if i purchased a his 6850 would my current mcw60 gpu block fit onto the card and what kinda of clock speeds could i be looking at mcp655 pump and thermochill 120.3 radiator

thanks again


----------



## goldcrow

Just ran heaven 2.1 at my highest clocks yet at 925/1175 stock voltage.
FPS: 23.6
Score: 595
Min FPS: 7.7
Max FPS: 72.4

Render:direct3d11
Mode:1680x1050 fullscreen
Shaders: high
Textures: high
Filter: trilinear
Anisotropy:4x
Occlusion:enabled
Refraction:enabled
Volumetric:enabled
Replication:disabled
Tessellation: extreme

Used Sapphire TriXX to clock this up and one thing I notice is that the 6850's mem clocks don't underclock at 2D. Sometimes too, the core clock gets stuck at 300 when you clock it back up. Is this the fault of trixx or CCC 10.12?


----------



## Cod2player

How do these card run on Metro 2033 @ 1080p?


----------



## PlayedStation

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cod2player;11679156*
> How do these card run on Metro 2033 @ 1080p?


I can run everything on high 1920x1080 directx11 with an ASUS 6870 (and its very playable even when its all kicking off). But i havent got the fps figures i'm afraid.


----------



## Cod2player

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PlayedStation;11679171*
> I can run everything on high 1920x1080 directx11 with an ASUS 6870 (and its very playable even when its all kicking off). But i havent got the fps figures i'm afraid.


Thanks for the reply. Is running the game on Very High unplayable then?


----------



## PlayedStation

Sorry, i meant very High, whatever the highest settings are. i can run everything on full basically


----------



## prondek

I just realized that my cards got non-reference voltage controler
I got those cards at the same price as regular 6850 gigabyte version with got chil voltage controler and i tought i made a good deal
Why oh why Gigabyte changed it in oc version








If i only knew it before i purchased them i would chose regular ones or asus 6850 direct cu
So 900/1150 is my max for now
I hope new radeon bios editor will allow bios voltage change for non-reference chips
Im not gonna waste this great cooling


----------



## EzzA

For those wondering about how many Watts they need from their power supply to run these cards here are some of my results from my Power Meter which tells me my TOTAL system power draw at the wall:

For convienince I will assume my PSU gets 80% effeiency, but at most power draws it is probably a little lower.

Idle - Wall: 120W, PSU: 96W
Gaming(noOC) - Wall: 220-230W, PSU: 176-184W 
Furmark - Wall: 250W, PSU: 200W
Furmark+Prime95 - Wall: 308W, PSU: 246.4W
Furmark+Prime95+MaxOC (1000/1200) - Wall: 369W, PSU: 295.2W

As long as you have a good *quality* PSU you can run these cards fine.

--

So far I have been very happy with my Sapphire 6850 I think it is awesome bang for your buck, I'll probably buy another one down the track. It runs very cool and quiet (never hear it) the automatic fan control works well. Haven't had any stability problems either. As a bonus it overclocks well too, which provides a nice performance boost (nearly 20%) in the more demanding games.


----------



## gammite

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Eyelegal*


I think you should understand what im saying. My cards mem is runaway heating, causing other components to follow suit. As in it gets hotter and hotter and hotter and the cooler cant keep up. This happens at idle and under load. And presumably the cooler you keep your card at idle, which is most of the time, the lower your load temps and the longer your card lasts. So...yeah pretty sure idle temps are important?

Having to keep my fan at 40% just to keep my system from heating up at idle is a problem to me. The issue has gotten better as the thermal pads have possibly tempered under high load temps (up to 97c, while the core sticks at around 75c), but im definitely still not happy with the situation.

Anybody else agree that the 6870 reference cooling solution is terribly thought out in regards to memory? The plastic that routes the air through the sink actually physically directs the air AROUND the side ram chips. And the ones running across the card are stuck right under the blower, its just slightly moronic. They fixed vrm temps and caused another problem, at least for me.


i also was annoyed with the high memory clocks (and temps) at idle while running a two monitor setup. i solved my issue by using my integrated graphics for my secondary monitor (ati surround view). it works with no issues and my clocks on the card are now 100/300 and the idle temps stay between 40c-42c.

i don't think your mobo has an igp. but if you ever switch mobos that is something to keep in mind.


----------



## gammite

Quote:



Originally Posted by *EzzA*


For those wondering about how many Watts they need from their power supply to run these cards here are some of my results from my Power Meter which tells me my TOTAL system power draw at the wall:

For convienince I will assume my PSU gets 80% effeiency, but at most power draws it is probably a little lower.

Idle - Wall: 120W, PSU: 96W
Gaming(noOC) - Wall: 220-230W, PSU: 176-184W 
Furmark - Wall: 250W, PSU: 200W
Furmark+Prime95 - Wall: 308W, PSU: 246.4W
Furmark+Prime95+MaxOC (1000/1200) - Wall: 369W, PSU: 295.2W

As long as you have a good *quality* PSU you can run these cards fine.

--

So far I have been very happy with my Sapphire 6850 I think it is awesome bang for your buck, I'll probably buy another one down the track. It runs very cool and quiet (never hear it) the automatic fan control works well. Haven't had any stability problems either. As a bonus it overclocks well too, which provides a nice performance boost (nearly 20%) in the more demanding games.


my toxic 6850 was killing my antec neo eco 620w (48 amps, single 12v) i wonder if the power draw on this card is more than an average stock 6850. after i upgraded to a 60 amp single 12v rail psu all is well.

the neo eco is now in my htpc with a 5770 and all is well. i really do think that this toxic edition is a bit of a different beast with the 2 75 watt power connectors and the 6870 pcb.

lol and its now marked down on newegg with free shipping and rebate to 185 usd.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-912-_-Product


----------



## yjmebs

Just got them the other day. So far ok. A few glitches but thanks to this forum all is well. A few pics!

Enjoy


----------



## reflex99

View attachment 185615


that is all


----------



## jmrios82

My 6870s:



I think that I'm having a sort of trouble with the Afterburner/CCC, a bug or something, one of cards suddenly idles at 99%, but when I run a game, and after leave it, the load would drop down to 0 for a while then go back up to 99%..








Any sugestions?


----------



## MLJS54

Just got my CFX Sapphire 6850s installed. Great performance thus far.

Quick question - I was under the impression these cards can be overvolted via MSI AB. My voltage slider is greyed out i.e. it's not supported. Any ideas why this is? Thanks.

Here's the model that I have:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-908-_-Product


----------



## jprovido

my 6870 twins


----------



## MLJS54

Looks like downloading MSI AB v 2.1.0 Beta 5 fixed the core voltage slider. One other question: what are stock voltages for a 6870?

Also, how come I can't increase core clock past 850mhz?

Thanks


----------



## Faraz

I seem to be getting rather high temperatures during gameplay, much higher than seen in reviews. The highest I've seen is 89 Â°C after a few minutes of Mafia II. Best case seems to be high 70s. This is on the default fan profile. I'm able to keep the temps below 75 Â°C with an Afterburner profile, but then I'm having the fan go up to 50% and it's rather loud. I'm pretty sure airflow is not an issue. My 9800GT is in the very last slot so there is a good two to three inches between the cards. And I have two fans blowing air between that space.

Anyone else experiencing temperatures that seem unusually high like that?


----------



## Ben the OCer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MLJS54*


Looks like downloading MSI AB v 2.1.0 Beta 5 fixed the core voltage slider. One other question: what are stock voltages for a 6870?

Also, how come I can't increase core clock past 850mhz?

Thanks


To remove that cap you have to modify the MSIAfterburner.cfg file that is located in the Afterburner install folder. The first time you try to open MSIAfterburner.cfg it might tell you it doesn't recognize the file type but just tell it to use Notepad to open it. Find EnableUnofficialOverclocking which is near the bottom and change it's value from 0 to 1. Save the changes and restart Afterburner and the cap should be much higher now. Below is what my cfg file looks like:

Quote:



[Properties]
ShowGeneralTab= 1
ShowFanTab= 1
ShowMonitoringTab= 1
ShowOnScreenDisplayTab= 1
ShowScreenCaptureTab= 1
ShowVideoCaptureTab= 1
ShowProfilesTab= 1
ShowUserInterfaceTab= 1

[Settings]
Skin = default.usf
StartMinimized= 0
StartWithWindows= 0
RememberSettings= 0
FirstRun= 1
FirstUserDefineClick= 1
FirstServerRun= 1
HwPollPeriod= 1000
MMIOPageSize= 4
PCIBusFilter= -10h
ShowTooltips= 1
ShowHints= 1
PauseInSuspendedMode= 1
CurrentGpu= 0
Sync= 1
AttachMonitoringWindow= 1
MonitoringWindowOnTop= 1
ShowPerformanceProfilerStatus= 0
LCDFont= font4x6.dat
LCDScrollTimerPeriod= 30
UnlockVoltageControl= 0
UnlockVoltageMonitoring= 0
ShowOSDTime= 0
RestoreAfterSuspendedMode= 0
StartupViaTaskScheduler= 1
StartupDelay= 0
MinMonitoringGraphHeight= -1
LocalizationDebugFlags= 0
EnableLog= 0
RecreateLog= 0
LogPath= 
DontStopLoggingOnWriteFailure= 0
LogLimit= 10
ForceConstantVoltage= 0
AllowCaptureVoltageDefaults= 0
Link= 1
UseDirectInputHotkeyHandler= 1
SendToTrayOnClose= 0
DataFilteringThreshold= 10
ScreenCaptureFolder= 
ScreenCaptureFormat= bmp
ScreenCaptureQuality= 100
VideoCaptureFormat= MJPG
VideoCaptureFolder=
VideoCaptureQuality= 85
VideoCaptureFramerate= 30
VideoCaptureFramesize= 2
VideoCaptureThreads= FFFFFFFFh
FanSpeedReadbackDelay= 1000
CaptureOSD= 1

[ATIADLHAL]
*EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 1*
AccessibilityCheckingPeriod= 0

[NVAPIHAL]
ClockDomainIdWorkaround= -1


----------



## damric

Ordered Friday afternoon, and delivered Monday afternoon on free shipping.









Pretty Box










Scores much higher at stock in 3dmark11 than my old HD 5750 @960/1350









Stutters in 3dmark11









Scores lower in Unigine Heaven 2.1, but does not seem to utilize the card more than 80%














Perhaps a driver update will fix this...
 

Stout looking heatsink, heatpipes, and shroud. Has a VRM heatsink.









Trixx software unlocks voltage, overclocks, and does a custom fan profile. Pretty much an equal substitute for Afterburner, and perhaps a little more user friendly.









Trixx comes with a Windows sidebar gadget that monitors all of your temps, and frequencies, including VRM temp.









Very happy to get this card on sale for like $30 off.


----------



## denydog

Haven't had a chance to really push this card. Looks great when I'm reading my email though


----------



## TheBear

Here's my 3DMArk11 Score with max. OC:


----------



## jmrios82

My best 3DMark11 Score so far (10.12 drivers):
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/242004 (P7551 3DMarks)








The cards are running at 945/1140 (stock voltages), my MSI seems to be a poor overclocker







, the XFX alone was running 965/1180 without any problem.. Looking good so far









This are on 10.10 / CF profiles.

H.A.W.K. 2:



Unigine Heaven v2.1:



One more picture:


----------



## MLJS54

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ben the OCer;11722646*
> To remove that cap you have to modify the MSIAfterburner.cfg file that is located in the Afterburner install folder. The first time you try to open MSIAfterburner.cfg it might tell you it doesn't recognize the file type but just tell it to use Notepad to open it. Find EnableUnofficialOverclocking which is near the bottom and change it's value from 0 to 1. Save the changes and restart Afterburner and the cap should be much higher now. Below is what my cfg file looks like:


Thanks. I changed that cfg value to 1 and seem to get a hard lock everytime I restart AB (pre and post reboot of Windows). Has this happened to you?


----------



## Ben the OCer

Here are some pictures of my new Asus HD6850 DirectCU:

































Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MLJS54;11724987*
> Thanks. I changed that cfg value to 1 and seem to get a hard lock everytime I restart AB (pre and post reboot of Windows). Has this happened to you?


No I haven't had that problem, sorry.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MLJS54;11724987*
> Thanks. I changed that cfg value to 1 and seem to get a hard lock everytime I restart AB (pre and post reboot of Windows). Has this happened to you?


Go into Catalyst Control Center under 3D option, ALL, there is an option to disable crossfire power something(? not at my computer and cant think of it?) anyways check that box and restart. Afterburner should work then.


----------



## shnur

I was just checking my GPU Mem clock, apparently it got fixed in 10.12?

It's not stuck at my overclocked settings anymore... it's pretty cool!

Can anybody else confirm?


----------



## nagle3092

Yes it did get fixed in 10.12, let just hope it doesn't get broken again.


----------



## Bassdoken

it doesn't work for me.








I still idle at super high clocks. :/


----------



## MLJS54

Btw, what are folks pulling in 3dMark11 with 6850 CF? Stock v. 900-1000core OC


----------



## shnur

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


it doesn't work for me.








I still idle at super high clocks. :/


Did you try turning your overclock off and then on since you installed new drivers? I had to fizzle around for a bit.


----------



## MLJS54

At 850/1150 I'm getting:

P7221 3DMarks

How's that relative to other scores? I'm still new to benching with 3Mark11. Will try 900+ core when I figure out my BSOD issue


----------



## nagle3092

Just in case no one noticed 10.12 RC3 is out.


----------



## shnur

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nagle3092;11734751*
> Just in case no one noticed 10.12 RC3 is out.


What do they bring?

I keep my drivers updated via steam, so much simpler I find...


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shnur;11732559*
> Did you try turning your overclock off and then on since you installed new drivers? I had to fizzle around for a bit.


I have. A few times.


----------



## Nautilus

IN


----------



## jmrios82

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nautilus;11736700*
> IN


Nice clock







, what's the voltage needed to get it stable?


----------



## Razi3l

Updated. if i missed anyone shoot me a PM.


----------



## smoke420

3DMark Score
P6937
Graphics score
8187
Physics Score
4984

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/254690

1000/1210 both cards

3DMark Score
P6969
Graphics score
8270
Physics Score
4929

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/254913

Very happy with these scores
1000/1210 both cards . lower ram speed but tighter timings,and higher cpu overclock


----------



## plogservice

Quote:


> Very happy with these scores
> 1000/1210 both cards . lower ram speed but tighter timings,and higher cpu overclock


I have the same settings







What voltages? Mine is at 2.99 ;s


----------



## goldcrow

Ran Heaven at 1680x1050 4xAA 16xAF, normal tesselation, high textures shaders
850/1150 (stock 1.15v)
FPS: 26.3
Score: 662

1000/1180 (1.25v)
FPS: 29.3
Score: 739

Looking to push my memory to 1200 and up but it starts artifacting at 1190. Does the voltage increase also affect overclockability of the memory?


----------



## Viridian1




----------



## Nautilus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jmrios82;11736958*
> nice clock :d, what's the voltage needed to get it stable?


1.3


----------



## Mr.Bones

Wow! huge thread,But ive gotta ask the 6850 owners at what clocks are you guys running? currently running mine at a little ol 800/1100.Should I push mine farther? cosidering my ancient rig?


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mr.Bones;11744849*
> Wow! huge thread,But ive gotta ask the 6850 owners at what clocks are you guys running? currently running mine at a little ol 800/1100.Should I push mine farther? cosidering my ancient rig?


You've got a pretty high resolution monitor, so why not? Just increase Antialiasing in your games and you should be good







800 core is very low - you should be able to do at least 880.


----------



## Mr.Bones

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;11744886*
> You've got a pretty high resolution monitor, so why not? Just increase Antialiasing in your games and you should be good
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 800 core is very low - you should be able to do at least 880.


Ill give it a shot and see how it goes,just got this card yesterday and im nervous about cooking it lol!







BTW what clocks are you getting with your card?


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mr.Bones;11744969*
> Ill give it a shot and see how it goes,just got this card yesterday and im nervous about cooking it lol!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BTW what clocks are you getting with your card?


I've been experiencing some weird graphics issues over the last couple of weeks, even at stock clocks, but I went 950/1100 at stock voltage without any problems. Memory hates me, but my core clock goes up pretty easily. I can only do 1020MHz at 1.3v though.


----------



## wandering_goat

I've got an Asus EAH6850. Here's my GPU-Z validation link.

Alternatively, here's a link to a screenshot of the program.

Mostly happy with the card so far. A bunch of games that I had to mess around with settings to get things to work properly, but the performance is good and the OC was easy.


----------



## Arizonian

Arizonian - MSI AMD 6870 Twin Frozr II sweetness.










Running it at 940 Core Clock - 1250 Mhz Memory Clock

Ordered a regular MSI AMD 6870 Twin Frozr II on NewEgg and they sent me the *OC* card


----------



## Th0m0_202

here is me







highest ive been so far. not bad.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mr.Bones;11744849*
> Wow! huge thread,But ive gotta ask the 6850 owners at what clocks are you guys running? currently running mine at a little ol 800/1100.Should I push mine farther? cosidering my ancient rig?


I can hit 950/1100 with 1.2v stable.
Yet I can only do 1000/1150 with 1.3v


----------



## Mr.Bones

ok stupid question CCC only alows mine to hit 875 core how are you getting that high?


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mr.Bones;11753455*
> ok stupid question CCC only alows mine to hit 875 core how are you getting that high?


You need to increase your voltage. The maximum recommended safe voltage (on air) is 1.3v


----------



## MLJS54

Some benchmarks at 940/1150 1.174v:

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/9359/crysisbenchmark12232010.jpg

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/8527/3dmark1112232010.jpg


----------



## shnur

Are there any water blocks available for the 6870's yet?


----------



## Snowman1989

Should I get a 6870 or a 2nd 5770?


----------



## shnur

Can you sell your 5770?
If yes, by any means, otherwise I think by getting a 6870 it's like you're upgrading to a 5870, so performance wise you'll be better with a second card, but for future friendlyness a 6870 will do better


----------



## gonX

I'm pretty sure the 6870 is similar to the 5770, except it uses less power and overclocks higher.


----------



## Snowman1989

I put an ad on craigslist but I havent received any offers.

I dont have onboard video so I dont want to sell it before I get a new card.

So 5770 to 6870 is like a sidegrade?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Snowman1989;11756128*
> Should I get a 6870 or a 2nd 5770?


go with the best single card in your budget and xfire later.Im sure someone told you the same thing with your 5770 and if thats good enough for you go for it and save money.I have the same mb and two 6850's very happy with performance but you can only xfire 2 cards with both the 5700 and 6800 series cards just somthing to keep in mind.


----------



## Snowman1989

I paid $230 for my 5770. Can you believe that?


----------



## Ben the OCer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;11756444*
> I'm pretty sure the 6870 is similar to the 5770, except it uses less power and overclocks higher.


By similar do you mean in performance? If so, that's very far off (see my answer to Snowman below). The HD6870 also doesn't use less power than the HD5770. Purely looking at the max power draw advertised by AMD (often called TDP) the HD5770 is 108W and the HD6870 is 151W: link. Below are power consumption numbers from TechPowerUp for idle and max:

















Source

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Snowman1989;11756577*
> I put an ad on craigslist but I havent received any offers.
> 
> I dont have onboard video so I dont want to sell it before I get a new card.
> 
> *So 5770 to 6870 is like a sidegrade?*


Far from it, a HD6870 is slightly faster than a HD5850. It would be a pretty decent upgrade from a HD5770. According to the TechPowerUp HD6970 review the HD5770 is 50% of it's performance and the HD6870 is 80% of it's performance at 1920x1200 (closest this review comes to your res). It calculates out to be that the HD6870 is about 60% faster on average than the HD5770 (according to the TechPowerUp numbers). I'd call that an upgrade!

















Source


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Snowman1989;11757297*
> I paid $230 for my 5770. Can you believe that?


I do







However now it's worths about 100 - 120 Euro (second hand) here in Italy. I actually have a friend who's willing to sell one of these (Xfx 5770 XXX) and get the 6870. So I can only recommend you to do the same







(try to get as much as you can selling your 5770)

Teke a look of this chart:










And here's another review (with the same older drivers) where it's obvious the upscale, beating out in crossfire the 5870 crossfire









http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-crossfirex-review/12


----------



## aznofazns

Quick question: does anyone know if the HIS HD6870 is compatible with Sapphire Trixx or any other overclocking utilities that can overvolt the GPU? I currently have a Sapphire card and would like to go CrossfireX. The HIS is $20 cheaper than the Sapphire atm.


----------



## Snowman1989

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *aznofazns;11759387*
> Quick question: does anyone know if the HIS HD6870 is compatible with Sapphire Trixx or any other overclocking utilities that can overvolt the GPU? I currently have a Sapphire card and would like to go CrossfireX. The HIS is $20 cheaper than the Sapphire atm.


That looks like a reference card so it should have voltage control.


----------



## aznofazns

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Snowman1989;11759420*
> That looks like a reference card so it should have voltage control.


It does have a reference design, but couldn't voltage control possibly be locked in the manufacturer-specific BIOS?


----------



## Snowman1989

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *aznofazns;11759449*
> It does have a reference design, but couldn't voltage control possibly be locked in the manufacturer-specific BIOS?


Could be. You can prob flash it to MSI or ASUS bios.


----------



## aznofazns

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Snowman1989;11759488*
> Could be. You can prob flash it to MSI or ASUS bios.


After what I went through with my Visiontek HD4870 getting bricked, I'd rather not resort to BIOS flashing again.









I had to put the .rom on a flash drive and use my friend's PC with an 8800GT to re-flash the BIOS in DOS. It was such a PITA.


----------



## nerdybeat

Hey there, new XFX 6870 owner here!!









I am loving it so far, as it is a huge upgrade from my last rig's GPU (8800GT). I am excited to go for my first dual GPU rig in crossfire mode sometime next year (when the 6870s drop a bit in price, as I dont *need* the crossfire just yet).

Question for 68XX owners, I have seen some users on this forum running crossfire with 750W PSUs. I have used http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine as a calculator, and I have found that my current rig (listed) with my processor OC'd to 4.0 (isn't currently) and over-estimating little things like fans/USB peripherals, and of course - the duals 6870's - hits around 580W on 90% load.

My main question is, does anyone see any issues running my rig and dual 6870s?


----------



## nardox

For 6850CF owners, what kind of scores did you guys get on benchmark programs like 3DMark?


----------



## PlayedStation

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2812505

Is that a bad score for Vantage? 6870 with stock o/c @ 915Mhz


----------



## WIGILOCO

If I crossfire 6870s will my Phenom II 965BE 3,8 bottleneck them?


----------



## cheezypoof

i bought mine when they first released, i'm pretty sure this graphics card is too beefy for my CPU. i'll have to upgrade to Sandy Bridge when it comes out, i'm lookin at you i7-2600


----------



## WIGILOCO

Your sig says 6970?


----------



## cheezypoof

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*


Your sig says 6970?










i would have never caught that typo until my next GPU upgrade lol.

nothing gets by you WIGI


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Ben the OCer*


By similar do you mean in performance? If so, that's very far off (see my answer to Snowman below). The HD6870 also doesn't use less power than the HD5770. Purely looking at the max power draw advertised by AMD (often called TDP) the HD5770 is 108W and the HD6870 is 151W: link. Below are power consumption numbers from TechPowerUp for idle and max:

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon...power_idle.gif
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon...er_maximum.gif
Source

Far from it, a HD6870 is slightly faster than a HD5850. It would be a pretty decent upgrade from a HD5770. According to the TechPowerUp HD6970 review the HD5770 is 50% of it's performance and the HD6870 is 80% of it's performance at 1920x1200 (closest this review comes to your res). It calculates out to be that the HD6870 is about 60% faster on average than the HD5770 (according to the TechPowerUp numbers). I'd call that an upgrade!









http://tpucdn.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon...rfrel_1920.gif
Source


I must have been thinking of the 5870, not the 5770 then. Sorry!


----------



## aznofazns

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nerdybeat*


Hey there, new XFX 6870 owner here!!

I am loving it so far, as it is a huge upgrade from my last rig's GPU (8800GT). I am excited to go for my first dual GPU rig in crossfire mode sometime next year (when the 6870s drop a bit in price, as I dont *need* the crossfire just yet).

Question for 68XX owners, I have seen some users on this forum running crossfire with 750W PSUs. I have used http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine as a calculator, and I have found that my current rig (listed) with my processor OC'd to 4.0 (isn't currently) and over-estimating little things like fans/USB peripherals, and of course - the duals 6870's - hits around 580W on 90% load.

My main question is, does anyone see any issues running my rig and dual 6870s?


Given that you have a Seasonic X750, I'm 99.9% sure you'll be fine with dual 6870's. I'm planning to go Crossfire myself, and I only have the X650. I'm not sure about the X750, but the X650 has been tested to run at near 90% efficiency at OVER 100% load, which is amazing. I think the DC output was around 790W for that test. I'm willing to bet your X750 can handle 850W easily, as long as it's not for 24/7 use.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*


If I crossfire 6870s will my Phenom II 965BE 3,8 bottleneck them?


No.

Also, how easily are other 6850 users getting to 950 core? I can do it with 1.2v, but I haven't fine tuned it to see if I can do it with less voltage.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO;11760517*
> If I crossfire 6870s will my Phenom II 965BE 3,8 bottleneck them?


Yes it will to a point, my cpu is bottlenecking my 6870s but only when running things like vantage. As long as you crank the details in games you'll be fine.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO;11760517*
> If I crossfire 6870s will my Phenom II 965BE 3,8 bottleneck them?


Yes and no are both correct .In vantage set to performance the res is 1280/1024 and you will have a bottleneck.But with you res set to 1920/1080 or higher for gaming your cpu is fine.


----------



## MLJS54

Quick question: for those with 6850s and running 1000+ core, what's your voltage?


----------



## shadowk

add me









GPU-Z Vaild in sig

and hows my OC ?
http://www.overclock.net/ati/897503-6870-oc-result.html


----------



## Liranan

I've ordered the Zalman VF3000N for my 6870.

Guru3D review of the cooler.

Currently my card gets close to 85C sometimes and the VF3000N isn't too expensive. It's more expensive than the Twin Turbo but it also cools better. When it arrives I'll, hopefully, achieve over 1000 on the core.


----------



## shadowk

it suit the 6870 ?
and its unusell memory print on the PCB ?


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO;11760517*
> If I crossfire 6870s will my Phenom II 965BE 3,8 bottleneck them?


Unfortunately yes. What is that a 53fps difference between a 4Ghz I7 compared to a 3.5Ghz X4? I'm so hung over from lastnight.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liranan;11769750*
> I've ordered the Zalman VF3000N for my 6870.
> 
> Guru3D review of the cooler.
> 
> Currently my card gets close to 85C sometimes and the VF3000N isn't too expensive. It's more expensive than the Twin Turbo but it also cools better. When it arrives I'll, hopefully, achieve over 1000 on the core.


For a couple of weeks that i'm using for cooling my 6870 the Zalman VF3000A and using the refference backplate for ram & vrm's (with some extra small heatsink sticked upon the backplate) looking like this:










Are you sure the VF3000N (nvidia edition) really suits the 6870?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc;11769980*
> Unfortunately yes. What is that a 53fps difference between a 4Ghz I7 compared to a 3.5Ghz X4? I'm so hung over from lastnight.


CPU bottlenecks become small and minor in GPU-intensive games. Because i can bench Crysis Warhead with my i3 and i get 1 fps less than a guy with an i7 (on a faster card)







Who the hell even cares about Black Ops anyway.


----------



## Jean-Luc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;11770239*
> CPU bottlenecks become small and minor in GPU-intensive games. Because i can bench Crysis Warhead with my i3 and i get 1 fps less than a guy with an i7 (on a faster card)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Who the hell even cares about Black Ops anyway.


I only used it as an example.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc;11770256*
> I only used it as an example.


Yea i know







just saying xD


----------



## blocparty12

You guys having many driver problems? Just about to order one, worried about the drivers. Previous driver releases for my 5850 sucked.


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jean-Luc;11770256*
> I only used it as an example.


I'd say it's a bad example, as it obviously doesn't tax the GPU. That's not odd, the engine is outdated now and time to be replaced. I bet they won't replace it, though, and will continue to use it for another few years.

A PII @ 3.8 won't bottleneck crossfire. If you're bothered about it just turn IQ up, that will solve all and any [non-existent] problem.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11770198*
> For a couple of weeks that i'm using for cooling my 6870 the Zalman VF3000A and using the refference backplate for ram & vrm's (with some extra small heatsink sticked upon the backplate) looking like this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you sure the VF3000N (nvidia edition) really suits the 6870?










Now I need to quickly change the order! Stupid of me not to check.

Thanks for pointing it out, it'd have been pretty stupid trying to put the wrong cooler on my card. I was wondering whether the cooler would fit, with the plate on, glad to see it does.

By how much have your temps drop?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *blocparty12;11770518*
> You guys having many driver problems? Just about to order one, worried about the drivers. Previous driver releases for my 5850 sucked.


Been using 10.12 and have had no problem with them. But I don't see the point in going from a 5850 to a 6870, roughly the same performance, all you need to do is OC that card.


----------



## blocparty12

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liranan;11770747*
> Been using 10.12 and have had no problem with them. But I don't see the point in going from a 5850 to a 6870, roughly the same performance, all you need to do is OC that card.


I know I dont need it, I want it








Must.......resist


----------



## smoke420

@arrow0309

what are your load temps before and after the new cooler?


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *blocparty12;11770926*
> I know I dont need it, I want it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Must.......resist


Oh, the eternal temptation


----------



## MacA

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11771158*
> @arrow0309
> 
> what are your load temps before and after the new cooler?


Yeah I'd like to know. I HAVE the cooler (used it on my now dead 5850) but I don't know if it's truly worth it because I don't know if my OC is hitting the heat wall or not... and I like the ref cooler design XD!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MacA;11771187*
> Yeah I'd like to know. I HAVE the cooler (used it on my now dead 5850) but I don't know if it's truly worth it because I don't know if my OC is hitting the heat wall or not... and I like the ref cooler design XD!


I have asus 6850's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121399

modded so the fan sits higher and replaced the stock compound with shin-etsu.
load temps gaming and benching never past 72c.with a huge overclock 1000/1210 v1.337..I wonder how much better it could get?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11771158*
> @arrow0309
> 
> what are your load temps before and after the new cooler?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MacA;11771187*
> Yeah I'd like to know. I HAVE the cooler (used it on my now dead 5850) but I don't know if it's truly worth it because I don't know if my OC is hitting the heat wall or not... and I like the ref cooler design XD!


Let's say I've had regular temps for a reference 6870 with max loads up to 90° C
(Furmark & overclock) and about 70 to 78° C on gaming load.
Now I manage to get 56° in Furmark and stock speeds (with fans at about 2000 rpm)











On the other hand I manage to overclock my videocard getting 980/1150 stable with 1.26v (I know it's not quite a lucky card, but I couldn't get first more than 960/1120 stable with the same voltage) and get 61° max on full load in Black Ops (with all settings at maximum & morphological AA) and cooler fans on min. (about 1400 rpm) as well as the other system fans Ultimate SILENCE


----------



## arrow0309

Do you guys think that I could (should) go further on overclocking my 6870








I got stable right now @980/1150 at 1.26 volts


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11771737*
> Do you guys think that I could (should) go further on overclocking my 6870
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I got stable right now @980/1150 at 1.26 volts


I would say no but It really depends on how high you want 3d mark scores.I only overclock in benches and metro 2033 other than that no need.I mostly play nba 2k11 and all you get for overclocking is more heat and power consumption.


----------



## Protron

add me HIS HD6870


----------



## MacA

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11771457*
> Let's say I've had regular temps for a reference 6870 with max loads up to 90° C
> (Furmark & overclock) and about 70 to 78° C on gaming load.
> Now I manage to get 56° in Furmark and stock speeds (with fans at about 2000 rpm)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the other hand I manage to overclock my videocard getting 980/1150 stable with 1.26v (I know it's not quite a lucky card, but I couldn't get first more than 960/1120 stable with the same voltage) and get 61° max on full load in Black Ops (with all settings at maximum & morphological AA) and cooler fans on min. (about 1400 rpm) as well as the other system fans Ultimate SILENCE


AHHHH it's SO tempting!
The only problem now is Crossfire. That cooler takes 3 slots, so yeah, luckily my motherboard is full of PCIe, but still that's something I have to consider...

Thanks anyways, +rep.


----------



## R1VER5

Got my Sapphire 6850 from NewEgg, finally got my pc finished. Running 850/1100 right now, and I'm sure I could go higher on the gpu but I'll probably leave it. However, it looks like most of you are running these cards in crossfire and now I'm tempted to pick up another.

P.S. Love this forum. You guys are really smart and I read a ton here before I built my new rig. Props to all you guys!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *R1VER5;11776315*
> Got my Sapphire 6850 from NewEgg, finally got my pc finished. Running 850/1100 right now, and I'm sure I could go higher on the gpu but I'll probably leave it. However, it looks like most of you are running these cards in crossfire and now I'm tempted to pick up another.
> 
> P.S. Love this forum. You guys are really smart and I read a ton here before I built my new rig. Props to all you guys!


ya this forum is really good never had a ati card before and thanks to the information on this forum im running xfire with no problems .

And to all the people in this forum a big thanks you for your help


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11771737*
> Do you guys think that I could (should) go further on overclocking my 6870
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I got stable right now @980/1150 at 1.26 volts


I won't be happy until I've reached 1050 at least.


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;11645845*
> I am seroiusly doubting these DirectCU 6850 ASUS models. There are currently three guys (including me) here facing power hungry nature from their 6850 cards ; cards which are said to be less power consuming
> 
> *UPDATE*
> 
> My 6850 goes at full load (100% as monitored by GPU-Z)at 43A and then the game crashes (Video driver has stopped responding ERROR) on my 30A Rail 500W PSU.............hats off to ASUS for biulding cards which take in 43A at full load.......WOW


That is exactly what is happening to me at the moment. When you got your new PSU, did it work correctly?


----------



## Mr.Bones

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11779633*
> That is exactly what is happening to me at the moment. When you got your new PSU, did it work correctly?


same here, had to back off my cpu down to 3.4 just to get this card past 850core stable, currently looking for 700w or higher


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;11779633*
> That is exactly what is happening to me at the moment. When you got your new PSU, did it work correctly?


Its really luck of the draw with these asus cards got them both at the same time and at stock clocks and voltage at 100% load one card gets to 38a the other 43a.the card that pulls more current is hotter load and idle(tried switching the slots and psu connecters its the card for sure).

to fix my issue ive removed my physx card (gtx260) my tv card (8500gt) one of my three hdd's and a powered ide to sata adapter.

I have a pretty good 850w psu so if you plan on any future upgrades a 400w is not going to cut it.

@Mr.Bones

do not recommend thermaltake psu my brothers 850w is on its way out.after overvolting his gtx470 it went into protection and cut power to his system .after turning the psu off than back on and returning to old settings it smells like somthing is burning and it cuts power randomly.


----------



## SSJVegeta

I manage to reach 1000/1200 @ 1.293v on my Sapphire HD 6850. I saw the review of this card on another website and that is the OC the reviewer managed on his card too.

Is the voltage too high or ok?


----------



## smoke420

IS there a recent game other than metro 2033 that will push these cards to the limit.dont really care about crysis imho good for a bench but the game not so much.
Games I have..
metro 2033,nba 2k11,AVP,Blackops,007 blood stone,metal of honor,crysis,crysis warhead,UT3,justcause2,Kane and lynch,kane and lynch2,Singularity,dirt2,nfs shift,nfs hot pursuit,Nail'd,Fuel,juiced2,sonic and sega all-stars racing,mafia 2,Star wars the force unleashed,Star wars the force unleashed 2,spiderman shattered dimensions,Tron Evolution,Star craft 2,Fallout New Vegas,Divinity 2,Arcania-gothic 4


----------



## PCWIZMTL

Powercolor HD6870

GPU-Z









Card Pic


----------



## shnur

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PCWIZMTL;11784178*
> Powercolor HD6870
> 
> *snip*
> Card Pic


Lets see if your sticker peels off like mine just because it overheated lol


----------



## PCWIZMTL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shnur;11784228*
> Lets see if your sticker peels off like mine just because it overheated lol


Well... I rewired my case for better airflow and stuck my harddrives at the bottom of the case so the upper wind tunnel would blow air directly on the card... it idle's a 50C... which is't bad since my 4850's did about 45C...

my fan'll peel off the sticker instead


----------



## shnur

What I meant was that just by normal usage, it peels off


----------



## PCWIZMTL

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shnur;11785037*
> What I meant was that just by normal usage, it peels off


Yeah, I understood ya


----------



## MacA

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shnur;11785037*
> What I meant was that just by normal usage, it peels off


That's actually a good thing for me, I hate those stupid stickers. Cheap and pretty much useless.


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PCWIZMTL;11784310*
> Well... I rewired my case for better airflow and stuck my harddrives at the bottom of the case so the upper wind tunnel would blow air directly on the card... it idle's a 50C... which is't bad since my 4850's did about 45C...
> 
> my fan'll peel off the sticker instead


I hope it isn't idling at 50c with stock clocks!

My idle right now is 36c rock solid with stock clocks.

Overclocked to 975mhx core and 1125mhz memory yields around 50c idle on stock fan speed. about 45 with 50% fans.

If you're idling 50c stock clock there is a problem with stagnant air in your case.


----------



## nagle3092

Agreed, 50c is high unless hes running dual monitors.


----------



## R1VER5

I have a Sappire 6850. Please add me to the list!


----------



## 5867dude

Asus EAH6850 DirectCU...had problems with it at first, but now its all running, and I have forgiven it


















And yes, I am running it at Stock....I don't want to overclock, it does everything I want it to at stock anyway.


----------



## arrow0309

For those willing to upgrade their coolers to Zalman VF3000A keeping up their stock backplate for ram & vrm cooling is good to know that might need (for a good contact patch) to polish a little bit either a piece of the backplate or the final part of the cooler's superior right arm (copperbase bracket) as shown in this picture (I did & recommend to polish the copperbase fixing guide arm in order to mantain the videocard's warranty)











However, you may not do this if you decide to completely remove the stock cooler and get a vrm heatsink kit that's suitable for the 6870


----------



## blackbalt89

Does anyone know if there is a nice aluminum backplate available for the 6870 like say they apply to the 6950/70?

I would love to cover up that chocolate colored PCB.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *blackbalt89*


Does anyone know if there is a nice aluminum backplate available for the 6870 like say they apply to the 6950/70?

I would love to cover up that chocolate colored PCB.


As far as I know, i've only seen it on the Asus 6870 DirectCu cooler, not aware at anything else available


----------



## R1VER5

Those Asus cards aren't reference cards, are they?


----------



## hellokittyonline2

shoot wrong thread sorry guys


----------



## PCWIZMTL

Quote:



Originally Posted by *blackbalt89*


I hope it isn't idling at 50c with stock clocks!

My idle right now is 36c rock solid with stock clocks.

Overclocked to 975mhx core and 1125mhz memory yields around 50c idle on stock fan speed. about 45 with 50% fans.

If you're idling 50c stock clock there is a problem with stagnant air in your case.


Hmmmm... to be continued...


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11791536*
> For those willing to upgrade their coolers to Zalman VF3000A keeping up their stock backplate for ram & vrm cooling is good to know that might need (for a good contact patch) to polish a little bit either a piece of the backplate or the final part of the cooler's superior right arm (copperbase bracket) as shown in this picture (I did & recommend to polish the copperbase fixing guide arm in order to mantain the videocard's warranty)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> However, you may not do this if you decide to completely remove the stock cooler and get a vrm heatsink kit that's suitable for the 6870


Now I'm disappointed that the cooler won't fit with the plate. Got to order the VR001 set, thanks for letting me know.


----------



## MacA

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *R1VER5;11792865*
> Those Asus cards aren't reference cards, are they?


Nope, they're not.

I wan't a backplate too! But a complete one like the 6950/6970. If I get some money I might very well end up getting a 6950. But the thing is, I just don't need it ^^.


----------



## nubgen

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;11762727*
> No.
> 
> Also, how easily are other 6850 users getting to 950 core? I can do it with 1.2v, but I haven't fine tuned it to see if I can do it with less voltage.


I got to 950 core easy stock voltages.

I just recently got BC2 Vietnam and my OC temps reach 77c-79c! While the reg BC2 Vanilla, my temps stay in the 68c. What's going on, is my card dying? Playing vietnam in 1920x1080, 4xAA, 16xAF.


----------



## Liranan

Overclocking always uses up a lot more power than you think. That's the price you pay for squeezing the last few drops of performance out of your hardware.


----------



## bigx5murf

found this place trying to see what the upper limits of my particular card, and decided to join forums, and add myself to this list.

Diamond mm 6850


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

Add me, haven't fully oced it yet. So will give updates on my OC's.

MSI AMD Radeon 6850 1G


----------



## Liranan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus*


Add me, haven't fully oced it yet. So will give updates on my OC's.

MSI AMD Radeon 6850 1G











I demand uncensored background!


----------



## smoke420

what scores are you guys getting in 3d mark 11 with xfire 6850's.

3DMark Score
P7026
Graphics score
8240
Physics Score
5112
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/297648


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus;11801919*
> Add me, haven't fully oced it yet. So will give updates on my OC's.
> 
> MSI AMD Radeon 6850 1G


why is your card running x8 2.0 ...It should be x16 unless your running more than two cards.also direct compute should be checked in gpu-z


----------



## CarlosSpiceyWeiner

Manufacture / Model: MSI R6870-2PM2D1GD5 Radeon HD 6870

Validation: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/m7yem/


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11805766*
> why is your card running x8 2.0 ...It should be x16 unless your running more than two cards.also direct compute should be checked in gpu-z


I have 4850's CF in slot 1 & 2 and the 6850 is in Slot 0. Eventually I'm Going to pull one the the 4850's and stick my remaining 4850 thats left in slot 2.


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liranan;11803065*
> I demand uncensored background!


Its my wife (Fully Clothed) and my dog.... And no, it does not come uncensored upon request, you will just have to stumble upon one of my posts with it uncovered.


----------



## Faraz

Haha, *Liranan*, you creep.


----------



## Mr.Bones

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *faraz1729;11807088*
> Haha, *Liranan*, you creep.


...


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

How do I get my core past 850 on my MSI 6850. Afterburner is topped at 850?


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus;11809182*
> How do I get my core past 850 on my MSI 6850. Afterburner is topped at 850?


Here you go Sir. Everything you need to know and get started.
http://www.overclock.net/ati/633816-how-overclock-your-ati-gpu.html


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


Here you go Sir. Everything you need to know and get started.
http://www.overclock.net/ati/633816-...r-ati-gpu.html


Okay next question... When i unlock it this happens.....

Edit: I cna move the sliders but it wont let me apply it.... just goes back to 0


----------



## Liranan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *faraz1729*


Haha, *Liranan*, you creep.


Added to my quotes









Quote:



Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus*


Okay next question... When i unlock it this happens.....

Edit: I cna move the sliders but it wont let me apply it.... just goes back to 0











Odd, only time I've seen sliders like this is when AB doesn't support the card.


----------



## blackbalt89

Quote:



Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus*


Okay next question... When i unlock it this happens.....

Edit: I cna move the sliders but it wont let me apply it.... just goes back to 0











Reinstall Afterburner my friend.


----------



## Riou

Get the beta version of Afterburner. I don't think the official version supports the new cards yet.

I am running version 2.1 beta 5.


----------



## Faraz

It works with my 6870 just fine. Try reinstalling it.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus*


Okay next question... When i unlock it this happens.....

Edit: I cna move the sliders but it wont let me apply it.... just goes back to 0











Try this version instead. 2.0.0 doesn't support the 6800 series.


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;11813334*
> Try this version instead. 2.0.0 doesn't support the 6800 series.


I went and got 2.1 beta and have the same issue... But one difference... It shows my accurate driver version ect....

Edit: And it only does that after unlocking unofficial over clocking...


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus;11817054*
> I went and got 2.1 beta and have the same issue... But one difference... It shows my accurate driver version ect....


Do you have any other overclocking utilities installed on your pc? How about temperature monitoring software? I forgot which software it was but one did have conflict with AB.


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *blackbalt89;11791639*
> Does anyone know if there is a nice aluminum backplate available for the 6870 like say they apply to the 6950/70?
> 
> I would love to cover up that chocolate colored PCB.


http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/ek-fc6870-backplate-black.html

You might be able to use these if you can find them, the only issue is I think you would need to take off the bracket on the back of the card or cut out around it on the backplate.


----------



## vicrol123

ohhhhhhhh its the end!!!










850/1050 for 24/7 it's safe?

Regards!


----------



## nagle3092

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vicrol123;11818962*
> ohhhhhhhh its the end!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 850/1050 for 24/7 it's safe?
> 
> Regards!


Yeah thats safe.


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda;11817075*
> Do you have any other overclocking utilities installed on your pc? How about temperature monitoring software? I forgot which software it was but one did have conflict with AB.


CCC and AOD are the only things im using right now........


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus;11819225*
> CCC and AOD are the only things im using right now........


Try disabling AOD within CCC


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus;11819225*
> CCC and AOD are the only things im using right now........


The only way I could get unofficial overclocking to work is to disable ULPS.

I dont use it because my idle temps get to high.


----------



## 53rJ

User: 53rJ

Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6870

OC:
Core: 900Mhz @ 1010Mhz
Memory: 1050Mhz @ 1240Mhz
Voltage: 1.281v
Max Temp @ 60% Fan: 76ÂºC

GPUTool gave some artifacts every a couple of minutes, but i never saw anything while gaming, not even 1 artifact.


----------



## shnur

Quote:



Originally Posted by *53rJ*


User: 53rJ

Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6870

OC:
Core: 900Mhz @ 1010Mhz
Memory: 1050Mhz @ 1240Mhz
Voltage: 1.281v
Max Temp @ 60% Fan: 76ÂºC

GPUTool gave some artifacts every a couple of minutes, but i never saw anything while gaming, not even 1 artifact.


I tend to worry a bit long term when I see some artifacts, even if there's nothing in games, sometimes it's the other way around, nothing tested and some in games... it's weird.
That's a pretty solid OC you have there though.


----------



## GTR Mclaren

why no one use CCC to OC ??


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GTR Mclaren;11823858*
> why no one use CCC to OC ??


Because you can't change the voltage, and you can only get a weak OC.


----------



## Snowman1989

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GTR Mclaren;11823858*
> why no one use CCC to OC ??


Because theres a limit to it.

MSI Afterburner and other OC software dont.


----------



## smoke420

any new pc games worth getting?
Games I have..
metro 2033,nba 2k11,AVP,Blackops,007 blood stone,metal of honor,crysis,crysis warhead,UT3,justcause2,Kane and lynch,kane and lynch2,Singularity,dirt2,nfs shift,nfs hot pursuit,Nail'd,Fuel,juiced2,sonic and sega all-stars racing,mafia 2,Star wars the force unleashed,Star wars the force unleashed 2,spiderman shattered dimensions,Tron Evolution,Star craft 2,Fallout New Vegas,Divinity 2,Arcania-gothic 4


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


the only way i could get unofficial overclocking to work is to disable ulps.

I dont use it because my idle temps get to high.


ulps?

Found it nvm


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *G.E.Nauticus*


ulps?

Found it nvm


I had to disable it for unofficial overclocking to work.it stands for ultra low power state.

google it .Its a pretty easy registry change just not worth it for me.

Let me know if it works


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I had to disable it for unofficial overclocking to work.it stands for ultra low power state.

google it .Its a pretty easy registry change just not worth it for me.

Let me know if it works


No go.....Still got all my 0's


----------



## Raven.7

Sapphire HD 6850 @ 920/1130 stock voltage


















By the way, anyone know if it's possible to unlock 1120 shaders just like the folks with the HD 6950 are flashing to 6970 and getting all shader units?


----------



## Raven.7

oops, double post :x


----------



## G.E.Nauticus

I think i found my issue... Ill have to take some time to fix it... I appears some of my Core windows drivers... The ones that you get before you install manufacture drivers are dead.... Im trying to change my AMD drivers to APP edition ones... And well when i uninstall my current drivers im getting.. a bsod "Drivers mismanaging Blah BLah PTE's".... so yeah... And Safemode is not allowing me to do it either.. Says something about Detecting Driver Missing........

I'm just gonna reform soon anyways... Its that time again.... Just need to get my hands on W7...


----------



## Confessed

So what are peoples clocks like with reference 6870's? I'm in the market for one and I'd like to know how they OC.

Most reference 5850's can do 950-1000 core with some voltage, 5870's could do 1000 core with some voltage. So what's can the 6870's do with some added voltage?


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Confessed;11833981*
> So what are peoples clocks like with reference 6870's? I'm in the market for one and I'd like to know how they OC.
> 
> Most reference 5850's can do 950-1000 core with some voltage, 5870's could do 1000 core with some voltage. So what's can the 6870's do with some added voltage?


At 1.21 volts, my reference 6870 can do 1000 core and 1175 memory. I'm very impressed, as the heat didn't really go up more than 3 or 4 degrees C.


----------



## Raven.7




----------



## Confessed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ibfreeekout;11833999*
> At 1.21 volts, my reference 6870 can do 1000 core and 1175 memory. I'm very impressed, as the heat didn't really go up more than 3 or 4 degrees C.


Is that the average of what people can hit with it? I'd hope to see more than just a 100MHz increase.


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Confessed;11834494*
> Is that the average of what people can hit with it? I'd hope to see more than just a 100MHz increase.


The memory is the more important part with these cards from what I've been reading. From what I've seen, this is actually a decently high overclock for a card with just a reference cooler. If someone can correct me however then feel free.


----------



## arrow0309

Guys, I can only clock (RS) with my gigabyte [email protected] vf3000a 980/1150 with 1,26v (so far so good) with all the fans at min. (vga, cpu, system) and have pretty decent temps (like in game max 56-58° C for gpu and 50° C for the vrm). Some others can do less







and some very few can do better









I personally obtained lower clocks with the same volts like max 960/1120 stable with the stock cooler; as for now, I might wanna try to get over 1000 Mhz for gpu and maintain the same 1150 Mhz Gddr5 memory clock at max 1.3 volt









Hope my oppinion could help


----------



## DB006

1.18volts

1065 core 1260 mem










Which is a 165core 210 mem overclock above a standard 6870

Anything higher and it artifacts. Could try higher volts, but the card does all I require of it.


----------



## Darco19

nvm del please


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DB006*


1.18volts

1065 core 1260 mem










Which is a 165core 210 mem overclock above a standard 6870

Anything higher and it artifacts. Could try higher volts, but the card does all I require of it.


That's unbelievable








Either you've got the hell of a lucky card or you're not 100% stable.
You've flashed the bios haven't you? However, could you show us a screenshot that you're stable at that clocks and volts like furmark or OCCT gpu test?


----------



## DB006

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


That's unbelievable








Either you've got the hell of a lucky card or you're not 100% stable.
You've flashed the bios haven't you? However, could you show us a screenshot that you're stable at that clocks and volts like furmark or OCCT gpu test?










Yeah, i'll run Furmark. It's the Black Edition card which I think is a hand picked GPU which runs higher standard clocks 940/1050

Run at 1024x768, but Furmark is reporting it wrong :/

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fu...4453951df1b648

Ran it again to get a screengrab of the Furmark submission screen


----------



## asus rog

hy guys


----------



## asus rog

ci 6 arrow0309?


----------



## qbical

I was able to get my 6850 to 980/1130 and ran FurMark for about 45 mins maxing out at 62C degrees. When I tried to do a 3dMark06 run it did freeze up however. how is everyone else doing w these cards?


----------



## ht_addict

Can the 6850 be flashed with another BIOS(6870) to enable the shaders that are disabled or are they laser cut? Also looking to be able to voltage tweek the card. My card is the Gigabyte 6850.


----------



## massy086

why wont my hdmi port on hd 6850 display fullscreen on my lg flatron 23


----------



## smash_mouth01

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ht_addict*
> Can the 6850 be flashed with another BIOS(6870) to enable the shaders that are disabled or are they laser cut? Also looking to be able to voltage tweek the card. My card is the Gigabyte 6850.


I don't know but I do know that the 6950 can do that but I don't think that the 6850 would like that to much.

I got my 6870 on the 23rd of December even though I ordered them on the 22nd, now that is what I call service.

2x Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1 GB


----------



## tesco

How on earth is this thing pulling about 67 watts at 57 amps?

57 AMPS

57

My PSU will never give out that many, trust me.

Anyway, nice card =) EAH6850, the Asus one. It has been known to be more hungry.

Also in FurMark is everyone getting 100% GPU load?

Through GPU-Z or CCC It will only get me to 92-94% Load. Weird!


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11856024*
> How on earth is this thing pulling about 67 watts at 57 amps?
> 
> 57 AMPS
> 
> 57
> 
> My PSU will never give out that many, trust me.
> 
> Anyway, nice card =) EAH6850, the Asus one. It has been known to be more hungry.
> 
> Also in FurMark is everyone getting 100% GPU load?
> 
> Through GPU-Z or CCC It will only get me to 92-94% Load. Weird!


The amps are based on the local voltage on the card, which is based on another voltage that isn't 12V

67 watts with 57 amps would be around 1.15v


----------



## Liranan

My VF3000A arrived today and so far this is what I've managed to achieve.

1020/1150
1.243V
Idle 51C
Max Load 78C - Torture Test
Typical Load 70C - Games/Boinc

I will reseat the cooler and replace the TIM tomorrow to see what happens. I'm very unhappy with my temps. I will check whether I've used too much or too little AS5 and see if my temps drop.


----------



## qbical

Quote:



Originally Posted by *massy086*


why wont my hdmi port on hd 6850 display fullscreen on my lg flatron 23


I heard about this and I think it has something to do with scaling. should be a quick fix though once u change the scaling/.


----------



## Squirrel-666

the misses bought me it for me birthday but had to RMA it last week so they replaced it with the sapphire 6870 as the shop didnt have any HIS left shame aswell as it was a ref card and i nearly bought a EK FC Block for it.








sapphire is good thou OC Core 961mhz from 900 Mem Clock 1125mhz from 1050.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Liranan*


My VF3000A arrived today and so far this is what I've managed to achieve.

1020/1150
1.243V
Idle 51C
Max Load 78C - Torture Test
Typical Load 70C - Games/Boinc

I will reseat the cooler and replace the TIM tomorrow to see what happens. I'm very unhappy with my temps. I will check whether I've used too much or too little AS5 and see if my temps drop.


You better do that, I agree








However it's a good result, how about the cooler fans? are they running with the fanmate or what? Remember to tighten well those four screws


----------



## tesco

I was wondering if anyone with a slightly overclocked 6850 or 6870 wouldnt mind telling me their VREG Temperature 1 , temperatures? Mine is hitting 115+ C under load. (100%)

Also would anyone mind finding out if FurMark is making their card run at 99/100% ? Mine only seemed to do it at 93-94% , But OCCT get's it hot, and to 100%.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11864506*
> I was wondering if anyone with a slightly overclocked 6850 or 6870 wouldnt mind telling me their VREG Temperature 1 , temperatures? Mine is hitting 115+ C under load. (100%)
> 
> Also would anyone mind finding out if FurMark is making their card run at 99/100% ? Mine only seemed to do it at 93-94% , But OCCT get's it hot, and to 100%.


That's insane, you don't have to exeed about 80°-85° C under load (even on extreme burning mode & oc) on a reference cooler.
Try to remove the backplate and reassemble, you could have a surprise








I get 50-52 degrees max on gaming


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11864506*
> I was wondering if anyone with a slightly overclocked 6850 or 6870 wouldnt mind telling me their VREG Temperature 1 , temperatures? Mine is hitting 115+ C under load. (100%)
> 
> Also would anyone mind finding out if FurMark is making their card run at 99/100% ? Mine only seemed to do it at 93-94% , But OCCT get's it hot, and to 100%.


your card shouldn't get that hot if the core is getting I would get some as5 or shin-etsu.the cooler on these cards are very good but if its just the vreg's check the little black heatsink under the plastic.its not held on there to good so be careful.If its loose you have to replace thermal pad or RMA.


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11863000*
> You better do that, I agree
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> However it's a good result, how about the cooler fans? are they running with the fanmate or what? Remember to tighten well those four screws


Not using fanmate, useless thing. When I still had a 7700 ALCU that the fanmate, set to max, still wasn't as good as the cooler connected directly to the motherboard. So, I haven't even tried it yet.

Edit: Just realised that I had the cooler connected to a 7V fan header (have a fan splitter). Now that I have it connected to a 12V it's at 55C but making massive amount of noise. Time to use the fanmate, after all.

At least my temperatures have dropped to 70C during torture test and 60C gaming and Boinc, but the noise is unbearable. I am able to OC further today but I don't know if that's because of me realising I'm stupid or the cold weather. I'm currently at 1050, and would like to say this cooler is really good.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *liranan;11868247*
> not using fanmate, useless thing. When i still had a 7700 alcu that the fanmate, set to max, still wasn't as good as the cooler connected directly to the motherboard. So, i haven't even tried it yet.
> 
> Edit: Just realised that i had the cooler connected to a 7v fan header (have a fan splitter). Now that i have it connected to a 12v it's at 55c but making massive amount of noise. Time to use the fanmate, after all.
> 
> At least my temperatures have dropped to 70c during torture test and 60c gaming and boinc, but the noise is unbearable. I am able to oc further today but i don't know if that's because of me realising i'm stupid or the cold weather. I'm currently at 1050, and would like to say this cooler is really good.


:d


----------



## Liranan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


:d


After years of computer use I'm still an infant









I'm down to 1025. I can't get it stable even at 1030 right now and so busy no time to tweak it any more. I think memory might have more room to OC, though.

Now if only CPU's were as easy to OC as GPU's.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liranan;11868247*
> Not using fanmate, useless thing. When I still had a 7700 ALCU that the fanmate, set to max, still wasn't as good as the cooler connected directly to the motherboard. So, I haven't even tried it yet.
> 
> Edit: Just realised that I had the cooler connected to a 7V fan header (have a fan splitter). Now that I have it connected to a 12V it's at 55C but making massive amount of noise. Time to use the fanmate, after all.
> 
> At least my temperatures have dropped to 70C during torture test and 60C gaming and Boinc, but the noise is unbearable. I am able to OC further today but I don't know if that's because of me realising I'm stupid or the cold weather. I'm currently at 1050, and would like to say this cooler is really good.


The fanmate is a nice little thing, better than my SCYTHE Kaze Master because you allways have a min. fanspeed & u won't be riskin' anything in complete silence








One of these days I should do some more OC too
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liranan;11870642*
> After years of computer use I'm still an infant
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm down to 1025. I can't get it stable even at 1030 right now and so busy no time to tweak it any more. I think memory might have more room to OC, though.
> 
> Now if only CPU's were as easy to OC as GPU's.










I may celebrate a decade this very 2011








Wish I have plenty of time either [just dropped an hour with Linx (20 cycles 4096 mb) and it seems I'm stable again at 4 Ghz coz I've had some freezes the last couple of weeks] for the 6870 OC








Yeah, maybe I sould try 1025 too, & maybe tomorrow








It seems a lot easier for me to OC the cpu (intel only_my former Amd 4600+ a couple of years ago was stubborn as a mule) than any videocard


----------



## tesco

I think there is definatly something wrong here

Bear in mind that I have the Asus EAH6850 version, and my motherboard is mounted horizontally ( like the floor)

I returned my GPU to stock clocks, got it in OCCT and im getting 106 degrees C on the VREG

However VREG temperature 2 is only 22C and not moving at all

83 C on the core

gpu temp 1-3 = 82,87,86 degrees C

I'm also getting random crashes in games, usually after a cold start in about 5 hours only 1-2 crashes, but the first crash would happen within 15minutes of gaming.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11874263*
> I think there is definatly something wrong here
> 
> Bear in mind that I have the Asus EAH6850 version, and my motherboard is mounted horizontally ( like the floor)
> 
> I returned my GPU to stock clocks, got it in OCCT and im getting 106 degrees C on the VREG
> 
> However VREG temperature 2 is only 22C and not moving at all
> 
> 83 C on the core
> 
> gpu temp 1-3 = 82,87,86 degrees C
> 
> I'm also getting random crashes in games, usually after a cold start in about 5 hours only 1-2 crashes, but the first crash would happen within 15minutes of gaming.


You better do some airflow improvement otherwise try to check with the case open








What do you think you do next summer








Did you try to remove the vga cooler? Coz when I first removed my cooler's backplate I realised that there was no contact at all between the first (inferior) mosfet and cooler due to improper "chinese" assemblation and similar stuff with the memory thermal pads


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11874263*
> I think there is definatly something wrong here
> 
> Bear in mind that I have the Asus EAH6850 version, and my motherboard is mounted horizontally ( like the floor)
> 
> I returned my GPU to stock clocks, got it in OCCT and im getting 106 degrees C on the VREG
> 
> However VREG temperature 2 is only 22C and not moving at all
> 
> 83 C on the core
> 
> gpu temp 1-3 = 82,87,86 degrees C
> 
> I'm also getting random crashes in games, usually after a cold start in about 5 hours only 1-2 crashes, but the first crash would happen within 15minutes of gaming.


Its your card RMA if you can.after running running occt my card also gets to 107c and 76a on stock clocks and no fan adjustment. but occt only loaded one card so I tried furmark and the card that was 107c maxed at 88c but my other card vreg stays 20c cooler .the hotter card is on the bottom and gets great airflow the card on the top is covered by my physx card and runs a lot cooler.

RMA that card if you can.I have already voided my warrenty so im going to try replacing the thermal pad under the vreg heatsink


----------



## tesco

I think I will be ringing them up tomorrow

I'm not going to touch it, no voiding warranty here.

It doesn't have a back plate either = )

About 3-5C cooler with case side off.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11875190*
> I think I will be ringing them up tomorrow
> 
> I'm not going to touch it, no voiding warranty here.
> 
> It doesn't have a back plate either = )
> 
> About 3-5C cooler with case side off.


your right dont touch it.I thank its just a bad card checked mine and its not the best contact but in no way should it be a 20c difference.this is a hardware issue.the card draws more current and vreg temp is hotter at idle all other temps are lower on this card.changing thermal pad may help the 4c idle difference but i dont see it helping the 20c load difference.Im changing the pad later tonight will let you know how it goes.


----------



## Liranan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Its your card RMA if you can.after running running occt my card also gets to 107c and 76a on stock clocks and no fan adjustment. but occt only loaded one card so I tried furmark and the card that was 107c maxed at 88c but my other card vreg stays 20c cooler .the hotter card is on the bottom and gets great airflow the card on the top is covered by my physx card and runs a lot cooler.

RMA that card if you can.I have already voided my warrenty so im going to try replacing the thermal pad under the vreg heatsink


How have you voided your warranty? Removing the HSF and replacing TIM?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liranan;11880057*
> How have you voided your warranty? Removing the HSF and replacing TIM?


I also modded the plastic cover so the fan sticks out a little more. i have 4 gpus so every little bit helps


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11880321*
> I also modded the plastic cover so the fan sticks out a little more. i have 4 gpus so every little bit helps


That'll do it. I don't see why manufacturers make such a problem out of the replacement of thermal paste and cooler replacement. Anything to make cash


----------



## tesco

How did it go? = )

This is my screenie: (case side off, mounted as if it were a test bench, not in a PC case.

I really dont want to RMA it because if they say it isn't broken. It costs me money... quite a bit.


----------



## smoke420

wasn't able to get the pad last night few hours il let you know.Dont know how you can prove its a bad card without another one to compare. they may still claim no two cards are the same.but look at these screenshots I dont care what they say its a hardware issue.

Idle


Load


Although the card has better ventilation it gets hotter because its pulling more current.
My case has 11 internal fans and my cpu rad is mounted external so I get better cooling than an open air test bench.the air in my case stays ambient but there is also spot fans on nb and vreg and my ram is ice cold.there is a 120m fan blowing strait up at the gpu's .(case is not the problem)

No change tried to different types of pads no difference.


----------



## Sped

Count me in







.

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870


----------



## noobdown

Sapphire 6850
memory almost at limit, stop the core at 900. was happy with it.


----------



## Raven.7

Can anyone post some reference figures for a stable 950+ 6850 OC? I'm worried to push mine beyond 920 w/o any voltage reference.

Also, what do you have the memory set to?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Raven.7;11902522*
> Can anyone post some reference figures for a stable 950+ 6850 OC? I'm worried to push mine beyond 920 w/o any voltage reference.
> 
> Also, what do you have the memory set to?


I can make mine hit 950 core / 1100 mem at 1.2v, but I haven't really tried anything lower.


----------



## Raven.7

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;11904347*
> I can make mine hit 950 core / 1100 mem at 1.2v, but I haven't really tried anything lower.


Interesting, when did you start to bring up the voltage?


----------



## gonX

Mine did 980 /1120 on stock voltages. I don't know if it counts though because it would always artifact at low temperatures regardless of clocks and voltage.


----------



## arrow0309

Got stable at 1000 / 1150 / 1.266v




















So far so good


----------



## abu46

hi guys!!

i bought an asus EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5 a month back
today i saw another variant of the same card on asus website, the EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2








whats the diff between the two??? 
is it an updated/revised edition of the org eah 6850? 
the only diff i could spot was that v2 has "50% off of TriDefÂ® 3D Experience" and v2 has black colored caps

i couldn't find any other technical or visual dissimilarities between the two

maybe asus found some defects in the original card which they rectified in v2!!
org. eah 6850 has also been deactivated on newegg

i feel cheated









Also can you tell how many power phase does the eah 6850 has


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Raven.7*


Interesting, when did you start to bring up the voltage?


I dunno. I just jumped straight to that voltage and speed.


----------



## ikem

getting my his 6870 today. will oc and bench later


----------



## flopper

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Got stable at 1000 / 1150 / 1.266v









So far so good










I game with my 2x6850 cards at 1ghz/1155mhz or so.
watercooled and around 1.26v also.
my i7 950 runs 4ghz at 1.32v


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *flopper*


I game with my 2x6850 cards at 1ghz/1155mhz or so.
watercooled and around 1.26v also.
my i7 950 runs 4ghz at 1.32v











Isn't too much 1.32v for 4 ghz? Mine runs at 4.2 ghz with 1.33v


----------



## MacA

Pretty happy right now, my 6870 is 60min GPUtool + 10min OCCT + 20min Furmark stable
*1000/1200 1.250*

OCCT pretty much burns the chip (76C max), but yeah, I'm pretty damn satisfied.
I might try 1.240 later. I jumped from 1.231 to 1.250 because I was in a hurry.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MacA;11913086*
> Pretty happy right now, my 6870 is 60min GPUtool + 10min OCCT + 20min Furmark stable
> *1000/1200 1.250*
> 
> OCCT pretty much burns the chip (76C max), but yeah, I'm pretty damn satisfied.
> I might try 1.240 later. I jumped from 1.231 to 1.250 because I was in a hurry.


Not bad







you'll also have to do a lot of gaming (gpu intensive) and some benchmarks like Vantage, Unigine heaven or 3dmark11 to proove you're RS


----------



## kikaskilla

Got my MSI 6870 today. Used MSI Afterburner to clock it to 975/1225 without twiddeling with voltages. Stable in GPUTool 20min and Furmark extreme burning mode 20min.

Im pretty satisfied, but should i change some voltages in the newest Afterburner? Current version is 2.0.0

Edit: After getting instability issues in 3DMark Vantage (Horizontal lines and Horisontal screen displacement + lower GPU score than stock) im trying with 960/1200


----------



## Raven.7

Anyone else that can post their HD6850 OC figures?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kikaskilla;11914295*
> Got my MSI 6870 today. Used MSI Afterburner to clock it to 975/1225 without twiddeling with voltages. Stable in GPUTool 20min and Furmark extreme burning mode 20min.
> 
> Im pretty satisfied, but should i change some voltages in the newest Afterburner? Current version is 2.0.0
> 
> Edit: After getting instability issues in 3DMark Vantage (Horizontal lines and Horisontal screen displacement + lower GPU score than stock) im trying with 960/1200


Get the latest 2.1.0 beta 5


----------



## ikem

running furmark stable

1000/1209 1.17v

max temp 68C

do i have to goto the beta to push the core more?


----------



## MacA

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ikem;11915181*
> running furmark stable
> 
> 1000/1209 1.17v
> 
> max temp 68C
> 
> do i have to goto the beta to push the core more?


Furmark doesn't detect errors. Try GPUtool/OCCT, I'm pretty sure you'll get looots of errors with such low voltage/high OC.

arrow0309: Yep, I'll spam Vantage and Crysis when I got the time.


----------



## Djmatrix32

Checking in!


----------



## Nyt Ryda

What do ya think of my overclock ? Its a stock cooler Sapphire HD6870 btw

See attachment


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nyt Ryda;11924680*
> What do ya think of my overclock ? Its a stock cooler Sapphire HD6870 btw
> 
> See attachment


Arw you kidding? Man that's huge








What voltage did it take


----------



## Nyt Ryda

I was running 1.3v . I uploaded the full shot to image shack so you all can see :


----------



## Nautilus

Today i did some ocing&benching. Finally my new 6870 beats my old 5870 in Heaven 2.1.

Here are the screens:
*6870 @ 1070/1150:*









*5870 @ 1025/1300:*


----------



## smoke420

3DMark Score
P6952
Graphics score
8382
Physics Score
4792

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/377378

1020/1200


----------



## Regamaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nautilus;11924930*
> Today i did some ocing&benching. Finally my new 6870 beats my old 5870 in Heaven 2.1.
> 
> Here are the screens:
> *6870 @ 1070/1150: (img)
> *
> *5870 @ 1025/1300: (img)*


Count me in please (*you can see my OCN username in the address bar*).

ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU overclocked @ 940core/1150mem/1.172v (does 960 core @ 1.220v but not worth it imo)









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11932947*
> 1020/1200


Great score, your bench is at 1920x1080 though while his was at 1680x1050. How did you achieve such a high OC?? whats the voltage? is it stable? if so at what fan speeds?

Sorry I'm just real curious because I plan to purchase another ASUS EAH6850 soon for crossfire, thanks.


----------



## Nyt Ryda

Just cracked 1300mhz core and 1500mhz memory :


And heres my gpu-z validation : http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/c98v/


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nyt Ryda;11934182*
> Just cracked 1300mhz core and 1500mhz memory :
> 
> 
> And heres my gpu-z validation : http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/c98v/


I want to see some benches of that. If it's stable then holy batman that's amazing.


----------



## Nyt Ryda

It would only be stable on ln2 lol , im on the stock cooler only


----------



## ibfreeekout

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nyt Ryda;11934230*
> It would only be stable on ln2 lol , im on the stock cooler only


That's what I was thinking







I was happy when I was able to get 1000/1175 out on stock cooling. Temps rise to 81C but haven't gone above that. I've seen higher clocks but I don't want to pump more voltages through the card XD


----------



## Confessed

Hmmm...I was kind of dodging the 6870 because of what I thought was no OC headroom. I'm hoping that if I do get the card I can get stable at 1050 core.

I'd like to see more people with the card push above 1000 core...that seems to be what everyone posts. I WANT HIGHER!


----------



## Nyt Ryda

Im running 1000mhz core and 1250mhz memory on 1.299v stable . After 1000mhz core it just seems a little uncomfortable with some artifacting but not much . The 6870 is pretty good, but its just a temp card for me until I get my two 6970's .

Edit: 1050mhz core isnt fully 100% game stable at 1.3v so thats why most guys run 1k core


----------



## gnarlybug5

Gnarlybug5
Gigabyte HD 6850

View attachment 188907


----------



## damric

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Confessed;11934371*
> Hmmm...I was kind of dodging the 6870 because of what I thought was no OC headroom. I'm hoping that if I do get the card I can get stable at 1050 core.
> 
> I'd like to see more people with the card push above 1000 core...that seems to be what everyone posts. I WANT HIGHER!


That's exactly why I went for the 6850 instead. Much more OC headroom, therefore much more bang for the buck. I like my 6850 so much I just bought another one


----------



## Confessed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *damric;11934462*
> That's exactly why I went for the 6850 instead. Much more OC headroom, therefore much more bang for the buck. I like my 6850 so much I just bought another one


Well I don't have crossfire as an option and I'm looking for something to outperform my old 5850 @ 1000/1200.


----------



## damric

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Confessed;11934472*
> Well I don't have crossfire as an option and I'm looking for something to outperform my old 5850 @ 1000/1200.


Then don't look at the 6000 series, as it is more of a fine tuning of 5000 series with the 6800's or next generation architechture prototypes (think 4770) with the 6900 series. In the end, 6000 series is marginal improvement over 5800 series, and would nearly be a side-grade (but a nice upgrade over 4000 series). Best wait for the 7000 series as it will come with a die shrink and perfected shader architecture. I would either save your money or get another 5800 series card to crossfire.


----------



## Confessed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *damric;11934889*
> Then don't look at the 6000 series, as it is more of a fine tuning of 5000 series with the 6800's or next generation architechture prototypes (think 4770) with the 6900 series. In the end, 6000 series is marginal improvement over 5800 series, and would nearly be a side-grade (but a nice upgrade over 4000 series). Best wait for the 7000 series as it will come with a die shrink and perfected shader architecture. I would either save your money or get another 5800 series card to crossfire.


I don't have my 5850..."former" is the word for it. And like I already said, crossfire isn't an option. I don't even have anything other than onboard video so I'll be getting something soon. Probably a GTX 560 when it launches.


----------



## 0razor1

I HATE STOCK VGA COOLING --- the noise is ONE thing, temperatures, another. But hey .. used an Accelero s1 rev.2 w/ my NV 260 and despite falling 15C loaded, it died in a month --- bad power---A Glacial Power 650W true power ( 2x8 pin pcie







) -- my bad.

Picked up a new 6850 a year later---- well well well -- loved the single 6-pin power







Going to CFX it w/ a 6870 down the line.
Regarding that--
then the 6850 will be on a 4x lane ( my mobo the m4a785 Asus does 16x + 4x) Will that goof things up ??

Secondly, the heat on this card is stupid. I correct myself , the cooler is stupid .. for MSI ripping off an asus design --- hey, POLISH the HS man, and it may just work !!
_"Just a heads up on anyone that orders this 6850. XFX put a void if removed sticker on two of the screws for the heatsink. What the hell. Now I can't take off the *cheap thermal crap* on there and put some as3 without voiding the warranty."_

So I'm using the Coolermaster Thermal Fusion 400 -- had it lying around for a while now --- gives good results on my PH 2 @ 3.8 @ 1.41V ... so hey , went ahead and used it










*The Deltas* --- no kidding :") ---- and right into my first Boot








IDLE :: from *36*-> *30*





















 fan at idle :_)
LOAD (OCCT) 2 MINs from *92* -> *82*
OCCT >2 mins ---- stock _*FAIL*_(>94 and I panicked) --10 minutes new TIM ->*85* YO!!!

OK ,, so I'm running 925, 1185 @ 1.193V gonna push my card now









Hey ,its NO AS5 (looks like ass







arctic silver 5)..







I'm sure I haven't heard the end of it!!!! But spreads easy and no curing time!

All right ! I've been through EVERY single post so far --- thats >200 pages in 3 days and 2 nights w/ a few (ok. many) hours of CS and COD7 thrown in !

I rather like what I see..

FYI --- I have the MSI OC 6850 that I nabbed cheaper than the XFX .. XFX of late in my country (INDIA) -- Lifetime warranty and that nasty MOH -- more of a gimmick.. has failed. As simple as that.. Cheapo components and baaaad cooling and locked clocks... RLLY???
http://www.hardwarezone.com/product-guide/view/93285/review/104604/page:2
http://assets.hardwarezone.com/node/msitt.jpg

Not







into benching.. I do enjoy OCCT only









Right, So lastly , wazzup w/ LAPPING THE HS ??? I did it w/ great caution on my CM hyper 212+ and ohh did I love it, but this vga heatsink is 2 big to wanna play w/ it. I do think it'd produce splendid results.. Ideas?

Btw, I could just reuse my accelero s1 .... What say ?









FOR a completely incoherent post--- lets go with these :
1, HOW do u like my OC'd Temps w/ stock (msi) cooler and 1.193V ?
2, Shld I lap the heatsink ? I HATE HEATPIPES_-- scary if they rupture- oh the thought of it.
3, Shld I just reuse my accelero s1 rev.2 ?? I'll need to do some cooling for the VRMs separately!
4, MayB 1st post in this forum :_ )) HI Y'all !!
5, Isn't benchin overrated ?? I'd simply go w/ custom ATT profiles per game for acceptable performance. Stability w/ higher clocks = greater perf ?? Other than the ECC on the dd5 , I get it.
6, Shld i clock my memory higher than 1200 ?? Does overhead increase on upping core voltage?? Am at 1185 rite now @ 1.193 or 1.149 volts..
7, I plan on a 19x3 eyefinity setup -- TN PANELS







Have one (900p) as of now.. Shld I go with the above or is eyefinity overrated? Option #2 is simply a 23in along with my current 19







Play fps rpg and sim games..

THANKS A lot for the effort if u got this far























*IM GOING NINJA*


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11935715*
> *The Deltas* --- no kidding :") ---- and right into my first Boot
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IDLE :: from *36*-> *30*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> fan at idle :_)
> LOAD (OCCT) 2 MINs from *92* -> *82*
> OCCT >2 mins ---- stock _*FAIL*_(>94 and I panicked) --10 minutes new TIM ->*85* YO!!!


WHOA>>>>>> THE TEMPS ARE NOW *81 C* ON 10 Mins OCCT W/ 960,1185 @ 1.243V









Thats down man , DOWN !


----------



## leecH01

Hi guys,

i've got 2 x XFX HD 6850 in crossfire 8x 8x

i could OC only via Catalyst Control Center to overdrive limits (very poor, 875/1250 at least for core) and voltage is not

but if i use tools such as TRIXX and Afterburner, if i just set 1 mhz up or down any setting and click on APPLY the pc freezes instantly causing manual reboot

how can i fix it ?

Thank you for your help


----------



## WIGILOCO

6870 in crossfire! ME WANT! Does 965 stock bottleneck them?


----------



## 0razor1

YUP ! but U'd still see ~50-80% gains so IMO worth it...


----------



## 0razor1

FYI , ur mobo shld be able to run a 4x CFX setup..

"The dominant feature of the Asus M4A79T Deluxe must surely be the quad PCI Express graphics slots (2x16, 1x16 and 2x8 or 4x8) which allow you to combine your Socket AM3 Phenom II with as many as four ATi Radeon graphics cards."


----------



## WIGILOCO

I have M4A78T-E which is quite same than that but this has 2x pci-e and 8x8 when runnin CF.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11936025*
> FYI , ur mobo shld be able to run a 4x CFX setup..
> 
> "The dominant feature of the Asus M4A79T Deluxe must surely be the quad PCI Express graphics slots (2x16, 1x16 and 2x8 or 4x8) which allow you to combine your Socket AM3 Phenom II with as many as four ATi Radeon graphics cards."


my mobo has the same setup but its useless with 6800 series.other than multi monitors.iv tried useing my 260 for physx but the physx mod causes system instability and kills my overclock.and the 6800 series only supports x2 cfx.but I can confirm no performance loss from x16 to x8 lanes.


----------



## 0razor1

Somewhere (gOoOGLe) and I'v quite frankly forgotten where ,,, they compared a whole bunch of CFX configs-- 16x and 16x ... right down to 4x and 4x--- guess what,,, the whole setup resulted in a delta of a couple of FPS at worse :_) and they put it off to the margin of error..
saturating an 8x lane is no joke, and I doubt it's gonna happen before we see 12-core i9s from intel







--- heck , I'm planning a 6870 in the 16x and ma current 6850 in 4x CFX when I get the cash -- prolly June -July









Btw, smoke420.. duude... stay away from the psyx hack :_| or simply get an aegia card like me :_) got it from a friend and it trips the CPU score in benches xD,, that psyx hak is pretty sad.. plausible but not worth the heartburn.. and I believe nvidia is working with game studios (AS ALWAYS) , now to disable psyx rendering through this hack.

The way I see it, physics is now moving to CPUs and opencl and all... keep faith !

@WIGILOCO Lol, Asus  I have less to say.. I like their hardware.. but then again , why couldn't they implement a 2x 16x lane setup for ur mobo :I beyond me.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Regamaster;11933768*
> ASUS EAH6850 DrectCU overclocked @ 940core/1150mem/1.172v (does 960 core @ 1.220v but not worth it imo)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Great score, your bench is at 1920x1080 though while his was at 1680x1050. How did you achieve such a high OC?? whats the voltage? is it stable? if so at what fan speeds?
> 
> Sorry I'm just real curious because I plan to purchase another ASUS EAH6850 soon for crossfire, thanks.


the overclock is high but so is the voltage 1.337 stock cooling (changed tim and mounted fan higher).not stable but dont care these clocks are strictly for benchmarks.there is no game out that needs anyware near that.
the highest I benched so far 1030/1200 v1.337
game 940\1120 v1.25 (metro 2033 none of my other games require overclocking)
highest stable 980/1140 v1.3
im using a custom fan profile in afterburner.gpu temps never past 68/72c..
the vreg temps is the problem with this card I have a 20c difference from card to card 68/88c


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11936502*
> Somewhere (gOoOGLe) and I'v quite frankly forgotten where ,,, they compared a whole bunch of CFX configs-- 16x and 16x ... right down to 4x and 4x--- guess what,,, the whole setup resulted in a delta of a couple of FPS at worse :_) and they put it off to the margin of error..
> saturating an 8x lane is no joke, and I doubt it's gonna happen before we see 12-core i9s from intel
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- heck , I'm planning a 6870 in the 16x and ma current 6850 in 4x CFX when I get the cash -- prolly June -July
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Btw, smoke420.. duude... stay away from the psyx hack :_| or simply get an aegia card like me :_) got it from a friend and it trips the CPU score in benches xD,, that psyx hak is pretty sad.. plausible but not worth the heartburn.. and I believe nvidia is working with game studios (AS ALWAYS) , now to disable psyx rendering through this hack.
> 
> The way I see it, physics is now moving to CPUs and opencl and all... keep faith !
> 
> @WIGILOCO Lol, Asus  I have less to say.. I like their hardware.. but then again , why couldn't they implement a 2x 16x lane setup for ur mobo :I beyond me.


does it still work? I got x3 my cpu scores in vantage but no difference in 3d mark 11 and the games that support physx no visable difference.not going to buy a card for physx was just hoping to use my gtx260.


----------



## 0razor1

YOU:: "but no difference in 3d mark 11 "

ME:: " nvidia is working with game studios (AS ALWAYS) , now to disable psyx rendering through this hack."

I'm all pleased w/ maself rite now =...)

Hey , a 260 !!! SELL IT







sell it as a crysis killer =D hehh.. get some cash.. put more together ... go CFX !!!


----------



## 0razor1

OH IM SO STUPID  u'v already gone 2-way :/ didnt c that before!

Well well.. again , sell it off.... and ..
Lets see... its not COMPULSORY to have an SLI conn. cable ??? Right?? so in theory, shldn't a 3rd card just work, albeit w/ some extra strain on the Pci-e lane ?? just a thought.. Cause then u'd have the fastest amd rig around <1000$ ?? Oh and then the processor///

so see-- a better investment must be holding off till amd launches their 32 nm range.. and that alone will get u better FPS ??? Not that u'd need it I'm sure :_)


----------



## 0razor1

OR SSD , go SSD !! that'll raise ur min FPS ---- that's what they say... no more stuttering (hdd lag)


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11936702*
> OR SSD , go SSD !! that'll raise ur min FPS ---- that's what they say... no more stuttering (hdd lag)


Only really helps for badly designed games or if you don't have enough RAM.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11936702*
> OR SSD , go SSD !! that'll raise ur min FPS ---- that's what they say... no more stuttering (hdd lag)


ssd not worth the money you can reduce shutter for free and its easy.try this run 3d mark 11 with whatever settings you want then open taskmanager close mom.exe and ccc.exe processes.run 3d mark 11 again and you'll see most if not all of the shutter is coming from ccc running in the backround.


----------



## leecH01

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *leecH01;11935909*
> Hi guys,
> 
> i've got 2 x XFX HD 6850 in crossfire 8x 8x
> 
> i could OC only via Catalyst Control Center to overdrive limits (very poor, 875/1250 at least for core) and voltage is not
> 
> but if i use tools such as TRIXX and Afterburner, if i just set 1 mhz up or down any setting and click on APPLY the pc freezes instantly causing manual reboot
> 
> how can i fix it ?
> 
> Thank you for your help


SOLVED

http://www.overclock.net/ati/667144-crossfire-disabling-ulps.html


----------



## 0razor1

Like crysis....








haaah. Wonder why devs wont already shift to 64 bit native binaries... makes use of that ram








man , I LOVE UR AVATAR =D


----------



## smoke420

How are you guys doing in benches with the 6850's


----------



## 0razor1

K ... so ccc sucks.. question thus : Do we need ccc for ATT ,, even as a background task??


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11937518*
> How are you guys doing in benches with the 6850's


K... as advised... get rid of CCC and MOM thru the task manager... and then go ahead w/ the benches... run..

1, 3dmark 11 FREE !!!!
2, unigine heaven bench
3, 3d mark 06 --- wonder y ppl bother ..








4, WEI LOL .... properties in my comp








5, OC w/ MSI afterburner and wohooo .. do 1-4 again and feel bloated















6, U done w/ 5,,, run OCCT in memcheck and or stress-- with error check... Dont worry abt the ppl who sat error check reduces the hear produced.. but belive me, u do NOT want to ruin that new card of urs--- occt heat= RUINATION..

7. lastly, run any game benches if u feel like it... pretty sad, again, IMO..










HF..

worth noting.. I changed the stock thermal grease on mine and temps fell 5 -idle and >10C- load >>WOOT








Badly seated/ poor TIM i tell u..


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11937823*
> K ... so ccc sucks.. question thus : Do we need ccc for ATT ,, even as a background task??


ATT?
The only thing you need ccc for is enabling xfire .once thats done you can remove mom.exe and ccc.exe from start-up your system will start in xfire without it. MSI AB will not control both cards with dual monitors installed the only problem but if you only have one its the best way to go.

EDIT:when I asked how your doing in benches with the 6850's. I was looking for scores .lol
WEI what a joke 7.5,7.8,7.8,7.8,5.8=5.8 not buying a SSD just to raise this score. I have three OS's installed so faster boot not happening


----------



## 0razor1

LOL.. i think i need to get off this rum for a bit.. Its doing me in L:_D

Benches are so-so// ati is rather lame on synthetics.. so i just go ingame/ 3dmark11 P4100 and hell yeah I'm happy









WEI ??







 i know its so funny... c'mon,, when did RECOMMENDED specs in any game give sweet performance..
So I'm 7.5, 7.9,7.9,7.9,5.9 .... :/ how is 5.9 such a foolish universal number :O and y is 1333 cl9 G.Skills ram 7.9 ?? :O MSOFT.>> FAIL >.

BTW ,, ATT for Ati Tray Tools... i thought that ATT passes driver parameters to ccc/ game profile// am noobish :/


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11938355*
> LOL.. i think i need to get off this rum for a bit.. Its doing me in L:_D
> 
> Benches are so-so// ati is rather lame on synthetics.. so i just go ingame/ 3dmark11 P4100 and hell yeah I'm happy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WEI ??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i know its so funny... c'mon,, when did RECOMMENDED specs in any game give sweet performance..
> So I'm 7.5, 7.9,7.9,7.9,5.9 .... :/ how is 5.9 such a foolish universal number :O and y is 1333 cl9 G.Skills ram 7.9 ?? :O MSOFT.>> FAIL >.


Thats funny ive had my ram at 1680 cl8 and still 7.8 gave up.MSOFT really sucks and apple (mac) to expensive.

Bill gates needs a beat down imho.He owes me $800+ bucks.xbox no longer supported ugly paper weight,xbox 360 no longer supported sleek paper weight,xbox 360 slim built-in wifi soon to be no longer supported pretty paper weight.solid improvements you see were im going with this MSOFT is in the wrong business.They are great at making paper weights.lol


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11938630*
> .He owes me $800+ bucks.
> 
> They are great at making paper weights.lol











HARR harrr







I'm equally fed up w/ things.. I for one play cs 1.6 ,, and so thats me...
















Heck, windows 7... FIX WINDOWS 7 LIKE NOW .. they already have a prototype win8 on ARM   like *** .. so are they JUST a future looking co.( so samsungish) and can't they get around to working w/ old customers??? Hey, VISTA w/ a svc pack shld have been the 7,,, they can keep knit picking but I don't see myself sold.. Good thing I missed Vista and jumped the gun w/ 7.. but it's still sad... can barely run unsigned drivers...







cant edit system files :: BOGUS::

The same w/ Ati and Nvidia ... good hardware is only as good as the software running it... How are drivers more complicated than chip design and fab. ?? COME ON>.
honestly i look at android as more productive than windws,, macx w/ flash is something we do not talk about.

LINUX WINS???







and then ati and nvidia'll goof that up too by releasing very, very cool drivers, NOT.









And then afterall,, android is a steam-punk Linux baby that's getting some.


----------



## Confessed

0razor1: I HAVE SEEN TOO MANY EMOTICONS FOR ONE DAY!


----------



## 0razor1

ROFL : D --- an expression says .. a tho**** words.. nah.


----------



## WIGILOCO

aHHHH amd


----------



## tesco

0razor1,

can you stick that accelero on an old card and tell me how many CM/Inches come off the top of the card to the top of the heatsink with/without that plastic thing on? and how far out the edge of the heatsink comes from the back of the PCB on the card?

I want to buy it but i think that my case is not tall enough for it, and there is a steel bar across the the top!

Thanks man

____

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Regamaster*


Count me in please (*you can see my OCN username in the address bar*).

ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU overclocked @ 940core/1150mem/1.172v (does 960 core @ 1.220v but not worth it imo)

Great score, your bench is at 1920x1080 though while his was at 1680x1050. How did you achieve such a high OC?? whats the voltage? is it stable? if so at what fan speeds?

Sorry I'm just real curious because I plan to purchase another ASUS EAH6850 soon for crossfire, thanks.










Can you run furmark or OCCT and tell me your LOAD temps on 900/1100 stock voltage? or just LOAD temps on stock clock and stock voltage?

In OCCT im getting about 103C on the VRM which is crazy!


----------



## 0razor1

SO this is what I get on :

945 Core, 1201 MEM , 1.231V core volts..

1. Heaven Bench.

Heaven Benchmark v2.1
FPS: 49.7
Scores: 1251
Min FPS: 15.6
Max FPS: 141.1

2. 3D mark 11 -- Prof settings..
GFX score - 3960 (NOT COOL)
Physics - 4900 --k

somehow and for some foolish reason my isp and ocn aren't playing nice.. hence the text input..
MAX temps ==69C cool -- byw, this is OCCT stable.. so is 1220 mem but i downclocked..


----------



## hos1981

Hi guy's, does anybody think the hd 6990 will crossfire with a 6870, cause the 6990 is suppose to be dual 6870 chips. I think it's 4 gigs video ram though and that could be a problem.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tesco*


0razor1,

can you stick that accelero on an old card and tell me how many CM/Inches come off the top of the card to the top of the heatsink with/without that plastic thing on? and how far out the edge of the heatsink comes from the back of the PCB on the card?

I want to buy it but i think that my case is not tall enough for it, and there is a steel bar across the the top!

Thanks man

____

Can you run furmark or OCCT and tell me your LOAD temps on 900/1100 stock voltage? or just LOAD temps on stock clock and stock voltage?

In OCCT im getting about 103C on the VRM which is crazy!


TESCO hah haar.. ok. so! 
Well ,got my s1 from overclockers... well , its rated at 120 W but thats a dumb figure.. throw in a pci blower (like ma cool zalman double ball bearing 92mm silent) or any fan and ur good2go w/ anything <5970 ??

The s1 is not as wide as it seems... ots massive on a card.. make me laugh.. but IMO if u have abt 14.5 cms from side to side(the inner width of ur cabinet), its gonna work.. U'll have to cut the vrm coolers though.. easy enough- they're aluminium,.

used it last on a 260 gtx that's lying in the uk ... and dead... lol. Is on it's way back this month ( around the 22nd) so if u want to wait for my testing ., by all means,, but TBH, just jump the gun and get urself one of these bad babies.. the TIM is pretty good too !!

Unfortunately, my MSI non ref card doesnt give a real reading in any app on the VRM temps... stupid that asus and msi left this out.. sapphire on its dumbest cooler on the 6850 cools the VRMs...

hey , must be freezing rite now .. why bother w/ an s1 ?? s1's mainly for easy cleaning and hot dusty lands such as mine..

Where do you put up ? I visited ur little island ( rochester.. and around) this summer and I must say, the British are as fine a people as they come!

If u want more specifics.. check out the website,,, and then goooooooogle


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *hos1981*


Hi guy's, does anybody think the hd 6990 will crossfire with a 6870, cause the 6990 is suppose to be dual 6870 chips. I think it's 4 gigs video ram though and that could be a problem.


I like the idea.. makes me want a 6950 w/ my 6850 ... solves the lack of tri-fire!!

I belive amd is really flexible w/ their pairing ! should work IMO !!


----------



## smoke420

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/384593

3DMark Score
P7071
Graphics score
8394
Physics Score
5052


----------



## hos1981

The 6850 and 6950 are different chips But the 6990,6870 and 6850 are the same. Like the 5970,5870 and 5850.


----------



## leecH01




----------



## farmdve

I am sorry for thread-jacking, but i wanted to ask how can i make my own owners thread?
I assume it shouldnt exist first, and second, do i need permission from Mod/Admin?


----------



## farmdve

EDIT: I am really sorry, somehow i posted twice....please delete this post


----------



## tesco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11941962*
> TESCO hah haar.. ok. so!
> Well ,got my s1 from overclockers... well , its rated at 120 W but thats a dumb figure.. throw in a pci blower (like ma cool zalman double ball bearing 92mm silent) or any fan and ur good2go w/ anything <5970 ??
> 
> The s1 is not as wide as it seems... ots massive on a card.. make me laugh.. but IMO if u have abt 14.5 cms from side to side(the inner width of ur cabinet), its gonna work.. U'll have to cut the vrm coolers though.. easy enough- they're aluminium,.
> 
> used it last on a 260 gtx that's lying in the uk ... and dead... lol. Is on it's way back this month ( around the 22nd) so if u want to wait for my testing ., by all means,, but TBH, just jump the gun and get urself one of these bad babies.. the TIM is pretty good too !!
> 
> Unfortunately, my MSI non ref card doesnt give a real reading in any app on the VRM temps... stupid that asus and msi left this out.. sapphire on its dumbest cooler on the 6850 cools the VRMs...
> 
> hey , must be freezing rite now .. why bother w/ an s1 ?? s1's mainly for easy cleaning and hot dusty lands such as mine..
> 
> Where do you put up ? I visited ur little island ( rochester.. and around) this summer and I must say, the British are as fine a people as they come!
> 
> If u want more specifics.. check out the website,,, and then goooooooogle


Yes it is bloody cold!

Look at this picture:

http://img.hexus.net/v2/internationalevents/cebit2009/Day2/SS2-big.jpg

that's what I have to work with. What do you think about space? it could come out too wide, and be too high as to hit that case bar on the side!


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *farmdve;11947231*
> I am sorry for thread-jacking, but i wanted to ask how can i make my own owners thread?
> I assume it shouldnt exist first, and second, do i need permission from Mod/Admin?


Do a search before posting, then you'll be in the clear if there are no threads on that subject


----------



## kzone75

Good afternoon.







Got the EAH6850 on Friday. A tad better and bigger than my 5670







http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/br72n/


----------



## WIGILOCO

That 5670 is quite sexy too!


----------



## kzone75

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO;11947452*
> That 5670 is quite sexy too!


Yeah, but it wouldn't let me OC at all. And it was so tiny in the HAF X case.


----------



## 0razor1

I like !
"The 6850 and 6950 are different chips But the 6990,6870 and 6850 are the same. Like the 5970,5870 and 5850."


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11947329*
> Yes it is bloody cold!
> 
> Look at this picture:
> 
> http://img.hexus.net/v2/internationalevents/cebit2009/Day2/SS2-big.jpg
> 
> that's what I have to work with. What do you think about space? it could come out too wide, and be too high as to hit that case bar on the side!


THIS IS SOOOO --- cool !! I Love that case. K, so .. no u cant use and S1 with that, like EVER
Reason being---- the S1 still needs auxiliary cooling. Will need a blower --- ESP if ur gonna use that nvidia card --- looks so fermi! THe passive heatsing are OK on the s1 .. I like em, but a bit of air'll make all the difference... What is your cabinet's width from floor to ceil.? Shld be atleast 140-145mm IMO 140 means u need to take that accelero black bar off :// then it just looks like a cheapo radiator..

If u like Overclockers, may I recommend a small zalman CPU / GPU hybrid cooler??? ITs very similar to the Cyclone MSI cooler which is a gawd at cooling ! I forget what its called.. maybe the vf2000..
Ok , here u go :
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-042-ZA&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787

that'll take care of the cooling , not so sure about the heatsinks though !

can i add?? the base is thoroughly lapped !!!
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/zalman-vf2000-led_2.html#sect0


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kzone75;11947474*
> Yeah, but it wouldn't let me OC at all. And it was so tiny in the HAF X case.


u have an athlon x2 in a HAF X ...

zoommg... And I'm stuck here modding my CM 335







cheapo case..

Isn't that proccy going to slow things down beeeg time


----------



## kzone75

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11947749*
> u have an athlon x2 in a HAF X ...
> 
> zoommg... And I'm stuck here modding my CM 335
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> cheapo case..
> 
> Isn't that proccy going to slow things down beeeg time


Yeah, lucky tiny athlon.







Have had it for quite some time. Grown very fond of it. Never complains about anything. I will however get a phenom next month. Not sure which one yet..


----------



## tesco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kzone75;11947403*
> Good afternoon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got the EAH6850 on Friday. A tad better and bigger than my 5670
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/br72n/


Kzone, do you mind running OCCT/ Furmark with your card and using GPU-Z to find all the load temperatures at stock clocks? It would help me a bunch thanks!!

razor, that is an example =P I dont have pictures of my case yet but I will soon.

I have the Asus EAH6850, like in my sig.

What do you think about the accelero fitting with my case then? I do not mind taking the black thing off. And would it be possible to fit a SLIM fan underneath the heatsink? (12mm width fan) Or even better a normal 25mm width fan? (I doubt there is enough room for that.)

I like the look of that VF2000, but it seems that it takes up almost 3 slots! I am pretty much limited to two here =(


----------



## kzone75

Sure thing, tesco. Will get right on it.


----------



## tesco

razor,

I have 142~MM to spare! haha

About 170mm if you take out my... case bar.

Pictures!


----------



## kzone75

Here are the temp results for a 30 min stressing







Wonder why the fan never went above 43%..


----------



## tesco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kzone75;11949346*
> Here are the temp results for a 30 min stressing
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wonder why the fan never went above 43%..


This makes me feel a bit better then.

You're GPU VRM's are hitting 90C on 97% Load (i presume you were using furmark?)

When i used furmark it wouldnt go past 96% usage.

I feel a bit icky about the cooling Asus has put into these cards, expecially the VRM. I'm going to find some RAM sinks, and VRM.

When overclocked my coretemp gets to about 92C and 116C on the VRM.

You fan speed is a little slow too. Mine is usually around 52-56% OCCT, 47% ingame.


----------



## kzone75

I was using OCCT. Forgot to mention that.







Furmark is coming up next.


----------



## Doolie

Hey guys, just installed my Asus EAH6850 - Kind of disappointing results but i'm sure there is a reason.

3dMark Vantage scored 9575 @ stock settings
3dMark Vantage scored 10876 @ 930/1125

Whats going on? These cards are good for 14K~ are they not?

System Specs

Athlon X2 245 @ 3.6GHz
4GB OCZ 1333
Biostar TA890FXE
Cat 10.12

Could it be my cpu?


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Doolie;11949668*
> Hey guys, just installed my Asus EAH6850 - Kind of disappointing results but i'm sure there is a reason.
> 
> 3dMark Vantage scored 9575 @ stock settings
> 3dMark Vantage scored 10876 @ 930/1125
> 
> Whats going on? These cards are good for 14K~ are they not?
> 
> System Specs
> 
> Athlon X2 245 @ 3.6GHz
> 4GB OCZ 1333
> Biostar TA890FXE
> Cat 10.12
> 
> Could it be my cpu?


That's definitely your CPU yeah. I got 17152 marks with my 6850 at 970/1150:
http://hwbot.org/community/submission/1077591_


----------



## kzone75

And the temps for furmark..


----------



## Doolie

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kzone75;11949843*
> And the temps for furmark..


What scores are you getting in Vantage with your setup?


----------



## kzone75

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Doolie*


What scores are you getting in Vantage with your setup?


Haven't tried Vantage with this setup yet. Will check later this evening.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kzone75;11950282*
> Haven't tried Vantage with this setup yet. Will check later this evening.


kzone.. k .. go w/ replacing the TIM... I'm using a rather fine rip off of the CUcore that u have.. thou MSI went w/ Copper pipes over aluminum,, my recommendation??
1.Change ur TIM ... last I checked asus, msi and Xfx cover this in their warranty! Go w/ a non conductive paste...
2.bending the fins just a bit around the ends so as to cause turbulence?? actually helped lower 2 C for me







no logic but stupid science !

random : all cards are most certainly not Oc'ing well... sad.. Mine hits 945/1201 @ 1.231V ...

TOTALLY random: what do u think about soldering more fins to the current fins ???? Gives me flexibility to extend my card around the space I have, and i cld prolly add an aux fan?? Sounds real intelligent for one..


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tesco*


razor,

I have 142~MM to spare! haha

About 170mm if you take out my... case bar.

Pictures!


Accha.. v.cool... I like.

Going w/ that... these are most certainly flexible heatpipes and heatfins.. will bend as much as u want them to..









I'd recommend keeping ur current fan from the asus and tie-ing them on !! Use a couple of zip ties and you're good to go.. unless you simply mod ur cage!! What about that ? That's what I did w/ my palit, and the fact that ur using the stock fan , EVEN AT 100% makes as little noise as if it were at 20% --- simply cause of the lack of turbulence!! --- Or a Slipstream ?? Bend the fins out a bit and u cld slip one of them in









This going to be an HTPC







(kickass







) or what









EDIT : just had a look at ur case again , the second pic, and u can bend the accelero around that cage !!!
Very important--- find something to cool those vrms man







they're gonna bake.. ESP w/ a good fan in place. and a good fan can only do so much.. 
Y not just WC the whole thing...


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Doolie*


Hey guys, just installed my Asus EAH6850 - Kind of disappointing results but i'm sure there is a reason.

3dMark Vantage scored 9575 @ stock settings
3dMark Vantage scored 10876 @ 930/1125

Whats going on? These cards are good for 14K~ are they not?

System Specs

Athlon X2 245 @ 3.6GHz
4GB OCZ 1333
Biostar TA890FXE
Cat 10.12

Could it be my cpu?


How are your games running? 3Dmark sucks.


----------



## 0razor1

Lzone... ur current cpu... cough ... is for 62$ from where i get my stuff








http://smcinternational.in/index.php...mart&Itemid=75

Ok ,, look at the 1090T BE-- or simply hold off till 32 nm happens..








Else, the 1055T which is cheaper.. 2.8 GHz ( use fsb to OC ) cld hold u off till 32 nm gets here/ cheap :!

Side note : I'm pairing 4GB 1600 CL9 (1.65V) or 1333 ( 1.5V) --- same chip RAM from Corsair w/
1333 CL9 (1.5+V) G.skill Eco ram w/ RC PRO coolers.. 
I plan to run them at 1333 cl9 and I'm gonna sell off my G skill soon... shld I ? I WANT 8GB :/

OMG SOMEONE GAVE ME REP














am so into this forum now.... 28 posts in 30 hours







and 4 reviews !!


----------



## 0razor1

Doolie, my thoughts exactly, here's what I feel--- the card is downclocking...

Having gone over several forums and reviews ESP at Toms and guru3d , I was shocked to check out the temps on my (custom) MSI 6850 OC -- these were spps'd 2 b cool cards ....

And as I have seen other people comment on the same --- one general concusion and this thought is shared by many.. The first batch of these cards were well polished and we're getting sub standard builds== leadin to high temps.. Think about it.. I was getting a delta of 22C over what Tom's gave for loaded temps in furmark-- I used occt.. not much to pick from.. and a reseating of the same card w/ fresh TIM gave me a drop of abt ~ 12 C ..

So.. at overclocked 940/1201 @ 1.231 V .. I get 3958 P in 3dmark11 when It should be > 4K.. shame... The HOT vrms must be jumpy.. or the card is simply downclocking.. as these cards are designed to on stress... Nothing conclusive from me.. but hate to MSI >


----------



## M0E

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870


----------



## 0razor1

I want ur rig .. NOW









You bought Ghostbusters ??







har har

Sad thought that that hyper 212 is gonna loose its sheen ... I love fresh copper...

Useless thought --- that Ram cooler, A. is not needed; B. Is gonna cause more turbulence..

I'm off to play cs 1.6


----------



## M0E

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11950811*
> I want ur rig .. NOW
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You bought Ghostbusters ??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> har har
> 
> Sad thought that that hyper 212 is gonna loose its sheen ... I love fresh copper...
> 
> Useless thought --- that Ram cooler, A. is not needed; B. Is gonna cause more turbulence..
> 
> I'm off to play cs 1.6


GhostBusters is a blast! Only thing I dont like about it, is it's far too short.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11950692*
> Doolie, my thoughts exactly, here's what I feel--- the card is downclocking...
> 
> Having gone over several forums and reviews ESP at Toms and guru3d , I was shocked to check out the temps on my (custom) MSI 6850 OC -- these were spps'd 2 b cool cards ....
> 
> And as I have seen other people comment on the same --- one general concusion and this thought is shared by many.. The first batch of these cards were well polished and we're getting sub standard builds== leadin to high temps.. Think about it.. I was getting a delta of 22C over what Tom's gave for loaded temps in furmark-- I used occt.. not much to pick from.. and a reseating of the same card w/ fresh TIM gave me a drop of abt ~ 12 C ..
> 
> So.. at overclocked 940/1201 @ 1.231 V .. I get 3958 P in 3dmark11 when It should be > 4K.. shame... The HOT vrms must be jumpy.. or the card is simply downclocking.. as these cards are designed to on stress... Nothing conclusive from me.. but hate to MSI >


first I have to agree the vrm cooling on this card is bad .but my core temps are fine the gpu cooling on these cards is great.That said if your vrm temps are high its more than just cooling.I have 2 of these cards and only one has this issue. the problem is the card with the hot vrms is pulling more current and at load is making your card hotter.

changed the tim to shin-etsu(helped the core temps)
modded the plastic case so the fan sticks out a little more(helped core temps)
tried 2 different pads on the vrms(no change 20c difference from card to card at100% load)
after changing the pads im pretty sure the problem is bigger than cooling.If there was nothing there and you added a heatsinc you might get 10-15c at most but replacing the heat sinc is not going to give you 20c.

And your cards are not downclocking you would know.when they downclock it goes back to stock or worse performance.


----------



## kzone75

@0razor1 Thanks for the recommendations. Will replace the TIM, but I definitely have to get a new CPU first. Think a Phenom II x4 970 should be good enough for now until the bulldozer arrives.

@Doolie Won't post any scores cause I got a lot worse score than you.







6,500ish. I know the CPU is bottlenecking but there must be something else going on.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


only one has this issue. the problem is the card with the hot vrms is pulling more current and at load is making your card hotter.

changed the tim to shin-etsu(helped the core temps)
modded the plastic case so the fan sticks out a little more(helped core temps)
tried 2 different pads on the vrms(no change 20c difference from card to card at100% load)

And your cards are not downclocking you would know.when they downclock it goes back to stock or worse performance.


1. Doesn't this simply compound the heat ??? *Bad,* bad vrms.. 
2. I used CM's Thermal Fusion 400-- neat stuff.. Dropped _15C on the core_.
3. Thermal pads on the VRM ?? My VRMs have no cooling :/ Should thermal pads suffice or am I bordering stupid here?? 
4. K. They're not downclocking, but are definitely underperforming.
5. Raising the fan w/ a couple of washers helps temps?? I thought that only serves to reduce noise. Tell me !! Shall get to it at once ! Our coolers are similar !!
6. I am pretty keen on soldering extra fins to my current fins w/ mayB an extra fan -- ntn concrete planned but must as the summers approach.
6b. Could simply slap on my accelero s1 ?? BUT THOSE VRMs will BURN . I'M SURE :!









My card :









My accelero s1:


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kzone75*


@0razor1 Thanks for the recommendations. Will replace the TIM, but I definitely have to get a new CPU first. Think a Phenom II x4 970 should be good enough for now until the bulldozer arrives.


Well , I for one have a 955 ( swapped it w/ a friend for a beer as I had a PH 2 555 unlocked to 4 cores at 3.2GHz @ 1.38V but I wanted to go higher...
If ur into this .. it's a stupid wall one hits at abt 3.8 GHz even If I go from 1.4V (3.8GHz stable) to 1.5V (3.9GHz), Its stable, but the comp will ALWAYS shut down and reboot w/o a blue screen-- no sound jitter either.. so Don't buy a 970.. Doesn't justify the premium.. Get a 955 and U're good to go. Oc it to 3.8 and more If u're lucky but GET an aftermarket cooler.. I have the CM hyper 212+ --- cheap and efficient-- cause of the HDT heatpipes-- just like ur gfx card


----------



## kzone75

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Well , I for one have a 955 ( swapped it w/ a friend for a beer as I had a PH 2 555 unlocked to 4 cores at 3.2GHz @ 1.38V but I wanted to go higher...
If ur into this .. it's a stupid wall one hits at abt 3.8 GHz even If I go from 1.4V (3.8GHz stable) to 1.5V (3.9GHz), Its stable, but the comp will ALWAYS shut down and reboot w/o a blue screen-- no sound jitter either.. so Don't buy a 970.. Doesn't justify the premium.. Get a 955 and U're good to go. Oc it to 3.8 and more If u're lucky but GET an aftermarket cooler.. I have the CM hyper 212+ --- cheap and efficient-- cause of the HDT heatpipes-- just like ur gfx card










I can get a 955 for about 150â‚¬, 970 is at 180â‚¬. The hyper 212+ is 25 bucks. Think I paid a lot more for the AC Freezer 64 pro.







Does its job rather well. 26C idle and 46C full load. Running at 3.9GHz atm. Stable at 4GHz but stabler now.








Got a tube of ZM-STG2 TIM.. Good enough or do I need better?


----------



## tesco

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Accha.. v.cool... I like.

Going w/ that... these are most certainly flexible heatpipes and heatfins.. will bend as much as u want them to..









I'd recommend keeping ur current fan from the asus and tie-ing them on !! Use a couple of zip ties and you're good to go.. unless you simply mod ur cage!! What about that ? That's what I did w/ my palit, and the fact that ur using the stock fan , EVEN AT 100% makes as little noise as if it were at 20% --- simply cause of the lack of turbulence!! --- Or a Slipstream ?? Bend the fins out a bit and u cld slip one of them in









This going to be an HTPC







(kickass







) or what









EDIT : just had a look at ur case again , the second pic, and u can bend the accelero around that cage !!!
Very important--- find something to cool those vrms man







they're gonna bake.. ESP w/ a good fan in place. and a good fan can only do so much.. 
Y not just WC the whole thing...











I hate the noise of this thing I'm not kidding you. I think the fan might be a bit knackered, I will defiantly try out this little raiser thing you are talking about on the fan to quieten it down.

Waiting for my VRM sinks to arrive in the post!

So you think the accelero s1 will fit then? If I have to I will zip tie a fan to the outside grill of the case.

I might stick some AS5 thermal paste on too.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tesco*


I hate the noise of this thing I'm not kidding you. I think the fan might be a bit knackered, I will defiantly try out this little raiser thing you are talking about on the fan to quieten it down.

So you think the accelero s1 will fit then? If I have to I will zip tie a fan to the outside grill of the case.

I might stick some AS5 thermal paste on too.


1. These fans are awesum,, its the turbulence and the pressure (static) that makes noise... 
2. Raiser thing is something I read about maybe a page back.. Supposedly lowered temps but if i can think straight right now ( beer, beer , loads of beer) then should lower noise too (obvious conclusion) but not by much.
3. Yes, am SURE the s1 will fit, maybe with a bit of bendin, even around that steel bar u have going








4. WHY tie a fan outside your beautiful case??








5. Stay AWAY from the AS5 for the s1... ITS CONDUCTIVE, U'll blow something







)))) And hence I stick with my coolermaster







--- try zalman/ AS ceramique/ as mx-4 ---- mx-4 the best IMO.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kzone75*


I can get a 955 for about 150â‚¬, 970 is at 180â‚¬. The hyper 212+ is 25 bucks. Think I paid a lot more for the AC Freezer 64 pro.







Does its job rather well. 26C idle and 46C full load. Running at 3.9GHz atm. Stable at 4GHz but stabler now.








Got a tube of ZM-STG2 TIM.. Good enough or do I need better?


Yeah, sounds good. Has _*good thermal conductivity *_but _sad density_ ( they call it specific gravity.. my my --- look for *AS mx-4* if you can -- the best w/o conductance :__D

955 it is!!! win win win!









I was on a budget, and despite a rough base, HDT is FAB and so the 212+ did it for me.. My rig is a year a few months old and now I'm throwing in an SSD -- vertex2 60E as a boot drive.. WOO hoOO!


----------



## 0razor1

TO ALLL OFF YOUU!!!

am so proud of my stuff








My TIM  made it to the middle of the A -list 
_Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 _
YOHooooo


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11951173*
> 1. Doesn't this simply compound the heat ??? *Bad,* bad vrms..
> 2. I used CM's Thermal Fusion 400-- neat stuff.. Dropped _15C on the core_.
> 3. Thermal pads on the VRM ?? My VRMs have no cooling :/ Should thermal pads suffice or am I bordering stupid here??
> 4. K. They're not downclocking, but are definitely underperforming.
> 5. Raising the fan w/ a couple of washers helps temps?? I thought that only serves to reduce noise. Tell me !! Shall get to it at once ! Our coolers are similar !!
> 6. I am pretty keen on soldering extra fins to my current fins w/ mayB an extra fan -- ntn concrete planned but must as the summers approach.
> 6b. Could simply slap on my accelero s1 ?? BUT THOSE VRMs will BURN . I'M SURE :!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My card :
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My accelero s1:


1.yes I do think bad vrms or bad installation
2.I used shin-etsu (the stuff that comes on the Corsair H50 cpu cooler) huge difference cant remember exactly how much.
3.replaced the thermal pads the asus cards have a heatsink on the vrms.
pic


4.your scores are pretty good just dont compare benchmark scores with i7 980 extreme cpu's.lol
5.I had x4 gpu's in mt rig .raising the fan right to the lip of the plastic helps build more pressure and flow more air.washers didnt help the fan was screwed into the plastic from the bottom so i shaved the plastic on the mounts and put the fan back on.(this will void your warrenty for sure I dont recommend this)but I cant stop modding its a addiction I cant help it.lol
6.not going to start soldering I wont be able to stop but go for it.

ive read the vrm's for the ram is in a different place from the gpu's on the pcb if thats the case than I dont know whats getting hot


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11952329*
> TO ALLL OFF YOUU!!!
> 
> am so proud of my stuff
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My TIM  made it to the middle of the A -list
> _Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400_
> YOHooooo


I can't believe AS5 still held up that well in 2009. It was the paste to use in 2006. I still use it today - certainly not disappointed


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;11952527*
> I can't believe AS5 still held up that well in 2009. It was the paste to use in 2006. I still use it today - certainly not disappointed


shin-etsu rules all...no curing time and does not seem to mind if you put too much.(I should be an expert I know but we all make mistakes)

as5. 200 hour curing time. and you get bad temps if you use too much witch you wont know for 200 hours.lol(sometimes if you use too much the curing time just raises but other times your temps never drop)


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11952341*
> 1.yes I do think bad vrms or bad installation
> 2.I used shin-etsu
> 3.replaced the thermal pads the asus cards have a heatsink on the vrms.
> 4.your scores are pretty good just dont compare benchmark scores with i7 980 extreme cpu's.lol
> 5.I had x4 gpu's in mt rig .raising the fan right to the lip of the plastic helps build more pressure and flow more air
> 6.not going to start soldering I wont be able to stop but go for it.
> 7.ive read the vrm's for the ram is in a different place from the gpu's on the pcb if thats the case than I dont know whats getting hot


Modded Your quote a bit








1. Bad installation - fixed- better temps on the core now.
2. Its the very best! Mine is rated VERY close -- see thread above. Way beyond as3 and all
3. NO heatsinks on VRMs (HATE) Be my friend and please read *this* I am one angry man :/ sounds like msi DID ship better pieces to reviewers








4.Oh I totally forgot about CPU interference... Hey , I'm good then !
5. OHH So I'm guessing u did it for the CFM over static pressure?







Does that lower noise by like 1 DBa ?? that would make my day!
6. Addictive huh ?







I'm reading *THIS* for better insight and seems soldering is ONE of many things I can do. Want to prep. for summers.. as ambients (now 20) can go up as high as 50+ .. HATE>>








7. I have no cooler on my VRMs .. how sucky .. I'm blissfully ignorant right now but they could Just vaporise any second and I'd be none the wiser..

Questions :
xxx1.
CAN I simply use aluminium shims w/ a bit of hacking (physically) to increase SFA on my VRMs .. there is no HS installed as of now :/









xxx2.
Epoxy scares me.







. and I cannot source thermal pads here... what can I do w/ my TIM to keep the ram and vrm HS in place?

xxx3.
"_Even overclocked at that level with the *1.259 V*olts we applied on the GPU we still hover at *70 Degrees C* only, and that's just really good. Noise wise with such a tweak things will be louder, but it still wasn't bad at roughly 42-43 dBA."_
This is what *guru3d* goes on to say about them ,, I'm running mine at *1.231* and wooohooo w/; 20 ambient this thing BURNS at *85+* after TIM replacement..
The surface of mt HDT cooler -- similar to the asus, is ROUGH.. Understandable.. Hence switching to the s1 rev 2. Now w/ the rev 2. fin density is a JOKE.. want to add fins.. haaalp ??

xxx4.
have a look at this ... my pcb is similar save for the extra phases..

A quote :
_
Those are good quality FETs. They can stand some heat.








The fact there is mounting holes either side of the vrm's to me suggests that msi intend to have something over them, it's just not there right now :laugh: and if not then that just makes it even easier to add something yourself._

xxx5.
Is the washer mod CLOSE to wise on a GPU ???? zzz The gpu has no IHS and that scaaares me , among other things







I don't mean using a washer like in the washer mod, but SOMETHING to make the screws prematurely tighten ??

xxx6.
Your shaving off the shrouds makes for a better fan,, but IMO what's the fan shrouds up against the heatfins of the cooler


----------



## smoke420

you can try these for your vrms (looks like you have some)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708011

or try to mod somthing like this to work

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708016

for the ram you can try somthing like this (out of stock)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708008

the stick on one come with thermal tape but sound like all you need is the tape but I cant find it.

Funny thing is people are buying these just to get the tape I guess its the cheapest way to get it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119016


----------



## tesco

I have some of them enzotech's coming , the short ones with 4 spikes.

I will be using them on the eah6850

I was wondering if anyone knows distance of holes to see if the ENZOTECH long mosfet cooler fits? And ill buy that too.

And the rams sinks too since i dont have any on it! (Damn Asus)


----------



## Doolie

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kzone75;11951589*
> I can get a 955 for about 150€, 970 is at 180€. The hyper 212+ is 25 bucks. Think I paid a lot more for the AC Freezer 64 pro.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does its job rather well. 26C idle and 46C full load. Running at 3.9GHz atm. Stable at 4GHz but stabler now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got a tube of ZM-STG2 TIM.. Good enough or do I need better?


Check this from a review i've linked below - Our CPU's are definitely a bottleneck.










and all using the same video cards to test with.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1200/1/

Other than that, I just ordered my 955BE and it will be here by wednesday! w00t.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11953651*
> you can try these for your vrms (looks like you have some)
> 
> Funny thing is people are buying these just to get the tape I guess its the cheapest way to get it.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119016


LOL








nah thats some funky guy that put those freakish things on his HS plate








WHY!?? Thats WITH a lapped TRUE w/ 6 Heat pipes and a lapped i7 and some shroud tubing around his CPU.

HAA I c.. well... thanks a LOT for the links.. I've been up relentlessly scouring the net for INFO -- never enough ... its 7 AM here right now .. think I'll doze off...
Just ordered, off ebay uk, the following :
*ONE*
*TWO*
shall refrain from GLUING my heatsinks on... arctic cooling has high hopes of making me do THAT w/ my precious gfx card. Will use ceramique w/ tape/superglue in insanely small quantities.

So I guess I'm sorted ... gotta wait till the 26th before I get any of these... The problem with the links you gave me are that they're not accessible --- I'm in India and it pains me to say so but to an extent things around me SUCK: atleast for the tech lot. Graphic cards and PSU for one come here w/ a MINimum markup of ~50% VGA heatsinks are a rarity if u could find one in the market here.. Transcend has a 45 day RMA policy here 
Xfx and all sell sub standard products here and get caught red handed snubbing a customer w/ a broken gfx card until he kicked up some dust in a local forum!
My ISP imposed a 25 GB fair use policy on me this month-- no warning whatsoever and in two days of use this month ( heavy HD streaming) , they've pulled me down to







*256 KBPS*







and even the google dns is redirecting me to a stupid "check ur usage" portal from my ISP ...








Heck , I got my MSI 6850 for 260$ locally a week back.. zz
i7s are through the roof-- 1250$ for that 980x  In the states its ~750$ and here the value of a dollar is _Big_.

hate hate.. Alright then ,I'm off to sleep!









DID I FORGET TO MENTION , we STILL play cs 1.6  there is no Quake live, no css ,no UT 2004


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Doolie;11953887*
> 
> Other than that, I just ordered my 955BE and it will be here by wednesday! w00t.


DOOLIE!! Cheers!!









OC and ruin that i7's supremacy.. to some extent.. admittedly!!

I am buying that scout ! Built a rig w/ it and a ph 2 x3 for a friend last summer and fell in love w/ it.. my modded 335 looks like a poor hack-jack attempt before the mighty scout!


----------



## tesco

Check this sexy beast out guys:

razor, i think i might be ordering them VRM's you have ordered off UK ebay. =)

Nice and cheap. By the way why do you use UK ebay?

Check these out!

2 slot GPU cooler, I like the look of it ALOT

http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=10857&cat=1527&page=1

http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=12858&cat=1527&page=1


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11953848*
> I have some of them enzotech's coming , the short ones with 4 spikes.
> 
> I will be using them on the eah6850
> 
> I was wondering if anyone knows distance of holes to see if the ENZOTECH long mosfet cooler fits? And ill buy that too.
> 
> And the rams sinks too since i dont have any on it! (Damn Asus)


what are you getting the heatsinks for?
The eah6850 already have a heatsink on the vrm's.and the ram is not going to get hot enough to need heatsinks


----------



## tesco

Because my ram is 80C and VRM 116C underload. A tad too hot


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11954441*
> Because my ram is 80C and VRM 116C underload. A tad too hot


let me know if it helps and by how much


----------



## Doolie

How you boys checking ur VRM/RAM temps? Infrared thermo?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Doolie;11955213*
> How you boys checking ur VRM/RAM temps? Infrared thermo?


vrm temps are in gpu-z not sure about ram temps


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11954343*
> Check this sexy beast out guys:
> 
> razor, i think i might be ordering them VRM's you have ordered off UK ebay. =)
> 
> Nice and cheap. By the way why do you use UK ebay?
> 
> Check these out!
> 
> 2 slot GPU cooler, I like the look of it ALOT
> 
> http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=10857&cat=1527&page=1
> 
> http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=12858&cat=1527&page=1


Oh I REALLY REALLY like the 2nd link ,, the scythe is COOOL-- with a lot of O's thrown in








BUT 46 QUID OMG 
I already have an s1 on a dead 260 gtx.. so plan on reusing that w/ these vr001 heatsinks!

go in for somethink more reputable/ established??
the AC twin turbo??
or the ZALMAN

but with a pci cooler of ur choice of course..

Please take a look at my questions posted vaguely a page back at the bottom .. would be nice to get some answers!









BTW , what in ur opinion would be a better choice?? Ebay.uk or some other site in the future?? I couldnt find the vr001's anywhere!! lovely heatsinks though -- If they're like the one's I got w/ my S1 , then they'll pwn! Am sure of it


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11953848*
> I have some of them enzotech's coming , the short ones with 4 spikes.
> 
> I will be using them on the eah6850
> 
> I was wondering if anyone knows distance of holes to see if the ENZOTECH long mosfet cooler fits? And ill buy that too.
> 
> And the rams sinks too since i dont have any on it! (Damn Asus)


Try this :: Theoretically you could setup ANY heatsink ESP in push pin/ bolt locking systems...









I'm impressed..


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11952649*
> shin-etsu rules all...no curing time and does not seem to mind if you put too much.(I should be an expert I know but we all make mistakes)
> 
> as5. 200 hour curing time. and you get bad temps if you use too much witch you wont know for 200 hours.lol(sometimes if you use too much the curing time just raises but other times your temps never drop)


The curing time takes like half a degree off your temperatures. It's not that hard to put the right amount of paste on


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;11958128*
> The curing time takes like half a degree off your temperatures. It's not that hard to put the right amount of paste on


It was a joke but the point still stands shin-etsu is more user friendly.

Though its expensive because you get so little.


----------



## arrow0309

Double post, sorry


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11958025*
> Oh I REALLY REALLY like the 2nd link ,, the scythe is COOOL-- with a lot of O's thrown in
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BUT 46 QUID OMG
> I already have an s1 on a dead 260 gtx.. so plan on reusing that w/ these vr001 heatsinks!
> 
> go in for somethink more reputable/ established??
> the AC twin turbo??
> or the ZALMAN
> 
> but with a pci cooler of ur choice of course..
> 
> Please take a look at my questions posted vaguely a page back at the bottom .. would be nice to get some answers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BTW , what in ur opinion would be a better choice?? Ebay.uk or some other site in the future?? I couldnt find the vr001's anywhere!! lovely heatsinks though -- If they're like the one's I got w/ my S1 , then they'll pwn! Am sure of it


I'd only suggest *THIS* Zalman cooler (mine too) as a definitely better cooling solution









Have a look at my temps


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


I'd only suggest *THIS* Zalman cooler (mine too) as a definitely better cooling solution









Have a look at my temps












Try disabling the quality settings in the CCC panel. I've found that increasing AA reduces the temps a lot on the GPU.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Try disabling the quality settings in the CCC panel. I've found that increasing AA reduces the temps a lot on the GPU.


They're all factory defaults


----------



## 0razor1

How does increasing AA help w/ performace :? Doesn't that do just the opp. of what we want to get out of our cards by OCing?? Ofcourse, per game settings in ATT make every game look it's best and it takes a minute/ game to create a profile..
OOO.. I guess a LOT







OCCT means BUUUURN









Good temps... soooo good.. I want.. are you running occt on shader complexity 8 >?? Thats BIG FPS then.. I get 180 ish against your 222


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


They're all factory defaults










Doesn't look like it. You probably have it set to "high quality" which forces an antialiasing profile. Look at the text in OCCT


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Is there water blocks for the 6870?


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Doesn't look like it. You probably have it set to "high quality" which forces an antialiasing profile. Look at the text in OCCT










Ok. but not ok














haah ahh I really DON'T know what I'm looking for here


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Doesn't look like it. You probably have it set to "high quality" which forces an antialiasing profile. Look at the text in OCCT



















You might be right coz I've had the morphological AA enabled one week ago, and then just disabled it for some 3dmark runs, I honestly didn't remembered it.
However I don't think the situation changes a lot, I'm allways monitoring my temps & I can conferm you that are pretty low (with the cooler fans allways at min in gaming)


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


Is there water blocks for the 6870?


Yeap (EK and others)








Here's a shot of a pair of EK's:


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Yeap (EK and others)








Here's a shot of a pair of EK's:




Do you have a source link who carries them online.


----------



## M0E

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...2a03640d15b63a
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...yword=ati+6870


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


Do you have a source link who carries them online.


Actually, they belong to a fellow who posts on our italian HD 6870/6850 thread








You mean an online shop?


----------



## arrow0309

Moe just answered you


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Try disabling the quality settings in the CCC panel. I've found that increasing AA reduces the temps a lot on the GPU.


Thanks gonX never think to look in ccc as its removed from start-up.cant say about temps but I have my best gpu bench scores yet.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/396813

3DMark Score
P7083
Graphics score
8402
Physics Score
5058


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Thanks gonX never think to look in ccc as its removed from start-up.cant say about temps but I have my best gpu bench scores yet.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/396813

3DMark Score
P7083
Graphics score
8402
Physics Score
5058


----------



## arrow0309

My best score (High Preset):









http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum/showpo...postcount=6848


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


My best score (High Preset):









http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum/showpo...postcount=6848


vantage on high



what are you getting in 3d mark 11 ?


----------



## tesco

BTW , what in ur opinion would be a better choice?? Ebay.uk or some other site in the future??

Why not use one in your own country?

About overclockers uk: They are a bit expensive, i found this great site for comparing:

www.skinflint.co.uk , check it out. It compares prices all around Europe, really good if you are looking for something like a GPU / processor (popular Items).

Why is it that people seem to be only getting 97% GPU usage in OCCT/ furmark?

I can't take peoples temps seriously if it isn't on 100% load. =)


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Thanks gonX never think to look in ccc as its removed from start-up.cant say about temps but I have my best gpu bench scores yet.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/396813

3DMark Score
P7083
Graphics score
8402
Physics Score
5058




OK























Funny ... :"_)


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


OK























Funny ... :"_)


whats so funny?


----------



## 0razor1

Duude.. ok , was a little drunk, but u have a CFX setup right ?? Those scores are. OO bad.
Mine : 
*23 Fps 
610 score *... SAME config..
So... ur cards are--- not scaling well... Not OC'd in CFX I presume...

I'm stupid for my previous cuckoo post :/ \\

OMG U HAVE SOOOOOO many fans. ... I'm having a problem w/ my rifle bearing fan I mounted horizontally. Need to get a replacement... Only coolermaster and Gelid available here ( INDIA  ) and The CM R4's are cool , but horizontal mount== noise/ death.


----------



## tesco

razor, he is at 1920x1080 you only have a 19inch 900p monitor? =P

My own 3Dmark11 scores:

Performance setting (1280x1024 r something)

Stock 790/1000 - 3323
900/1100 - 3747 (11.3% increase) lol
920/1150 - 3827

Stock voltage on all, will be cchecking is 920/1150 is stable through BFBC2, then might have another run of 3dmark11 at even higher clocks.

edit: this uniengine your all uing looks good. getting it now.

950/1150 on 3dmark11 - 3936


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11963650*
> Duude.. ok , was a little drunk, but u have a CFX setup right ?? Those scores are. OO bad.
> Mine :
> *23 Fps
> 610 score* ... SAME config..
> So... ur cards are--- not scaling well... Not OC'd in CFX I presume...
> 
> I'm stupid for my previous cuckoo post :/ \
> 
> OMG U HAVE SOOOOOO many fans. ... I'm having a problem w/ my rifle bearing fan I mounted horizontally. Need to get a replacement... Only coolermaster and Gelid available here ( INDIA  ) and The CM R4's are cool , but horizontal mount== noise/ death.


you get these scores at what res? screenshot please

my cards are scaling fine I think your eye's are the problem put the bottle down.lol

higher res means lower scores for example:
1600/900



1440/900


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11963937*
> razor, he is at 1920x1080 you only have a 19inch 900p monitor? =P
> 
> 950/1150 on 3dmark11 - 3936


950 /1150 on 3dmark11-- 3936... I get soomething VERY similar alebit at 940/1190







So you'[re right on track!! --Thats of course 720p Professional pre-set

The unigine engine LETS one run at *Higher than the display* res.. I do NOT know how but Mine does run 1080p too... from the drop down list







and the results reflect the same


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11964067*
> you get these scores at what res? screenshot please
> 
> my cards are scaling fine I think your eye's are the problem put the bottle down.lol
> 
> higher res means lower scores


AHhhh xD

aaam sleeepeeenggg nowww. Last post!
I'll throw in the screens 2mrw.. benched and simply copied scores... ma bad








I just love this cuckoo






























or it could just be me








OHHHH MY BAD   I have all the optimizations in world on in ATT   sooo stupid :/

Forgive my goof







u c??

And that's what's giving me funny scores... thought the previous benches in heaven and 3dmark11 seemed in line with the trends.

SWEAR TO COMEBACK TOMORROW WITH A COOL SPREADSHEET w/ ATLEAST 10 Benches..


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11962978*
> BTW , what in ur opinion would be a better choice?? Ebay.uk or some other site in the future??
> 
> Why not use one in your own country?
> 
> About overclockers uk: They are a bit expensive, i found this great site for comparing:
> 
> www.skinflint.co.uk , check it out. It compares prices all around Europe, really good if you are looking for something like a GPU / processor (popular Items).
> 
> Why is it that people seem to be only getting 97% GPU usage in OCCT/ furmark?
> 
> I can't take peoples temps seriously if it isn't on 100% load. =)


K.
1.Overclockers.co.uk --- why ?? I DIGG their weekly offers...
2. Ebay.co.uk --- Why/ ? U'll find rare- to digg up stuff here. like the vr001 heatsinks.. and NO , i don't want to pay 9 quid shipping from AC's warehouse in hong kong  Not right..
3. INDIA :/ nothing local here--- there is ONE shop online which is managed by T W O people :/ so I refuse to lose hair over the telephone.. --and off late his shipments have been going MIA ??
4. That's prolly cause of the 6000 series' inbuilt resistance to stress testing ? Though it doesn't manifest in my card








5. OCCT == (on stock air cooling) atleast 10C over anything u'll hit in the heaviest games :/
And oh my card pulls, wait for it , 81 amps VDDC current OCCT compared to 40 AMPS on ( 100% load) for the Heaven bench when OC'd in both instances..
That is A WHOLE load of current going into heat... Njoy! Btw, the error check mode = abt 96-97 % load... turn that off and OCCT will Deep fry kentuky for you


----------



## tesco

= )

Right I got some Uningine goodness:

Please any people with 6850 post their scores with same settings!

Max settings, res:
1440x900 , OC to 945/1155
wont let run run? goes to 1280x960 = (

1680x1050 , OC to 945/1155
18.3 FPS , 460score

1680x1050 , Stock to 790/1000
15.6FPS , 393score

13% performance increase without moving voltage anywhere. Stable ingame, etc Quite happy.

I like overclockers weekly offers, i always check them out... great stuff = )

Will there ever be a limit to what we are going to buy for rigs?!


----------



## Doolie

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11954164*
> DOOLIE!! Cheers!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OC and ruin that i7's supremacy.. to some extent.. admittedly!!
> 
> I am buying that scout ! Built a rig w/ it and a ph 2 x3 for a friend last summer and fell in love w/ it.. my modded 335 looks like a poor hack-jack attempt before the mighty scout!


Alright - CPU is installing - still early stages of the O/C but here it is @ 3.85GHz.

HUGE jump in vantage score - not much overall in video tests -







.

Comparison

Athlon X2 245 @ 3.57ghz










Phenon II 955BE @ 3.85ghz










Ahh, and here's some shots of my system - nothing crazy! Just clean.


----------



## Confessed

0razor1, I rage every time I see any of your posts.

STOP WITH THE EMOTICONS. I WILL SACRIFICE A SMALL GOAT TO MAKE YOU QUIT.

On topic: I'm giving in and getting a 6870. I just need to know which one to get. It's between the Asus reference card and the Asus DirectCu card. I remember the Direct Cu 5850 had a great rep for overclocking well while being quieter than the others. I'm hoping someone can vouch for it's 6870 brother.


----------



## Penryn

Wooooooooooops.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Confessed;11967644*
> 0razor1, I rage every time I see any of your posts.
> 
> STOP WITH THE EMOTICONS. I WILL SACRIFICE A SMALL GOAT TO MAKE YOU QUIT.
> 
> On topic: I'm giving in and getting a 6870. I just need to know which one to get. It's between the Asus reference card and the Asus DirectCu card. I remember the Direct Cu 5850 had a great rep for overclocking well while being quieter than the others. I'm hoping someone can vouch for it's 6870 brother.


AAAhhhh aye shaal triee mee beest !
K - 6870 it is --- My recommendation -- find an MSI one w/ the Twin Frozr Cooler.. YOU CANNOT GO WRONG.. I was buying th 5770 hawk (OCs like hell hell and more hell) and then came alond the 6850/6870 -- Expect even better OCs on a 6870 core w/ this cooler.. U'll surely thump a 470 in EVERYTHING..
If you're limited to asus cards --- GO REFERENCE FTW --- opens up easier waterblock installation or a whole range of aftermarket air coolers..
The CuCore barely does an awesum job on the 6850 so I see no room for improvement on the 6870 w/ that cooler..

I base most of this on speculation!! (no emotions so far.. but rolleyes.. )


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;11965802*
> = )
> 
> Right I got some Uningine goodness:
> 
> Please any people with 6850 post their scores with same settings!
> 
> Max settings, res:
> 1440x900 , OC to 945/1155
> wont let run run? goes to 1280x960 = (
> 
> 1680x1050 , OC to 945/1155
> 18.3 FPS , 460score
> 
> 1680x1050 , Stock to 790/1000
> 15.6FPS , 393score
> 
> 13% performance increase without moving voltage anywhere. Stable ingame, etc Quite happy.
> 
> I like overclockers weekly offers, i always check them out... great stuff = )
> 
> Will there ever be a limit to what we are going to buy for rigs?!


Absolutely NOT !!! Bah-- I'm already thinking of selling off my 1333cl9 ram sticks :/ just cause I want 1600 cl8  Think I'll wait a month--- Corsair is retailing CHEAP here for some reason -- 4 GB 1600cl8 sticks are 50$ a pop here







Those XMS3 ones.

Scores coming up ... I'm pulling my GPU DOWN to what You asked for.. hold up--
All settings:
shaders: HIGH
textures : HIGH
anistropy : 4x
antialiasing: OFF
occlusion: yea
refraction: yea
volumetric : yea
replication : OFF
tesselation : NORMAL - --ppl don't get it. The heaven bench is HEAVILY tesselated and such detail is going to take ages to reflect in commercial games.. Hence normal is stressful enough.

1.1440x900 , OC to 945/1155
recommended srttings..

2.1440x900 , OC to 945/1155
MAX SETTINGS- as u please









OMG --- *blackness*.. And now my heaven DOES NOT WORK --- despite restarts  ***








I'm soo fed up :/ will restart and reinstall after cleaning my registry 2moro
Pichost NOT working and pictures attached :


----------



## tesco

=O

Haha.

God sake, i wake up today to play BFBC2 like i was last night on my 945/1155 and it decides it's not stable anymore!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


vantage on high



what are you getting in 3d mark 11 ?


 Nice score on Vantage








I did a quick 3dmark11:










I know I could get more OC from an aftermarket cooler modded card but I preffer for now to wait up a bit more and set up a xfire with another 6870 OC (gigabyte tripple fan version)


----------



## DB006

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Nice score on Vantage








I did a quick 3dmark11:










I know I could get more OC from an aftermarket cooler modded card but I preffer for now to wait up a bit more and set up a xfire with another 6870 OC (gigabyte tripple fan version)










You need to push it further









http://3dmark.com/3dm11/369167;jsess...634FD24A926B31

3DMark Score
P5108
Graphics score
4708
Physics Score
10116
Combined Score
4622
GraphicsTest1
22.52 FPS
GraphicsTest2
23.13 FPS
GraphicsTest3
29.0 FPS
GraphicsTest4
13.65 FPS
PhysicsTest
32.12 FPS
CombinedTest
21.5 FPS


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DB006*


You need to push it further









http://3dmark.com/3dm11/369167;jsess...634FD24A926B31

3DMark Score
P5108
Graphics score
4708
Physics Score
10116
Combined Score
4622
GraphicsTest1
22.52 FPS
GraphicsTest2
23.13 FPS
GraphicsTest3
29.0 FPS
GraphicsTest4
13.65 FPS
PhysicsTest
32.12 FPS
CombinedTest
21.5 FPS


Maybe later








How about you, just upgraded to sandy bridge? How does it feels like


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tesco*


=O

Haha.

God sake, i wake up today to play BFBC2 like i was last night on my 945/1155 and it decides it's not stable anymore! 


And my card is now takin LESS heat to artefact than before--- used to artifact after 91C and now after 85-86 :









My VRM's are prolly frying-- need to get that vr001 soon.. Downclocking till then.. Oh well !

Was your card OCCT stable







?? w/ the artefact scanner ofcourse !


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DB006;11970775*
> You need to push it further
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 3DMark Score
> P5108
> Graphics score
> 4708
> Physics Score
> 10116


That eej amajingg!!!









Bulldozer, WHERE ARE YOU!
Am stuck at P4000s myself and the CPU score was WAY lower..


----------



## smoke420

do you guys need to overclock to get smooth gameplay? Or is it to turn on all the eye candy.

By smooth gameplay I mean solid above 50fps at HD res


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


do you guys need to overclock to get smooth gameplay? Or is it to turn on all the eye candy.

By smooth gameplay I mean solid above 50fps at HD res


Keep ur refresh rate at 60 and u'll be fine w/o all the candy IN EVERY GAME i meant it..

eye candy--- morphological AA > aa in 9 out of 10 games... so if aa at >2x gives u problems, mAA will help w/o a big impact on fps !

Dead rising on m AA is >> AA 4x :/


----------



## born2bwild

I am able to overclock my cards to 980 Mhz core/1100 Mhz without any voltage modding. I was thinking, if I were to get an aftermarket cooler, how much more could I push my setup?


----------



## kzone75

Is it next week yet? Want a new proccy. Now!









http://3dmark.com/3dm11/403583


----------



## WIGILOCO

Does *60fps* avg sound good with Dirt 2 1920x1080 Ultra settings 8X AA 16X AF sound okay? Friend with GTX 480 and i7 920 stock got *89fps* with same settings as mine.. ?

6870 with sig rig, map in dirt2 is Morocco.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*


Does *60fps* avg sound good with Dirt 2 1920x1080 Ultra settings 8X AA 16X AF sound okay? Friend with GTX 480 and i7 920 stock got *89fps* with same settings as mine.. ?

6870 with sig rig


Your 6870 is comparable to a 470 not a 480















Though 60 fps w/ all that up... AA is NO ISSUE in fast games unless ur FREEZing and taking screenshots for anandtech









Game on!









And then an i7 helps w/ the GPU perf also, regrettably, we're in the same boat.. I WANT 32 nm  
Supposedly AMD's next installment gives i7 performance ... CHEAPER !! Better IMC , more memory bandwidth-- acc to the sales rep- 2000MHz sticks supported , NO TRI CHANNEL! *** 

And an AM3+ socket.. Something tells me AM3 can run it w/ something stupid.. We already have DDR3 , IMC support.. Maybe the nothbridge and HT will change drastically.. let's see


----------



## Archer S

Can i be added to the list?


----------



## 0razor1

Push that mem clock up man ... hit 1150+ easily!


----------



## Archer S

i would if i could test stability. GPUtool doesn't seem to work / recognize the card


----------



## born2bwild

Use OCCT for GPU stability testing.


----------



## Confessed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *born2bwild;11973973*
> Use OCCT for GPU stability testing.


If you want to cook the card, sure.

My old 5850 maxed out on 75°C in Furmark. In OCCT, it kept ramping up the temp until I got to 90°C. I cancelled it then because that's unacceptable to me. That software is broken if you ask me. The CPU stability test is nice on it though imo.


----------



## born2bwild

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Confessed;11974271*
> If you want to cook the card, sure.
> 
> My old 5850 maxed out on 75°C in Furmark. In OCCT, it kept ramping up the temp until I got to 90°C. I cancelled it then because that's unacceptable to me. That software is broken if you ask me. The CPU stability test is nice on it though imo.


Well I use it for stability, and my temps go to 89*C. Going to 90*C with your GPU when heavily stressed is not bad for it... Technically a GPU could handle temps up to 105*C.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *born2bwild;11974358*
> Well I use it for stability, and my temps go to 89*C. Going to 90*C with your GPU when heavily stressed is not bad for it... Technically a GPU could handle temps up to 105*C.


LOL ..







Sure,, not bad for your card!!!

In my previous page's post, I mentioned how the heaven bench drew 40 amps off my VDDC and OCCT drew 81 amps ??

OCCT is not broken--- its overkill.. Stressing is what it does !!


----------



## nubgen

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *born2bwild;11973973*
> Use OCCT for GPU stability testing.


Is it recommended to test full screen, or is 1024x768 okay?

And wow, OCCT really stresses my OC 85c after a few minutes.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nubgen;11974425*
> Is it recommended to test full screen, or is 1024x768 okay?
> 
> And wow, OCCT really stresses my OC 85c after a few minutes.


85 is good IMO .. esp if it takes u a few minutes to get there.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11974377*
> LOL ..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sure,, not bad for your card!!!
> 
> In my previous page's post, I mentioned how the heaven bench drew 40 amps off my VDDC and OCCT drew 81 amps ??
> 
> OCCT is not broken--- its overkill.. Stressing is what it does !!


im sorry but I have to agree with confessed and 0razor1 OCCT is too much. testing your card for stability is fine but to what point .we are talking about temps that could damage your hardware when any other program would only load it half as much.my cards dont need to be that stable .furmark is good enough for me .if you watercooling go ahead but beyond that imo OCCT is too dangerous


----------



## Yoko Littner

Some benchie's for you guy's.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Confessed

Just ordered reference Asus 6870. I will regret this when the 560 is out...lmao.


----------



## Yoko Littner

dont.

the GTX 560 will still cost more.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Confessed;11974667*
> Just ordered reference Asus 6870. I will regret this when the 560 is out...lmao.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;11974563*
> im sorry but I have to agree with confessed and 0razor1 OCCT is too much. testing your card for stability is fine but to what point .we are talking about temps that could damage your hardware when any other program would only load it half as much.my cards dont need to be that stable .furmark is good enough for me .if you watercooling go ahead but beyond that imo OCCT is too dangerous


I so get that .. OCCT is not MEANT to stick









But its ULTIMATE stressing and I think when jumping 2- MHz at a time, then OCCT for a minute gives a good idea of stability..

running 10 2-minute sweeps when I want to be sure of a particular clock / volt setting.. then there's nothing better..


----------



## Doolie

Here's some updates on my end - final OC with my phenom and 935/1125 which I think are conservative because I didn't push it and back off.


----------



## whatjones911

My asus 6850 gets stuck on idle clocks when the computer has been on for a while like after it goes to sleep. But when its a fresh boot it will be working okay so everytime it gets stuck on idle clocks, i restart and its back to normal.

Is this a driver problem?


----------



## Arizonian

QUOTE -Yoko Littner "Some benchie's for you guy's."

Getting 78FPS on Crysis is awesome. Thanks for those benchmarks off your Sapphire AMD 6870 in crossfire.

Did you do a voltage tweak? Afterburner doesn't allow for the 6800 series voltage tweak on MSI cards yet.

If so what did you use and where is a link?


----------



## groodal

Hi, i just got rid of my overheated GTX 470!! and ordered a new XFX 6870







i'm getting a second one round summertime. count me in ; )


----------



## Yoko Littner

after burner i used.

2.1.0 beta 5.

1.275V. stay under 1.3 and your good.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Arizonian;11979764*
> QUOTE -Yoko Littner "Some benchie's for you guy's."
> 
> Getting 78FPS on Crysis is awesome. Thanks for those benchmarks off your Sapphire AMD 6870 in crossfire.
> 
> Did you do a voltage tweak? Afterburner doesn't allow for the 6800 series voltage tweak on MSI cards yet.
> 
> If so what did you use and where is a link?


----------



## tesco

Quote:



Originally Posted by *whatjones911*


My asus 6850 gets stuck on idle clocks when the computer has been on for a while like after it goes to sleep. But when its a fresh boot it will be working okay so everytime it gets stuck on idle clocks, i restart and its back to normal.

Is this a driver problem?


I don't know but i have had it before.

I loaded up a youtube page, let a song/video play (clocks at 300/1000)

Then loaded up a game without exiting the youtube page, and the clocks were stuck at 300/100, and gpu 100% ingame with lagg.

I then exited the youtube page and it was all better =S

Defiantly drivers imho.


----------



## groodal

does CCC say ATI or AMD on your drivers?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *groodal*


does CCC say ATI or AMD on your drivers?


ATI Technologies Inc.


----------



## groodal

i think there's a driver with AMD logo instead of ATI wich is maybe newer. I've seen both on two of the same GFX cards.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *groodal;11983895*
> i think there's a driver with AMD logo instead of ATI wich is maybe newer. I've seen both on two of the same GFX cards.


You mean this CCC?










That's the one I have







I think I didn't get the question before, and it's called Amd Catalyst 10.12 (2011 CCC Preview).
However from now on they'll provide only this CCC version for download, hope soon the new 11.1 shows up


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11984184*
> You mean this CCC?
> 
> That's the one I have
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think I didn't get the question before, and it's called Amd Catalyst 10.12 (2011 CCC Preview).
> However from now on they'll provide only this CCC version for download, hope soon the new 11.1 shows up


You're happier off with the 10.12a hotfix.. the preview driver is broken IMO ...


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11984635*
> You're happier off with the 10.12a hotfix.. the preview driver is broken IMO ...


Try this one









http://downloads.guru3d.com/AMD-Catalyst-10.12-Win-7--%2832|64%29-new-CCC-download-2654.html


----------



## LucidusCruorem

My new card







It's an XFX Radeon HD 6870 Black Edition. Can't wait to join the club!


----------



## denydog

Sign me up! I got the MSI Twin Frozr II R6870 OC just after thanksgiving, it wasn't on sale.







I've only done some mild overclocking so far.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11985129*
> Try this one
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://downloads.guru3d.com/AMD-Catalyst-10.12-Win-7--%2832|64%29-new-CCC-download-2654.html


I'm w/ the *hotfix 12a* on this one!! Playing AVP among other things, and ccc game me problems w/ the 10.12







newe, thanks for the links!!


----------



## Jodiuh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DB006;11970775*
> You need to push it further


Would you mind filling in the description w/ something like this:

i5 760 4Ghz | 2x2GB 1520Mhz 7.7.7.24 1T | 6870 900/1050

Thanks!!

I got P4269 w/ a 4Ghz i5 760 and stock 6870 using 10.12 Cat's and setting texture filtering to performance. Seems right on par w/ the 470 it replaced. Stock of course, 470 had much higher OC headroom. This 6870 gets pissy @ 925, lol. Room's an ice cube though!


----------



## luckypunk

i cant wait to join you guys hopefully soon


----------



## M0E

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *denydog;11986194*
> Sign me up! I got the MSI Twin Frozr II R6870 OC just after thanksgiving, it wasn't on sale.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've only done some mild overclocking so far.


That is one sexy looking card


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *M0E;11992256*
> That is one sexy looking card


+1:devil-smi
Mine looks like a dildo of some sort


----------



## Jodiuh

Does anyone else play Alien Swarm? What happens if you enable Supersampling in Catalyst Control Center?


----------



## denydog

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;11992830*
> +1:devil-smi
> Mine looks like a dildo of some sort


That's funny! I find it hard to believe that the same company can put out two cards that look so different. I'd think they would want some sort of look that gave a clue to brand identity. I mean besides the MSI logo.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *denydog;11993336*
> That's funny! I find it hard to believe that the same company can put out two cards that look so different. I'd think they would want some sort of look that gave a clue to brand identity. I mean besides the MSI logo.


The red and black is SOOO MSI :/ It's allite w/ the red/black color scheme I got going here but Come oN!! That Plastic shroud-- is that the BEST they could do? I'd rather take it off if it didn't help w/ the airflow-- Oh well, my old 260 gtx is coming back in a fortnight.. Look forward to mounting the accelero s1 from it then









Ordered the vr001 set to go along with it!


----------



## abu46

guys should i update to the catalyst 10.12a hotfix, currently i have 10.12 without ccc and have no problems with it


----------



## nubgen

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jodiuh*


Would you mind filling in the description w/ something like this:

i5 760 4Ghz | 2x2GB 1520Mhz 7.7.7.24 1T | 6870 900/1050

Thanks!!

I got P4269 w/ a 4Ghz i5 760 and stock 6870 using 10.12 Cat's and setting texture filtering to performance. Seems right on par w/ the 470 it replaced. Stock of course, 470 had much higher OC headroom. This 6870 gets pissy @ 925, lol. Room's an ice cube though!



















What program are you using to view your fps/gpu temp?


----------



## Jodiuh

MSI Afterburner. Doesn't seem to show VRAM or Fan RPM for AMD cards though.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jodiuh;11993735*
> MSI Afterburner. Doesn't seem to show VRAM or Fan RPM for AMD cards though.


Won't show vram yet, but you can monitor the fan RPM --- the tachometer under the monitoring section !
I'm using ATT for the FPS right top corner and MSI AF top left as and when needed. Like having both at my disposal


----------



## Jodiuh

Hmm...didn't show mine. I'm having nothing but trouble w/ this thing though. It refuses to wake from S3. PC turns on, no video. Only change's Nvidia to AMD in the video dept. PC's not happy about this.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jodiuh;11993901*
> Hmm...didn't show mine. I'm having nothing but trouble w/ this thing though. It refuses to wake from S3. PC turns on, no video. Only change's Nvidia to AMD in the video dept. PC's not happy about this.


run driver sweeper and reinstall drivers remove everything nvidia including physx if needed reinstall later but install ati drivers first


----------



## Jodiuh

User on anandtech's having the same problems.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jodiuh;11989362*
> Would you mind filling in the description w/ something like this:
> 
> i5 760 4Ghz | 2x2GB 1520Mhz 7.7.7.24 1T | 6870 900/1050
> 
> Thanks!!
> 
> I got P4269 w/ a 4Ghz i5 760 and stock 6870 using 10.12 Cat's and setting texture filtering to performance. Seems right on par w/ the 470 it replaced. Stock of course, 470 had much higher OC headroom. This 6870 gets pissy @ 925, lol. Room's an ice cube though!


Would you mind telling me what game is that you shot the screen


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;11993525*
> guys should i update to the catalyst 10.12a hotfix, currently i have 10.12 without ccc and have no problems with it


Actually that's a hotfix for the 69xx series you would't have to update


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11994710*
> Would you mind telling me what game is that you shot the screen


Looks like BC2 Vietnam.


----------



## Xcellent

I'd love to post a screenshot and join the club however my keyboard has no printscreen key


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;11994725*
> Actually that's a hotfix for the 69xx series you would't have to update


Meh, fixed my AVP issues w/ me 6850 // the game still sucks


----------



## Ash_

hey guys, I have a ASUS EAH6850 Does that count for this club?


----------



## M0E

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jodiuh;11993183*
> Does anyone else play Alien Swarm? What happens if you enable Supersampling in Catalyst Control Center?


I would like to play Alien Swarm but it locks up on me as soon as the game starts.


----------



## Phixit

Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 here !


----------



## jammo2k5

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xcellent;11995832*
> I'd love to post a screenshot and join the club however my keyboard has no printscreen key


Start > All Programs > Accessories > Ease of access > Onscreen keyboard > Prnt Scrn button > ???????? > Profit?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ash_;11996815*
> hey guys, I have a ASUS EAH6850 Does that count for this club?


It's still a 6850








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Phixit;11998095*
> Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 here !


However this is not.


----------



## sinn98

Proud HD 6850 user here. I would love to be in the owner's club!

Manufacturer: Gigabyte
Model: GV-R685D5-1GD


----------



## yesitsmario

Love my 6850







. Running well on 10.10e. Had my 6850 for a while, but would love to join the club ^^


----------



## 0razor1

Hey, yesitsmario (ROFL) .. You've the same mobo as me ... Well, was thinking , as we have CFX in 16x,4x mode, would it even be worthwhile to invest in a 6870, say as prices drop? Already have a 6850..

Or shoul I hold off.. Sell off my rig (weep) and go w/ am3+ 32 nm proccy and 28nm GPUs say end of this year ?? Just thinking freely!


----------



## yesitsmario

^ I wouldn't upgrade to a 6870 from a 6850. Especially since the 6850 can overclock to 6870 performance. I can run mine at 950/1160 without any voltage increase. There's an article I read a while ago where they tested crossfire at 16x, 4x mode and there was hardly any performance loss compared to 16x, 16x. So 2 6850's could work on our board. You should get about 95% performance compared to 16x, 16x.


----------



## Raven.7

Can't get the HD6850 stable @ 960/1150 1.22v
















Don't know if i should push the voltage any higher. Any ideas?


----------



## Yoko Littner

same as my 6870's.

your good up to 1.3.

so u got some head room. i say go for it.

im at 1.275. and my hottest card hit's 77C ( they are sandwiched ) and bottom card get's like 66c lol

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Raven.7*


Can't get the HD6850 stable @ 960/1150 1.22v
















Don't know if i should push the voltage any higher. Any ideas?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Raven.7*


Can't get the HD6850 stable @ 960/1150 1.22v
















Don't know if i should push the voltage any higher. Any ideas?


more juice


----------



## Raven.7

Hmmm...my PSU has 48A on the rail, I should be fine pushing it up to 1.25 right?


----------



## Yoko Littner

your PSU is fine,


----------



## Raven.7

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


your PSU is fine,


Cool, will do. Thanks for the help.









+Rep for both


----------



## chavez885

Count me in. Loving this card, haven't even pushed it hard lol. Will grab another eventually!


----------



## Arizonian

Ordered my second MSI AMD 6870 Twin Frozr II card! Picked it up for 239.99 after rebate free shipping! Let the price wars begin.

Happy gaming!


----------



## denydog

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Arizonian*


Ordered my second MSI AMD 6870 Twin Frozr II card! Picked it up for 239.99 after rebate free shipping! Let the price wars begin.

Happy gaming!


Wish I could justify a second one. The MIR wasn't in effect when I got mine a last month. The Twin Frozr is great!

BTW- MSI site shows two, Twin Frozr II R6870 and Twin Frozr II R6870-OC. Has anyone ever seen the non-OC version of this card? (core clocked at 900 vs. 920)

Mine is OC version, though it wasn't advertised as such. Didn't find out until I recieved it.


----------



## Jodiuh

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Would you mind telling me what game is that you shot the screen










Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam DLC - Great maps, less linear chokepoints, less scopes allows Rambo Jod to fly like peacock.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Xcellent*


I'd love to post a screenshot and join the club however my keyboard has no printscreen key










Try Fraps. I think MSI Afterburner can do this as well. You can bind it to another key, F9 for Fraps IIRC.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *M0E*


I would like to play Alien Swarm but it locks up on me as soon as the game starts.










Bummer. What about one card? My 6870 will load, it just gets grumpy when I call upon the power of transparency supersampling.

Thanks to smoke420 and MerolaC for the recommendations of Driver Sweeper and Ghostbuster. I used both and not only did it fix the no resume from sleep issue after installing 6870, but sped back up my Creative X-Fi Console Launcher. In general, Windows seems to feel a little snappier too.


----------



## smoke420

Yw.glad I could help.I had nothing but issues switching from nvidia to ati.I went from one nvidia card to xfire ati cards and it took more than a week and joining this forum to get it to work right.It didnt help that supported drivers weren't released yet.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *yesitsmario*


^ I wouldn't upgrade to a 6870 from a 6850. Especially since the 6850 can overclock to 6870 performance. I can run mine at 950/1160 without any voltage increase. There's an article I read a while ago where they tested crossfire at 16x, 4x mode and there was hardly any performance loss compared to 16x, 16x. So 2 6850's could work on our board. You should get about 95% performance compared to 16x, 16x.


All right, +Rep.
But given that I'm running slow (not bothered to OC) RAM at 1333 CL9 , my CPU is STILL a bottleneck right? Even if I go up to 1600 cl8?

I may Just add 8 gb (4x2) Corsair XMS3 1600MHz cl9 2moro-- dirt cheap prices right now ! Advice?


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *denydog;12005581*
> Wish I could justify a second one. The MIR wasn't in effect when I got mine a last month. The Twin Frozr is great!
> 
> BTW- MSI site shows two, Twin Frozr II R6870 and Twin Frozr II R6870-OC. Has anyone ever seen the non-OC version of this card? (core clocked at 900 vs. 920)
> 
> Mine is OC version, though it wasn't advertised as such. Didn't find out until I recieved it.


HA -- I have the PM2D1GD5 -- MSI's 6850 - and was OC to boot. Had no idea till I looked at stock freq.s in GPU-z .. They don't make such a big deal about it -- they very well know what a customer's gonna do with a twin frozer 2








And mine had a BIG boost to boot - core 820 <- 775 Mem 1100 <- 1000
woot!

Just wanted to ask -- is the memory controller in the 6870 better equipped than the 6850's ??


----------



## abu46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12006079*
> All right, +Rep.
> But given that I'm running slow (not bothered to OC) RAM at 1333 CL9 , my CPU is STILL a bottleneck right? Even if I go up to 1600 cl8?
> 
> I may Just add 8 gb (4x2) Corsair XMS3 1600MHz cl9 2moro-- dirt cheap prices right now ! Advice?


is phenom 955 a bottleneck for an 6850!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## skyline385

Hi guys
My ASUS 6850 is currently clocked at *920/1130 @ 1162mV*.....now i seem to reach *80-81 deg.C* at full load even though fans are at 100% (MSI Afterburner profile)......how will these temps affect my cards longevity and is there any chance of damage after long hours of usage

Thanks in Advance


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;12008391*
> Hi guys
> My ASUS 6850 is currently clocked at *920/1130 @ 1162mV*.....now i seem to reach *80-81 deg.C* at full load even though fans are at 100% (MSI Afterburner profile)......how will these temps affect my cards longevity and is there any chance of damage after long hours of usage
> 
> Thanks in Advance


Mine's not overclocked but with fans at 100% it has never gone past 60 degrees.


----------



## tesco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;12008391*
> Hi guys
> My ASUS 6850 is currently clocked at *920/1130 @ 1162mV*.....now i seem to reach *80-81 deg.C* at full load even though fans are at 100% (MSI Afterburner profile)......how will these temps affect my cards longevity and is there any chance of damage after long hours of usage
> 
> Thanks in Advance


Is it loud at 100%? why not use CCC.

Is that furmark/ occt?

abu,razor, your CPU's won't bottleneck your cards.

An OC'd i3-530 won't bottleneck a gtx580


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;12008497*
> Mine's not overclocked but with fans at 100% it has never gone past 60 degrees.


At default clock even i get around 65-70 but as you see mine is OCed to quite an extent.......add to that the fact i run most of my game cranked up with a high ambient temp (yeah i live in INDIA)...........so i ask again can someone please confirm my working temps of 80-81 deg.C (OCed 920/1130 @ 1162mV) as safe for a long run?


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;12008536*
> Is it loud at 100%? why not use CCC.
> 
> Is that furmark/ occt?


Those are temps after playing Metro 2033 maxed out for half an hour (95-100% GPU Usage)......also i dont care about noise and btw *CCC sucks*........i dont want my fan running constant at 100% and if you see my post i have also increased VCore (not available in CCC)


----------



## gonX

The temps are fine and not anything I would worry about. I wouldn't worry about graphics card temperatures before they hit the 3-digit mark, but I'd probably prefer to keep them below 90c in any case.

Fan at 100% sounds noisy though.


----------



## skyline385

my ASUS fan is kinda not that noisy at 100%.....something you can live with seeing the huge performance gain my OC gave........anyway if the temps are fine i will continue with the OC


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12006079*
> All right, +Rep.
> But given that I'm running slow (not bothered to OC) RAM at 1333 CL9 , my CPU is STILL a bottleneck right? Even if I go up to 1600 cl8?
> 
> I may Just add 8 gb (4x2) Corsair XMS3 1600MHz cl9 2moro-- dirt cheap prices right now ! Advice?


no matter how much you overclock your going to be bottlenecked unless your going with an i7.

Its not your cpu its your monitor at low res your video card is capable of more fps but it forces your cpu to work harder to get it.

If your still on a 900p mointor imo that should be your next upgrade.

@Skyline385 those temps are high for anything less than a bench or stress testing not saying its going to damage your card but for what your doing it sounds a little hot.
Have you tried changing your TIM?
Do you get these temps in other games metro 2033 is going to stress the hell out of your card depending on settings?
If its only metro with all eye candy on then it might be ok but if you get these temps normal gaming there is a problem.
Also case ventilation is very important with these cards as they just dump hardware killing heat back inside.


----------



## skyline385

@smoke420

i get those temps in metro 2033, just cause 2 and few other games with lots of eye candy else temps are in 70s........but you gotta know that at even at idle my card OCed at 920/1130 (1.162V) runs at 53-55 @ 40% fan speed coz of ambient temp being quite high (generally aroung 35-40)

Anyway stock 6850s without coolers reach 90 under full load so i am thinking maybe the temps are okay i guess..........but the most important thing i wanna know is its effect on the longevity of my card........any ideas ?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;12009397*
> @smoke420
> 
> i get those temps in metro 2033, just cause 2 and very few other games with lots of eye candy else temps are in 70s........but you gotta know that at even at idle my card OCed at 920/1130 (1.162V) runs at 53-55 @ 40% fan speed coz of ambient temp being quite high (generally aroung 35-40)


With your ambient that high these is only so much you can do with that said if you want your card to last lower the temps the better.I would suggest making a different profile for the games that are running hot if you want to keep overclocking because you are going to run into instability early due to high temps.


----------



## tesco

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline385;12008593*
> Those are temps after playing Metro 2033 maxed out for half an hour (95-100% GPU Usage)......also i dont care about noise and btw *CCC sucks*........i dont want my fan running constant at 100% and if you see my post i have also increased VCore (not available in CCC)


Ok. It's just that I have the exact same card on stock volts, 920/1150.

I live in England, where it is really cold, and my gaming core temp is 78C. So I think you are alright.

Why would you think that it is at 100% in CCC? Mine is on auto and never goes over 48% when gaming. (giving me the 77C temperature).

And finally, are you sure you can not just lower your Vcore a little bit and still be stable?

Edit:

If you are getting 81C on 100% fan then you have a problem.

I wanted to know the noise, to know if your software for controlling the fan is actually working. Our fan sounds like jet on 100%...


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;12009565*
> Ok. It's just that I have the exact same card on stock volts, 920/1150.
> 
> I live in England, where it is really cold, and my gaming core temp is 78C. So I think you are alright.
> 
> Why would you think that it is at 100% in CCC? Mine is on auto and never goes over 48% when gaming. (giving me the 77C temperature).
> 
> And finally, are you sure you can not just lower your Vcore a little bit and still be stable?
> 
> Edit:
> 
> If you are getting 81C on 100% fan then you have a problem.
> 
> I wanted to know the noise, to know if your software for controlling the fan is actually working. Our fan sounds like jet on 100%...


Yeah you can tell that the fan is at full speed.......hell you can even tell when its changing speeds so i doubt any probs with the fan.....like i told my ambient temp is high so 81 on 100% fan seems ok to me. Also,i decreased VCore to stock and will test it for stability
And about that CCC, MSI Afterburner allows me to keep fan profiles which cause the fan speed to change automatically according to the GPU temp. allowing me to set the fan to reach 100% above 70 deg.C whereas with CCC set to auto fan, speeds never reach 100% even if GPU temp goes past 90 deg.C so only option would be for me to set it permanently to 100% which i dont wanna do, simple.

@smoke420
i generally keep the card at default clocks only to increase them during gaming


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tesco;12009565*
> Ok. It's just that I have the exact same card on stock volts, 920/1150.
> 
> I live in England, where it is really cold, and my gaming core temp is 78C. So I think you are alright.
> 
> Why would you think that it is at 100% in CCC? Mine is on auto and never goes over 48% when gaming. (giving me the 77C temperature).
> 
> And finally, are you sure you can not just lower your Vcore a little bit and still be stable?
> 
> Edit:
> 
> If you are getting 81C on 100% fan then you have a problem.
> 
> I wanted to know the noise, to know if your software for controlling the fan is actually working. Our fan sounds like jet on 100%...


ive run 3dmark 11 1030/1205 v1.356 both cards and got 77c top card and 84c bottom card(ambient was @22c).My idle temps stay mid to high 30's.

remember we are cooling with air and his is hot.
watercooling or even better air conditioning is your only help.lol
The worst part is ambient temps are killing his headroom these cards love to overclock.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12009877*
> ive run 3dmark 11 1030/1205 v1.356 both cards and got 77c top card and 84c bottom card(ambient was @22c).My idle temps stay mid to high 30's.
> 
> remember we are cooling with air and his is hot.
> watercooling or even better air conditioning is your only help.lol
> The worst part is ambient temps are killing his headroom these cards love to overclock.


I get about 81 even if i run 3DMark11 and also i live in a College hostel with a damned ceiling fan that doesnt help so you can guess the conditions of my room








And these cards are overclocking monsters.......got to agree with you on that

EDIT : Ran 3DMark11 @ 920/1130 at stock voltage and found it to be stable with max temp. about 76c.......now i am confused.......how can the card run stable at 920/1130 with stock voltage, cmon thats 130/130 higher than default speed


----------



## smoke420

@skyline385
EDIT : Ran 3DMark11 @ 920/1130 at stock voltage and found it to be stable with max temp. about 76c.......now i am confused.......how can the card run stable at 920/1130 with stock voltage, cmon thats 130/130 higher than default speed :confused

stable in mark 11 i can believe it but doubt it will be able to game at those settings


----------



## chavez885

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


no matter how much you overclock your going to be bottlenecked unless your going with an i7.

Its not your cpu its your monitor at low res your video card is capable of more fps but it forces your cpu to work harder to get it.


A Phenom II quad @ 3.8ghz is not going to bottleneck a single graphics card, especially a 6850. Not sure what tests you've run to come up with this theory.


----------



## skyline385

Quote:


> stable in mark 11 i can believe it but doubt it will be able to game at those settings


yeah even i doubt it......anyways i will keep VCore at 1.156V for now to decrease max temp. as system was stable earlier when i ran 1.156V......hope that would do it.........as for the temps. i guess i got no option but to let em soar but i will make sure they dont rise above 85c

THanks to all


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chavez885;12010663*
> A Phenom II quad @ 3.8ghz is not going to bottleneck a single graphics card, especially a 6850. Not sure what tests you've run to come up with this theory.


It will if you max res is 1440 x 900 .Its a known fact that the lower your res the worst your bottleneck. countless sources for this info.Thats why you see such a big difference in gpu scores from cpu to cpu in benchmarks even if the gpus are the same and the advantage to the faster cpu gets smaller as the res gets higher.


----------



## 0razor1

Forgive me for the omissions, this will be one LONG stupid post









And all this is to the best of my logic and knowledge, I would like to learn where wrong









*RIGHT :*

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


It will if you max res is 1440 x 900 .Its a known fact that the lower your res the worst your bottleneck.
The advantage to the faster cpu gets smaller as the res gets higher.


_True man. Not wholly, have reasoned below._

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


no matter how much you overclock your going to be bottlenecked unless your going with an i7.
If your still on a 900p mointor imo that should be your next upgrade.
@Skyline385 
Have you tried changing your TIM?
Also case ventilation is very important with these cards as they just dump hardware killing heat back inside.


There is NO BOTTLENECK per se, and it's all explained below!

*Changing you TIM *will help -- get the CM fusion 400 if u can .. should be easily available. Mx-3/4 is OVERPRICED here..zz buy more fans instead :/
AS5 will prolly short something out. Stay away. I use AC, but as5 ..zz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *chavez885*


A Phenom II quad @ 3.8ghz is not going to bottleneck a single graphics card, especially a 6850. Not sure what tests you've run to come up with this theory.


Will NOT bottleneck, but from the below, a _better_ CPU = _better _fps to a limit, and an i7 980x is probably at the saturated point of diminishing returns.. All provided that the graphics card is not at full load. More below.

*WRONG :*

Quote:



Originally Posted by *abu46*


is phenom 955 a bottleneck for an 6850!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Again, NO . How do you explain a 6870 giving better results w/ a ph2 x4 ?? The bottleneck is mis interpreted.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tesco*


Is it loud at 100%? why not use CCC.
Is that furmark/ occt?
Razor, your CPU's won't bottleneck your cards.
An OC'd i3-530 won't bottleneck a gtx580


"Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor"

Yeah right, a low end (re brand c2d) is gonna whack a PH2 x4/x6 .. and a PH bottlenecks a 6850 and that wouldn't a 580














Yeah , rite.
CCC= well, Combined Crapware (couldn't think of what to do w/ the last 'C')

*Over Heating??*

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


remember we are cooling with air and his is hot.
watercooling or even better air conditioning is your only help.lol


WC again in India-- u can buy a 6970 for that much and market availability<nil.
HOT air--- solution= PUSH MORE AIR.. no other way out.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *skyline385*


I get about 81 even if i run 3DMark11 and also i live in a College hostel with a damned ceiling fan that doesnt help so you can guess the conditions of my room








EDIT :Ran 3DMark11 @ 920/1130 at stock voltage and found it to be stable with max temp. about 76c.......now i am confused.......how can the card run stable at 920/1130 with stock voltage, cmon thats 130/130 higher than default speed










OK. Do you live in the south ? Well, u got heat coming to u soon enough then







WC will save ur computer unless u run it open (no window/ side panel)
Or using deltas for impressive airflow seems to be the only way out!

NOTHING is stable (these cards use ECC) unless u run OCCT in cycles till it heats up and cools again , and repeat. This will truly stress ur card-- but stop it the second ur card hits 90C .. let it cool and repeat. 2 loops for rough stability! 10 loops for 24x7 running. 3dmark is no stability test :/

Quote:



Originally Posted by *skyline385*


is there any chance of damage after long hours of usage


YESH!!! 
Ur VRM's will MELT. OC'ing may NOT DAMAGE UR CARD IMMEDIATELY, hugher stress on components= higher chance of failure..

GO with a passive + active cooler like the accelero w/ the fans.. GOOGLE is your friend. 








GO with mounting this upside down (YEAH!!!) and using a PCI fan-- UR GOOD TO GO








EDIT: check out the vr001 heatsinks. I ordered mine off ebay uk for maybe 6-7 pounds,. expecting them soon. You could of course, fashion something by yourself.

*OK NOW WITH MY BOTTLENECK THEORY..
*
The better the CPU , the better the fps TILL A SATURATION POINT.

Forget low and high resolutions-As previously stated, the lower the res, the higher the bottleneck ( not enjoying using this word, but no better way to put it ).
There are diminishing returns as you get on with a system with a better processor /ram setup... general points : 

A PH2 has only dual channel memory








An i7 Owner usually puts MORE XP RAM in his machine.
i5 is so close in performance to a PH2, And the i7 does better.
All the above means in short, an i7 machine does better than a PH2 IN EVERYTING ( oh dispute this, its the bitter truth)
Expect better FPS


















SEE? 
The more u stress your GPU , the lesser the difference b/w a PH2 and i7. BUT THE DIFF IS STILL BIG -- this is NOT a bottleneck..

The same is demonstrated here :

















NOW:








IF the PH2 DID NOT ALLOW HIGHER PERFORMANCE ( the definition of a bottleneck) on a 4890 vs an i7 ( look at the OC scores only; and as a bottleneck would define it) then How does a ph2 score higher with 2x4890 than w/ a single 4890 ---

So in short - I can't state something conclusive here, but GPU scaling improves with better CPUs
Here:









And if you move to higher resolutions, here's something that puts my head in a spin:









However, if one was to redefine the use of _bottleneck_ as some attribute of a setup that limits optimal performance, rather than saying that a ph2 x4 will bottleneck a 6850 and hence buying and cfx-ing another won't produce better results







NO. It will improve significantly, but not to optimal levels (i.e. using a 980x w/ the same setup).

Enjoy! 
O don't be harsh--- mostly random stuff from the net w/ my understanding of the same !








ok time to







sleep.
soon.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *skyline385*


yeah even i doubt it......anyways i will keep VCore at 1.156V for now to decrease max temp. as system was stable earlier when i ran 1.156V......hope that would do it.........as for the temps. i guess i got no option but to let em soar but i will make sure they dont rise above 85c

THanks to all


Skyline, if using msi's AF, then set the 2d profile w/ stock volts ( it saves volts too) so that the idle mode kicks in. At times you will find that the card won't switch if not on stock volts !


----------



## skyline385

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Skyline, if using msi's AF, then set the 2d profile w/ stock volts ( it saves volts too) so that the idle mode kicks in. At times you will find that the card won't switch if not on stock volts !










well i already have set 3 profiles in AF but the point is even with the VCore bumped the card easily goes into idle mode so thats not at all a issue here...its just the case of ambient temperature being high which is not allowing for proper passive heat transfer from heat pipes


----------



## chavez885

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


It will if you max res is 1440 x 900 .Its a known fact that the lower your res the worst your bottleneck. countless sources for this info.Thats why you see such a big difference in gpu scores from cpu to cpu in benchmarks even if the gpus are the same and the advantage to the faster cpu gets smaller as the res gets higher.


You don't understand how bottlenecks for graphics cards work. So please read more. The above poster tries to help, I won't bother.


----------



## smoke420

@0razor1 
From Wikipedia, 
A bottleneck is a phenomenon where the performance or capacity of an entire system is limited by a single or limited number of components or resources.

It is a bottleneck no matter how small.And my point was being stuck at lower res makes it worst.Its the fact that most programs arent going to be able to stress your gpu at that res making your cpu more of a limiting factor


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


@0razor1 
From Wikipedia, 
A bottleneck is a phenomenon where the performance or capacity of an entire system is limited by a single or limited number of components or resources.

It is a bottleneck no matter how small.And my point was being stuck at lower res makes it worst.Its the fact that most programs arent going to be able to stress your gpu at that res making your cpu more of a limiting factor


Allright.. that was a whole load of crap for nothing ,, am going to ask someone help demystify the whole issue at hand.. 
CANT SLEEP









I'm back to my cs for now







, but one question -- well, why do I always get-- UPGRADE ur cpu when i cannot right away when I ask a simple question of crossfire-ing a 6870 w/ my current card :/

It does hinder performance, but cfx DOES help. Simple pov- gpu scaling is >> on an i7 .. well, I hope bulldozer can deliver on their promised i7 perf. levels.. Zz

EDIT: and then a bottleneck is limiting, not reducing in proportion ( as w/ cfx scaling) hell We're knit-picking


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Allright.. that was a whole load of crap for nothing ,, am going to ask someone help demystify the whole issue at hand.. 
CANT SLEEP









I'm back to my cs for now







, but one question -- well, why do I always get-- UPGRADE ur cpu when i cannot right away when I ask a simple question of crossfire-ing a 6870 w/ my current card :/

It does hinder performance, but cfx DOES help. Simple pov- gpu scaling is >> on an i7 .. well, I hope bulldozer can deliver on their promised i7 perf. levels.. Zz


Yes xfire will help look at my sig thats why I got it.bottleneck does not mean that performance will stop improving it means its a limiting factor.
It just gets worst the less your cards are stressed.

All of your charts back this up or are within the margin or error.

To your question why would you get a 6870 when you know 6850 overclock so well. my opinion
And I would not get a new cpu with bulldozer right around the corner .
As I said before all this you need a better monitor


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *chavez885*


You don't understand how bottlenecks for graphics cards work. So please read more. The above poster tries to help, I won't bother.


How rude is that..some reading material please. all the stuff he showed me kind of proved my point.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


How rude is that..some reading material please. all the stuff he showed me kind of proved my point.


Thanks!!! This is so British lol







. Don't mind me









Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Yes xfire will help look at my sig thats why I got it.bottleneck does not mean that performance will stop improving it means its a limiting factor.
It just gets worst the less your cards are stressed.

All of your charts back this up or are within the margin or error.

To your question why would you get a 6870 when you know 6850 overclock so well. my opinion
And I would not get a new cpu with bulldozer right around the corner .
As I said before all this you need a better monitor


Not planning a new CPU right away- but I'd like to wait for the AM3+ and 32nm refresh before I think constructively. However, I wonder if these console ports will ever get tuned to run more efficiently :/

I'm planning a 3x900p setup in a few months and then a 6870 down the line with maybe a 32 nm proccy next year.. wishful thinking









But what I'v learned , I should not be worried as the CPU will now be stressed less than the GFx .. cool. Sounds sound to me


----------



## Arizonian

Quote:



Originally Posted by *denydog*


Wish I could justify a second one. The MIR wasn't in effect when I got mine a last month. The Twin Frozr is great!

BTW- MSI site shows two, Twin Frozr II R6870 and Twin Frozr II R6870-OC. Has anyone ever seen the non-OC version of this card? (core clocked at 900 vs. 920)

Mine is OC version, though it wasn't advertised as such. Didn't find out until I received it.


I ordered my first MSI AMD 6870 Twin Frozr II from Newegg on 12/19 and ordered the normal one, they don't even offer the OC, yet the OC was shipped to me. I hope they do the same for my second one that was shipped 1/14 and send the OC version. Can't wait to crossfire since this will be my very first time with two video cards in one rig ever!

Also can't wait for the final release of Afterburner that allows me to voltage tweak my AMD 6870. Any suggestions on a good, safe overclock, core/memory/voltage I could use for any other owners that know what thier doing? LOL because I don't. LOL


----------



## denydog

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Arizonian*


... 6870 Twin Frozr II from Newegg on 12/19 and ordered the normal one, they don't even offer the OC, yet the OC was shipped to me...


Exactly what happened with mine, that's why I asked, and why I still wonder if anyone has gotten a non-OC version. Let us know if your second one is OC as well.


----------



## h00ahj

hey guys.. is this Heaven Benchmark score near around what my 6870 crossfire setup should be?.. Also, my CPU isnt bottlenecking them is it?

FPS: 29.7
Scores: 749
Min FPS: 4.6
Max FPS: 46.5

Binary: Windows 32bit Visual C++ 1500 Release May 21 2010
Operating system: Windows 7 (build 7600) 64bit
CPU model: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 920 Processor
CPU flags: 3304MHz MMX+ 3DNow!+ SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSE4A HTT
GPU model: Radeon HD 6800 Series 8.782.1.0 CrossFireX 1024Mb

Render: direct3d11
Mode: 1920x1080 4xAA fullscreen
Shaders: high
Textures: high
Filter: trilinear
Anisotropy: 16x
Occlusion: enabled
Refraction: enabled
Volumetric: enabled
Replication: disabled
Tessellation: disabled


----------



## Niceteas

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *h00ahj;12017619*
> hey guys.. is this Heaven Benchmark score near around what my 6870 crossfire setup should be?.. Also, my CPU isnt bottlenecking them is it?
> 
> FPS: 29.7
> Scores: 749
> Min FPS: 4.6
> Max FPS: 46.5
> 
> Binary: Windows 32bit Visual C++ 1500 Release May 21 2010
> Operating system: Windows 7 (build 7600) 64bit
> CPU model: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 920 Processor
> CPU flags: 3304MHz MMX+ 3DNow!+ SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSE4A HTT
> GPU model: Radeon HD 6800 Series 8.782.1.0 CrossFireX 1024Mb
> 
> Render: direct3d11
> Mode: 1920x1080 4xAA fullscreen
> Shaders: high
> Textures: high
> Filter: trilinear
> Anisotropy: 16x
> Occlusion: enabled
> Refraction: enabled
> Volumetric: enabled
> Replication: disabled
> Tessellation: disabled


Looks like a bottleneck to me


----------



## h00ahj

Nooooo, but whhhhhyyyyy?! lol


----------



## Yoko Littner

Phenom II's suck at handling multi-gpu set up's

not a fanboy. but this is truth,

Phenom's can choke on multi gpu set up's much easier then core i7's.

Unless u got a 4.0GHZ OC.

i also have a Phenom II 955 C2 @ 3.9GHZ at 1.55V it is the original relase model. so it cant oc as the newer C3's. but it chokes on 3X GTX 280's. my core i7 can handle them easily.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *h00ahj;12017821*
> Butttt whhyyy?! lol


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner;12017825*
> Phenom II's suck at handling multi-gpu set up's
> 
> not a fanboy. but this is truth,
> 
> Phenom's can choke on multi gpu set up's much easier then core i7's.
> 
> Unless u got a 4.0GHZ OC.
> 
> i also have a Phenom II 955 C2 @ 3.9GHZ at 1.55V it is the original relase model. so it cant oc as the newer C3's. but it chokes on 3X GTX 280's. my core i7 can handle them easily.


You have a c2.. lol







, How's ur memory holding up ?? Running your ram @ what timings / freqs ?

Btw, My p2 955 C3 goes to 3.8 GHz @ 1.4V, and anything above that- funny crashes (instant reboots) on P95-64. Even if I go up to 1.55 :/ WILL NOT stay stable beyond 3.8... sad though--- I'd expect a crash at least.. Simply reboots









Boots into windows , p95 will give no errors, and tada- reboots anywhere b/ 10 seconds and 10 minuts









HAAALP!


----------



## Yoko Littner

It's memory is some Corsair XMS3.

Holding up fine actually. very stable.

it cant hit 4.0 though.... 3.9 is it..

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


You have a c2.. lol







, How's ur memory holding up ?? Running your ram @ what timings / freqs ?

Btw, My p2 955 C3 goes to 3.8 GHz @ 1.4V, and anything above that- funny crashes (instant reboots) on P95-64. Even if I go up to 1.55 :/ WILL NOT stay stable beyond 3.8... sad though--- I'd expect a crash at least.. Simply reboots









Boots into windows , p95 will give no errors, and tada- reboots anywhere b/ 10 seconds and 10 minuts









HAAALP!


----------



## Bassdoken

ASUS EAHD6850 owners;

What are temps and noise like? I might be picking one up for my Sandy Bridge build. If not, the MSI GTX 460 Hawk is lookin' mighty fine


----------



## Johnny Thunder

Just got my XFX 6870. OC'd it to 975/1175 on stock voltage, would like to push to 1ghz but there doesn't seem to be voltage control option in Afterburner. Looks to be a reference design. The factory cooler kills me, way too loud.

I'm thinking of replacing it with an Accelero Twin Turbo Pro GPU cooler, is it going to be enough to keep this card cool and quiet? I had a Zalman V1000 on my 4890 and it was silent at full speed compared to this thing at 40%! I'd plan on using the reference cooler back plate to cool the VRAM and other bits.

Thinking of adding a second one down the line, probably summer time.

-Wes


----------



## Regamaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12028160*
> ASUS EAHD6850 owners;
> 
> What are temps and noise like? I might be picking one up for my Sandy Bridge build. If not, the MSI GTX 460 Hawk is lookin' mighty fine


These are great cards, noise is completely bearable even @ 100% fan speed on both cards at the same time. At stock clocks I like to keep the fans at 40% 24/7 and the noise is non-existant.. after hours of Bad Company 2 max temps never go over 60c. For overclocking I'm able to get both my cards up to 920c/1150mem without adding any voltage but due to crossfire my temps can almost touch 70c.

I originally had my heart set on Cayman 6900 series but after they released they didn't appeal to me as much as I anticipated. So I looked back at the 6850 and saw greatness. In crossfire their scaling was incredible beating 5850 crossfire and even 5970 while consuming much less power (requires 1x 6-pin). For $320 after 2x $20 rebates I thought it was the best bang for my buck.

Hope this helps out your decision.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Regamaster;12028383*
> These are great cards, noise is completely bearable even @ 100% fan speed on both cards at the same time. At stock clocks I like to keep the fans at 40% 24/7 and the noise is non-existant.. after hours of Bad Company 2 max temps never go over 60c. For overclocking I'm able to get both my cards up to 920c/1150mem without adding any voltage but due to crossfire my temps can almost touch 70c.
> 
> I originally had my heart set on Cayman 6900 series but after they released they didn't appeal to me as much as I anticipated. So I looked back at the 6850 and saw greatness. In crossfire their scaling was incredible beating 5850 crossfire and even 5970 while consuming much less power (requires 1x 6-pin). For $320 after 2x $20 rebates I thought it was the best bang for my buck.
> 
> Hope this helps out your decision.


That's much better than my current 6850. It gets to 70C+ on stock everything, even with a 1:1 fan profile set up. Would it be possible for you to make a video comparing different fan settings, like 25%, 40%, 60%, 75%, 100%?


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner;12025098*
> It's memory is some Corsair XMS3.
> 
> Holding up fine actually. very stable.
> 
> it cant hit 4.0 though.... 3.9 is it..


i just picked up a 4x1 xms3 from corsair ! Coincidence!


----------



## 0razor1

Get the beta 5 of MSI's AF!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Johnny Thunder;12028308*
> Just got my XFX 6870. OC'd it to 975/1175 on stock voltage, would like to push to 1ghz but there doesn't seem to be voltage control option in Afterburner. Looks to be a reference design. The factory cooler kills me, way too loud.
> 
> I'm thinking of replacing it with an Accelero Twin Turbo Pro GPU cooler, is it going to be enough to keep this card cool and quiet? I had a Zalman V1000 on my 4890 and it was silent at full speed compared to this thing at 40%! I'd plan on using the reference cooler back plate to cool the VRAM and other bits.
> 
> Thinking of adding a second one down the line, probably summer time.
> 
> -Wes


----------



## Regamaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12028516*
> Would it be possible for you to make a video comparing different fan settings, like 25%, 40%, 60%, 75%, 100%?


Sorry but I don't have a good video recorder to do so.. if I did though I'm sure the noise levels would be too low to capture it anyway. Put it this way, anywhere between 0-40% you can hear almost nothing, 45-70% is the range where you start to hear the fan significantly rev up from lowest to loudest (still very quiet though), and anywhere between 71% and 100% all sound pretty much the same.

Here's some links to reviews that should help you get a better idea:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=27537&page=12
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Radeon_HD_6850_Direct_Cu/27.html
http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/asus-eah6850-direct-cu-overclock-edition-review/18/


----------



## unreal104

Add me as member here!!!


----------



## unreal104

first question..my first GPU reached as high as whooping 97c when running furmark :S
IMO this card shouldnt be that hot.. cooler is not a reference one

ambient 28, what should i do lower to the temps ? theres only 1 slot spacing between the two pcie 16x slots on the MB. I'm using CM Elite 310 (i know it sucks) with 2 intake fans from front and side panel both running @1200 rpm

shall i change the casing to better one or any ideas ? If i need to change, which casing would u guys recommend? my budget is not more than $100...

Thanks in advanced


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *unreal104;12028731*
> first question..my first GPU reached as high as whooping 97c when running furmark :S
> IMO this card shouldnt be that hot.. cooler is not a reference one
> 
> ambient 28, what should i do lower to the temps ? theres only 1 slot spacing between the two pcie 16x slots on the MB. I'm using CM Elite 310 (i know it sucks) with 2 intake fans from front and side panel both running @1200 rpm
> 
> shall i change the casing to better one or any ideas ? If i need to change, which casing would u guys recommend? my budget is not more than $100...
> 
> Thanks in advanced


At least a CM 690 II Lite, or if you like more the newest Haf 912 Plus


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *unreal104;12028731*
> first question..my first GPU reached as high as whooping 97c when running furmark :S
> IMO this card shouldnt be that hot.. cooler is not a reference one
> 
> ambient 28, what should i do lower to the temps ? theres only 1 slot spacing between the two pcie 16x slots on the MB. I'm using CM Elite 310 (i know it sucks) with 2 intake fans from front and side panel both running @1200 rpm
> 
> shall i change the casing to better one or any ideas ? If i need to change, which casing would u guys recommend? my budget is not more than $100...
> 
> Thanks in advanced


THE HAF 912 IMO is really a studrier cm335 w/ better looks outside. And of course a few mid-range bonus features.
Look @ the CM scout- really cool when you have to move it around- and a joy to mod. Should get one fro about 70-ish in the market, or the 690 2 advance/plus if u dnt need some stupid features the 690 2 has ! Like that external sata mount!

Amazon.com!!!


----------



## unreal104

@ arrow and orazaor.. thanks guys.. I have decided to get HAF 912 soon...


----------



## tesco

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


ASUS EAHD6850 owners;

What are temps and noise like? I might be picking one up for my Sandy Bridge build. If not, the MSI GTX 460 Hawk is lookin' mighty fine










Oc'd 920/1150 on stock voltages in BFBC2 i get 77C on the core @ 48% fan speed.

anything over 45% fan speed is unbearable for me.

I get a dodgy ticking noise at 20% fan speed, probably a dodgy bearing.

Idles very cool though. 38C


----------



## 0razor1

My thoroughly invaluable suggestion ??

Mod your 310








Mod the hell out of it -- Its surprisingly easy to cut holes- If u want, use rubber rivets to mask the cuts and a *** grill here and there--- U'll have a ton of cash. And the thrill of modding







It's surprisingly easy given the 310's galvanised metal. I have the 335 which is merely a 310 w/ an extra fan slot! I now have, wait for it, 6 total 120 mm case fans, and including EVERYTHING, 9 120 mm 90 cfm fans








And a window, of course. Even slapped on a pair of inexpensive (read dirt cheap) LED handles on top, AND spray painted the interior gold ( same for the back) and black everywhere else for the retro look. 
Going with full uv green sleeving when my stuff arrives later this month ! 
Already have a uv ccfl in place w/ uv green sata cables !

Sorry, no pics in place. My panasonic died on me last week :/ and my phone won't pick it up well enough :/


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tesco*


Oc'd 920/1150 on stock voltages in BFBC2 i get 77C on the core @ 48% fan speed.

anything over 45% fan speed is unbearable for me.

I get a dodgy ticking noise at 20% fan speed, probably a dodgy bearing.

Idles very cool though. 38C


Tesco , you'd want to screw the fan in again w/ probably a rubber grommet?

Didn't you shave off those plastic pieces that keep the fan in place? Or have I confused you with some one else


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Tesco , you'd want to screw the fan in again w/ probably a rubber grommet?

Didn't you shave off those plastic pieces that keep the fan in place? Or have I confused you with some one else

















No that was me and I didnt remove them completetly just shaved a little to make the fan sit higher.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12030940*
> No that was me and I didnt remove them completetly just shaved a little to make the fan sit higher.


So the fan sits higher ??







Don't quite get it . U thought shaving them off would improve airflow ? By way of less obstruction of course. But the fan sitting higher ?:_)

Pic if possible?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


So the fan sits higher ??







Don't quite get it . U thought shaving them off would improve airflow ? By way of less obstruction of course. But the fan sitting higher ?:_)

Pic if possible?










there is a gap between the plastic cover and the fan and raising the fan minimizes the gap.the idea was to get more air in the card because there is another card right next to it.With no card there there is nothing restricting air flow into that big hole. but with a card there I hoped raising the fan would create a low pressure area between the cards. helping suck air between the cards.
Thats the theory anyway.
It seems to work for example my temps are on par with none xfire set-ups.And the top card with the restricted air flow actually stays cooler than the bottom.The card on the bottom is the one with the VRM issue it gets hotter because it pulls more voltage no matter the load.Im sure without the vrm issue the cards would be running at the same temp top or bottom.when switched the cards temps stay the same.
(I do not recommend this it will surely void your warrenty)minimal gain not worth it.
This is by no means the only thing ive done to lower temps.I have a 230mm fan blowing from the front , x4 120mm fans on the door , one 120mm fan blowing from the bottom,and changed the TIM on both cards.Ive done everything I can think of except changing the coolers witch im not going to do its just not worth it for me.Other than some lights this rig is done .Next stop bulldozer and a whole new rig cant wait.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


there is a gap between the plastic cover and the fan and raising the fan minimizes the gap.the idea was to get more air in the card because there is another card right next to it.With no card there there is nothing restricting air flow into that big hole. but with a card there I hoped raising the fan would create a low pressure area between the cards. helping suck air between the cards.
Thats the theory anyway.
It seems to work for example my temps are on par with none xfire set-ups.And the top card with the restricted air flow actually stays cooler than the bottom.The card on the bottom is the one with the VRM issue it gets hotter because it pulls more voltage no matter the load.Im sure without the vrm issue the cards would be running at the same temp top or bottom.when switched the cards temps stay the same.


All right allrite, so it doesn't really apply to me









So.
My plans so far (still waiting for my vr001 and s1 to arrive) is to mount the cooler BELOW the card- i.e. above it , facing the cpu! I belive it can be reverse mounted. Using a pci blower should really, really chill the vrms.

your vrms sound damaged. RMA the card?? 
Bad vrms may just shorten the life of everything: the card itself, and around the card- the including increased sustained load on the psu ??


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Regamaster*


Sorry but I don't have a good video recorder to do so.. if I did though I'm sure the noise levels would be too low to capture it anyway. Put it this way, anywhere between 0-40% you can hear almost nothing, 45-70% is the range where you start to hear the fan significantly rev up from lowest to loudest (still very quiet though), and anywhere between 71% and 100% all sound pretty much the same.

Here's some links to reviews that should help you get a better idea:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.ph...=27537&page=12
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...ect_Cu/27.html
http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...ion-review/18/


Thank you. I'll be reading those shortly.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tesco*


Oc'd 920/1150 on stock voltages in BFBC2 i get 77C on the core @ 48% fan speed.

anything over 45% fan speed is unbearable for me.

I get a dodgy ticking noise at 20% fan speed, probably a dodgy bearing.

Idles very cool though. 38C


Hm... What are your ambient temps?

E/ Urgh. Where is the 6850 Cyclone from MSI? That cooler is super quiet.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


All right allrite, so it doesn't really apply to me









So.
My plans so far (still waiting for my vr001 and s1 to arrive) is to mount the cooler BELOW the card- i.e. above it , facing the cpu! I belive it can be reverse mounted. Using a pci blower should really, really chill the vrms.

your vrms sound damaged. RMA the card?? 
Bad vrms may just shorten the life of everything: the card itself, and around the card- the including increased sustained load on the psu ??










If my vrms are bad so are many others including yours.If I remember correctly you are getting the same high temps and current draw from your cards vmr's.the difference is I have another card to compare it to.If I didn't have the other to compare it would seem normal just hot vrm's.It may be the other way around and one card is really good.All cards are not the same witch is why some overclock better than others.I dont think they would let me RMA for this reason even if I didn't mod the coolers.
VRM temps:
idle
1. 44c
2. 45c
full load furmark
1. 68c
2. 88c
full load OCCT
1.cant remember but around 20c cooler
2. 107c (ran a full 10min run and the gpu maxed at 85c)
This is why OCCT scares me.


----------



## tesco

Quote:



Originally Posted by *bassdoken*


thank you. I'll be reading those shortly.

Hm... What are your ambient temps?



17-21c.


----------



## Bassdoken

Any idea how a single 6850 does with Eyefinity? Or do you think I should just get SLI 460s -> 560s (when they come out)? I do plan on getting two more displays within a few months.


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Any idea how a single 6850 does with Eyefinity? Or do you think I should just get SLI 460s -> 560s (when they come out)? I do plan on getting two more displays within a few months.


If you're gonna game on them you really need another card for optimal performance.


----------



## MentalSoul

Add me as an owner!

Manufacturer: XFX
Model: XFX 6870 Black Edition


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


If my vrms are bad so are many others including yours.If I remember correctly you are getting the same high temps and current draw from your cards vmr's..I dont think they would let me RMA for this reason even if I didn't mod the coolers.
VRM temps:

full load OCCT
1.cant remember but around 20c cooler
2. 107c (ran a full 10min run and the gpu maxed at 85c)
This is why OCCT scares me.


Rofl
Well, check out current draw under occt from gpu z if u can plz .. at about 1.221 /// Im at 81 AMPS *** ...

Occt- takes 2 minutes to hit 92c when Oc'd to [email protected] 1.221V and then Im like - ok







. droop. stop.

they wont fixit in an RMA till the card doesnt die,... and in my country, well rma @ msi is 3 WEEKS   *** ?? And then I have no idea what they'll put in it :/

Sadly, I have no vrm coolers installed. not even a heatsink. all that'll change in a week or so but gpu z gives no vrm temp readout.









So custom cooling FTW !!!


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX;12034142*
> If you're gonna game on them you really need another card for optimal performance.


Well, yeah, but I have to start with one card.


----------



## ikem

how does one go over 1000 core in MSI afterburner 2.1.0 B6?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ikem;12036834*
> how does one go over 1000 core in MSI afterburner 2.1.0 B6?


pretty sure its the same as beta 5.
open the MSIAfterburner.cfg file and change the Enableunofficialoverclocking value from 0 to 1.
you may have to disable ulps.


----------



## ikem

k i was looking though the cfg file but didnt quite know what to look for, thanks


----------



## joeyck

1000/1250 on stock @45% fan speed...

I would like to know how to unlock my cards voltage, ive done everything i could in afterburner -_-


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *joeyck;12038138*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1000/1250 on stock @45% fan speed...
> 
> I would like to know how to unlock my cards voltage, ive done everything i could in afterburner -_-


You're using an old version of Afterburner. You need beta 4 or something like that to unlock voltage adjustments for the 68xx series. Beta 6 for the 69xx series.


----------



## joeyck

yep i got it now xP thank u very much, and I dont need to overvolt, its w/e it runs perfectly fine at 1000/1250 stock volts...


----------



## slytown

Quote:



Originally Posted by *joeyck*











1000/1250 on stock @45% fan speed...

I would like to know how to unlock my cards voltage, ive done everything i could in afterburner -_-


It should be stable stock at 1000/1250. Is it giving you trouble on stock voltage?

Edit: NM. Tandum post FTL.


----------



## kzone75

And finally the X4 965 arrived. Was supposed to get the 955, but they messed up. Silly people.







Got it for the same price as the 955, so I am good. I guess..

Here's the 3Dmark 11-result. http://3dmark.com/3dm11/445440 (the basic test only. I am cheap.) A LOT better than I had with the X2 250..









Have not OC'd the CPU or GPU yet. Need some better TIM first. Will hunt for some tomorrow. Payday then. yay!


----------



## Liranan

If you guys don't mind I'm not going to read 100 or more pages and will just ask a few questions.

- These cards are more limited by memory speeds than core?
- Is it worth returning a 6870 (if at all possible) and getting a 6950 for gaming at 1680x1050?

I doubt I'm going to be able to return this card, so it's a hypothetical question. From the benchmarks I've seen not even the 6970 is really worth it at 1680x1050 but due to the possible modding of the 6950 I was just wondering.

Strangely enough since reverting back to stock and overclocking at stock voltage I've been able to hit 1010/1150. I will see how far I can go before the GPU needs more power but I'm impressed, maybe it needed to a good burn in.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kzone75*


And finally the X4 965 arrived. Was supposed to get the 955, but they messed up. Silly people.







Got it for the same price as the 955, so I am good. I guess.. 
Need some better TIM first. Will hunt for some tomorrow. Payday then. yay!


lapping the proccy?? I figured it wasn't worth it as I'm using the 212+ w/ a sad base.. think I afterall WILL lap it. Shall try to be carefull









To the new 965 !!








Hit 4.0 and temme what temps / volts ? I'm stuck at 3.8 w/ this 955 but the previous 555 unlocked to 4 @ 4.2GHz @ 1.46V so...

Updated unigine score 720p please







. w/ normal tess and no AA , everything else default !! Thanks!


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Liranan*


If you guys don't mind I'm not going to read 100 or more pages and will just ask a few questions.

- These cards are more limited by memory speeds than core?
- Is it worth returning a 6870 (if at all possible) and getting a 6950 for gaming at 1680x1050?

I doubt I'm going to be able to return this card, so it's a hypothetical question. From the benchmarks I've seen not even the 6970 is really worth it at 1680x1050 but due to the possible modding of the 6950 I was just wondering.

Strangely enough since reverting back to stock and overclocking at stock voltage I've been able to hit 1010/1150. I will see how far I can go before the GPU needs more power but I'm impressed, maybe it needed to a good burn in.


No and, probably no.

You can unlock the 6950, so get them before they change that.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Liranan*


If you guys don't mind I'm not going to read 100 or more pages and will just ask a few questions.

- These cards are more limited by memory speeds than core?
- Is it worth returning a 6870 (if at all possible) and getting a 6950 for gaming at 1680x1050?

I doubt I'm going to be able to return this card, so it's a hypothetical question. From the benchmarks I've seen not even the 6970 is really worth it at 1680x1050 but due to the possible modding of the 6950 I was just wondering.

Strangely enough since reverting back to stock and overclocking at stock voltage I've been able to hit 1010/1150. I will see how far I can go before the GPU needs more power but I'm impressed, maybe it needed to a good burn in.


Benches are unreal. Will not materialise into good FPSes w/ games at extreme settings anytime soon. Cut back on quallity somewhere and use optimisations and ur 6870 will perform quite well..

A 6950 IMO is worth it--- all the more if you can unlock it.
Anyway its > 5870 so and the 6870 <5870 .. So .. DO IT









And if nothing, dont get rid of your current card- I wish , just wish I had bought the 6870 over the 6850 
For:
1. more SPs
2. better mem controller ? unconfirmed
3. Better coolers.. OCing a 6850 to 6870 is possible, but more heat.. inhibits the headroom really.
4. Better card overall??
5. VALUE option vs a 5850 ~ 70 ??

but :
1. Single powa conn FTW !!
2. Milk spilled.

Be happy w/ your purchase. Ur gaming at 1050p. This card is PLENTY .. go for ingame performance, not synthetics..

Synthetics are guiding and benching factors only to be used as a yard-stick. Letting them f* w/ ur mood ( they did mine) is making no headway. OC, and you'll see your card bear a 470 in everything








Hitting 1GHz on the core is good. Go for more !! I'm stuck at 940 -- sad cooling.
Up the volts. BURN in on a GPU







??? Think that translates to something like a BURNT GPU in reality









Your mem clock should hit 1200 ?? Mine's at 1185 . But I can't guarantee anything - your mileage may vary! Also -- Bench incremental mem clocks. At some point the ECC on the ram will slow things down before it goes out of hand and you see artifacts-- A good fallback of around 20 MHz will let your card breathe.

Using OCCT for quick 2-3 minute loops while monitoring temps?? This will truly load your card and give you a GOOD idea of stability.


----------



## kzone75

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


lapping the proccy?? I figured it wasn't worth it as I'm using the 212+ w/ a sad base.. think I afterall WILL lap it. Shall try to be carefull









To the new 965 !!








Hit 4.0 and temme what temps / volts ? I'm stuck at 3.8 w/ this 955 but the previous 555 unlocked to 4 @ 4.2GHz @ 1.46V so...

Updated unigine score 720p please







. w/ normal tess and no AA , everything else default !! Thanks!


Installed the proccy, booted up, checked cpu-z. Showed 4.295GHz.







Forgot to set everything to auto in the bios before I booted up.. Took about 5mins to BSOD. 
Will go for 4.0GHz and beyond next weekend. Using stock cooler now. With CnQ off the idle temps are at 40C. I think that's a little high. Not sure, though..

694p on Unigine..

Edit: ok, so I couldn't wait. http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1601556 OCCTing while I type this. Idle temps at 40C and at full load 63C. Only changed the Bus Speed. Everything else is on auto. And CnQ is off. But, good grief, that fan is loud! Definitely need to throw it away. Will do some reading about OCing the 6850 soon. Have a good feeling about this system right now.


----------



## Jodiuh

XFX 6870 doesn't like to go higher than 925. Perhaps they get binned pretty hard?


----------



## denydog

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liranan;12043506*
> If you guys don't mind I'm not going to read 100 or more pages and will just ask a few questions.


I've read all 237 pages so if there is anything else you need to know... I can use the search function too, LOL


----------



## Jodiuh

Haha!


----------



## qbical

I cannot get to the 1Ghz GPU mark for my 6850 even with 1.72v on it, so you guys must have gotten a nice little batch there. Seems over 970mhz on the GPU it will crash the drivers and stuff like that. I havent taken the memory over 1135 either since it gets a little dicey once again. I really wanted to add a second just to try crossfire, but to add another water-block and all that jazz just doesnt seem worth it at all. Overall I am pretty happy w/ this card and run ~98% of my games on maxed res now. I wont lie, since my temps are so low I really want to throw like 2.1V at it (black edition voltage i THINK) to see if i can get to the 1Ghz mark. Hoever, w my luck I will end up w/ a bricked card and very sad.








[/URL]








[/URL]


----------



## Gabe63

I just bought a 6870 reference to try it out. I am impressed. However, if I turn the fan speed up to 43% or more it makes a very bad grinding sound. It is out of ballance and hitting something inside. Have there been many reports of this?


----------



## M0E

I cant say my cards are quiet, but they sure dont grind.


----------



## Gabe63

I was sure that would be the answer. I wonder if my fan was turned down so it would not grind in the BIOS? It never went over 33% in Crysis and hit 77c. Not bad considering the GTX570. Crysis plays better with ATI so it was not suprise the game FPS were much higher than with 1 570.

I will swap it out at Frys this week.


----------



## denydog

Wind roar is normal, but any mechanical sounds, I think not.

You would think if fan is hitting something, it would do it at low rpm also. Hard to say though. Maybe loose wire getting sucked in? Bad bearing?


----------



## Gabe63

I would know if wires were hitting, at least outside wires. I do not plan to take it appart.

If I tilt the case sideways the grinding noise goes away. I am using fan contol so I know when it does it. If I touch the fan with my finger the noise goes away.

I pulled up on the case around the fan but no help. Could be a wire inside. It is not my job to fix it so I will swap it out for another card.

At least I found it and can swap it.


----------



## Jodiuh

Not sure I i've posted my noise impressions yet, but here they are for 6870.

00-30% Below the noise floor of my case fans.
30-40% Audible to tolerable.
40-50% Audible to tolerable with headphones on.
50-100% Unacceptable in any situation.

It sits at 23% in 2D and touches 33% in 3D. I see temps of 77C while playing BC2. That's at stock volts an donning 925 on the core.


----------



## Obito Ishii

I just picked up the ASUS EAH6850 "v2". On this one there is 2 x 6 pin power connectors. All the reviews I read, and the instruction manual states the need to only connect 1 connector. My question is will it matter which connector I need to use? Or do I need to hook up both of em?


----------



## Jodiuh

Why not hook up both?


----------



## M0E

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gabe63;12048598*
> I would know if wires were hitting, at least outside wires. I do not plan to take it appart.
> 
> If I tilt the case sideways the grinding noise goes away. I am using fan contol so I know when it does it. If I touch the fan with my finger the noise goes away.
> 
> I pulled up on the case around the fan but no help. Could be a wire inside. It is not my job to fix it so I will swap it out for another card.
> 
> At least I found it and can swap it.


I had this issue with case fans and a memory cooler before. They had to be replaced. I would contact the manufacture and see if they will issue you an RMA for that reason.


----------



## abu46

*guys whats the diff between ASUS EAH 6850 and V*2
















are their some improvements over the original version, meanwhile i have the older eah 6850


----------



## manitox

Add me:









Ah intel q8400 will bottleneck my 6850?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *abu46*


*guys whats the diff between ASUS EAH 6850 and V*2
















are their some improvements over the original version, meanwhile i have the older eah 6850










Wondering this as well.
Also, does anyone have CFX 6850s in Eyefinity? I plan on going multi-monitor in a few months, and I want to know what GPU set up I should go with.


----------



## manitox

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12051196*
> Wondering this as well.
> Also, does anyone have CFX 6850s in Eyefinity? I plan on going multi-monitor in a few months, and I want to know what GPU set up I should go with.


i think the CF, is ok for eyefinity!


----------



## G-Dragon




----------



## ikem

ok i have 1030/1240 @ 1.230v what are expected idle and load temps?


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Hi guys, I have just joined overclock.net because I have the ASUS 6870 model and I am very, very happy with it, its much better than the XFX GTX 260 Black Edition I had previously.
I only looked at an ATI as an option because my board doesn't support SLI.
Chuffed to bits with this card, I will be looking to get another one when the price drops, though I am aware I will probably need to update my PSU at the same time though.
I am an avid gamer, mostly FPS and RPG







, I am currently playing Crysis again and am getting a steady 45-80 fps at 1920x1080 with all the settings on high and 4x AA and the only reason it goes below 55 fps is when I am crawling through foliage. 
This card is amazing, I read a review reguarding graphics cards and the test on a 5870 in Crysis averaged 56 fps and that was at 1620x1080, considering the 6870 has fewer transistors, a lower power usage, has yet to benefit fully from new drivers and is cheaper than any of the other cards in its performance class it is a stunning bit of kit.
The other game I have tested it on is BFBC2 and even with all the setting maxed out and the res at native I am still getting a solid 60 fps!!!
Anyway I am glad to be here and am sorry to hear some of you have had problems, good luck sorting them out.


----------



## Jodiuh

I blasted it w/ 1.250V and got up to 950! lol...such a sad little bart head.

Room: 23C
Idle: 48C @ 25% fan
BC2: 80C @ 34% fan


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *manitox*


i think the CF, is ok for eyefinity!










Yeah, but I want some specific numbers.


----------



## arrow0309

New drivers arriving today ( now the beta version is called 11.1 hotfix)









http://www.legitreviews.com/news/9866/

We're going to see some bench numbers







as well as new tessellation feature inside the CCC









http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthre...post1336476082


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jodiuh*


I blasted it w/ 1.250V and got up to 950! lol...such a sad little bart head.

Room: 23C
Idle: 48C @ 25% fan
BC2: 80C @ 34% fan


That's definitely the worst oc I've ever seen on a XFX 6870 (consider that mine @1000/1150/1.266v is supposed to be a naff 6870)








Are you sure you can't push further with the same voltage?


----------



## Jodiuh

I might be able to. But I have no desire right now. I see a very small performance gain from 900 to 950 on this card. It just absolutely pales in comparison to the ease and performance jumps from my 460 and 470 adventures. It will undoubtedly be returned on the 25th for a 560 that will give me much better framerates in BC2. Here's my little thread about it.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


New drivers arriving today ( now the beta version is called 11.1 hotfix)









http://www.legitreviews.com/news/9866/

We're going to see some bench numbers







as well as new tessellation feature inside the CCC









http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthre...post1336476082


Looks like the driver release was pushed back to the 25th or 26th.
http://www.legitreviews.com/news/9872/
From the article:
It looks like the press will have access to this driver though as this performance jump is rumored to be needed to compete with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 video card that is coming out next week.

Unfortunately this is what it takes to get better drivers out of AMD.Good job NVIDIA I hope you keep them from sitting on there hands from now on.Competition is a great thing.


----------



## Jodiuh

Oooh! Tess optimization!









Guess I better quit before I start offending bart fanboys.









Too bad, I did like the card. It's really beefy looking compared to the "cheap" looking 460 IMO. And it runs on these two pedals I have here.


----------



## iPodder

How much of a step up would a 6870 be from my gtx 460? Also, is it true that it requires two 6 pin power connectors?


----------



## Jodiuh

Unless you're having a problem w/ GPU usage, it's not worth your time at all.

EDIT: Or need something AMD specific like 25 monitors from a single card.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *iPodder*


How much of a step up would a 6870 be from my gtx 460? Also, is it true that it requires two 6 pin power connectors?


http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon...-6870-review/1

yes it does require two 6 pins.
yes it will be a step up from a 460.(even more since you have the 768mb vs the 1gb model)
How much a step up hard to say read the review.
The only way a 460 is keeping up with a 6870 is if its a superclock model vs. a stock 6870.


----------



## 0razor1

Meh. A SC 460 can be thumped HANDILY by an OC 6850








remember that even in a 6850 You're likely to go up from about 775 core to AT LEAST 920-950// On the better side of things - 1 GHz







OMG ..

Oh sweet- 4 large fosters down and one for the night


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Meh. A SC 460 can be thumped HANDILY by an OC 6850








remember that even in a 6850 You're likely to go up from about 775 core to AT LEAST 920-950// On the better side of things - 1 GHz







OMG ..

Oh sweet- 4 large fosters down and one for the night

















I completely agree except fosters its a rum day for me.lol


----------



## Jodiuh

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Meh. A SC 460 can be thumped HANDILY by an OC 6850










I have not played w/ a 6850, but have owned both a 460 1GB and the 6870. A 460 1GB @ 850Mhz feels smoother in BC2, Alien Swarm, and L4D2 than a 6870 @ 950Mhz. That's @ 1680x1050 w/ 4x or 8x AA in L4D2. Alien Swarm cannot be comfortably run on a 6870 @ 8x AA. In fact, a 768MB 460 runs that game better. A $90 card runs that game better, looks better, costs $100 less, and comes w/ a much better fan that does not sound like a jet engine about to take off @ high volts/clocks.

I've given it a fair shake. I have tried a 6870 for just over a week now and it's simply not the best card for the $ right now. That'd be the 460 768 by a wide margin.

That said, I've seen quite a few systems choke on a 460/470 due to a C2D, C2Q, or Phenom x3/x4. In that instance alone, I'd recommend the $200 Sapphire 5870 @ egg. Even the new Barts and Caymans can have issue w/ those chips, albeit to a much lesser degree.

IMO, unless we've actually used them both in our systems for an extensive period of time, we really shouldn't be recycling what we've read from reviews. It just adds confusion to current chaotic state of "benchmark" reviews. Someday someone will get this right and start offering buying guides and impressions after owning a GPU instead of "number graphs" that tell nothing of what a real gaming session will be like from card to card.

I hope this doesn't offend those of you who have been enjoying their Radeons as that's not my intention, no matter how sharply worded my posting has been. It's a solid card w/ some pretty killer features (6 mon on 1 card for example) or Xfire scaling that puts SLI to shame!










EDIT: I've personally seen 3 460's hit 850Mhz with minimal fuss. There's absolutely no reason to pay more for that unless you have to have the best (that extra special card that might do 950 or 1000). I think there's a couple MSI's going for $150 and $160 right now actually.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jodiuh;12056042*
> I have not played w/ a 6850, but have owned both a 460 1GB and the 6870. A 460 1GB @ 850Mhz feels smoother in BC2, Alien Swarm, and L4D2 than a 6870 @ 950Mhz. That's @ 1680x1050 w/ 4x or 8x AA in L4D2. Alien Swarm cannot be comfortably run on a 6870 @ 8x AA. In fact, a 768MB 460 runs that game better. A $90 card runs that game better, looks better, costs $100 less, and comes w/ a much better fan that does not sound like a jet engine about to take off @ high volts/clocks.
> 
> I've given it a fair shake. I have tried a 6870 for just over a week now and it's simply not the best card for the $ right now. That'd be the 460 768 by a wide margin.
> 
> That said, I've seen quite a few systems choke on a 460/470 due to a C2D, C2Q, or Phenom x3/x4. In that instance alone, I'd recommend the $200 Sapphire 5870 @ egg. Even the new Barts and Caymans can have issue w/ those chips, albeit to a much lesser degree.
> 
> IMO, unless we've actually used them both in our systems for an extensive period of time, we really shouldn't be recycling what we've read from reviews. It just adds confusion to current chaotic state of "benchmark" reviews. Someday someone will get this right and start offering buying guides and impressions after owning a GPU instead of "number graphs" that tell nothing of what a real gaming session will be like from card to card.
> 
> I hope this doesn't offend those of you who have been enjoying their Radeons as that's not my intention, no matter how sharply worded my posting has been. It's a solid card w/ some pretty killer features (6 mon on 1 card for example) or Xfire scaling that puts SLI to shame!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: I've personally seen 3 460's hit 850Mhz with minimal fuss. There's absolutely no reason to pay more for that unless you have to have the best (that extra special card that might do 950 or 1000). I think there's a couple MSI's going for $150 and $160 right now actually.


Wow where do I start.
First it sounds like you made up your mind allready so why the question.

Second no one said the 6870 is the best bang for buck imo its the 6850.

Third no review is going to tell you exactly how the card will perform in your system for that you will have to buy every card and do extensive testing with your own rig.(not reasonable)

Forth if you want the opinion of people who own the cards look in customer reviews on newegg(rely on that if you want)

Fifth higher framerates dosnt always mean smoother gameplay.If your having smoother gameplay with $90 card Its most likely not the card causing the issue did you run driver sweeper before installing drivers what drivers are you using.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12056610*
> Wow where do I start.
> First it sounds like you made up your mind allready so why the question.
> 
> Second no one said the 6870 is the best bang for buck imo its the 6850.
> 
> Third no review is going to tell you exactly how the card will perform in your system for that you will have to buy every card and do extensive testing with your own rig.(not reasonable)
> 
> Forth if you want the opinion of people who own the cards look in customer reviews on newegg(rely on that if you want)
> 
> Fifth higher framerates dosnt always mean smoother gameplay.If your having smoother gameplay with $90 card Its most likely not the card causing the issue did you run driver sweeper before installing drivers what drivers are you using.


This. But keep fanboyism and arguing out of this thread.


----------



## 0razor1

First up, I thought Bacardi Superior was vodka







Turned out to be white rum









I set up a 460 for my bro 2 weeks back, and bundled my 6850 too!

Now- Why I'd say the 6850 wreaks havoc :
1. CFX >>> SLI -- esp w/ memory hungry games-- in ati mem adds up- sli is so-so. Doesnt so ssad.
2. Got this whole AMD ATIAMD radeon thing going







and this red/black case so yeah...
3. The devil is RED









for one still guessing, radeon is RED
4. I'm pretty drunk







STILL OCN AND beer keeps me going








5. a 460- sure. 2-power connectors vs ONE on a 6850.
6. A 6870 = IMO a few extra shaders + better cooling [ The first can be offset by OC'ing the 6850 and the second by using aftermarket solutions- just everybody wants this.. yeah ?? ] Hence the 6870 is not market worthy at the price it retails at ATM.
7. My mobo supports CFX. SLI fail.
8. I don't like nvidia??? They phased out my Aegia physx card ? And I have an old 7800 GTX from BFG. It's trash now. FAIL TO SEE how the 7xxx lineup couldn't have CUDA incorporated into it thru a simple FW flash?? They phase things out- the only reason why 8xxx + series' physx is being carried forward is to woo developers/ customers to the whole physx scene?? Did I mention my GTS 250 HAD NO OC HEADROOM AND DIED 2 MONTHS INTO OP? Btw, was a palit. So much for Made in Japan :/
9. My room just shook- turns out my folks claim t'was an EARTHQUAKE.
10. NVidia is the OFFICIAL benching cheat ?? Current optimisations in ATI drivers DO NOT CHEAT- they let us gain more performance at the cost of quality--- its not like we'd notice texture optimisations @ 75 Hz in game.
11. The latest 11.1a hotfix Drivers presumably greatly enhance the performance of the 6xxx line up ?? And this may be to counter the 560. SO no, 460 FAIL, 560 MayBE at par. For all your know, the 5xxx and 6xxx have more untapped potential ? Dx11 games should, and will do well to optimise their engines. Metro, GTA, BOPS wth







FIX YOUR GAME ENGINE :/
12. Cheaper 3x LCD setup option? Wait for the flex edition from sapphire!
13. The above 12.

I Admit- points 2,3,9 and 13 add absolutely nothing of significance to this argument!!! Time to frag sum ppl online









Side note- iz3d is partially free for AMD customers =)

As previously mentioned, my bro's card OC's well, but to abysmal temps and erratic nvidia driver crashes --- hate it when windows goes- recovered display driver or somethink like that-- anyway, not my concern anyway.

For those of you w/ a 6870- know that you have ---
1. Increased power at your disposal.
2. More SPs.
3. Better cooling.
4. Can realise the peak power of a Barts. -- doesn't sound rite


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12056702*
> This. But keep fanboyism and arguing out of this thread.


Im anything but a fanboy personally I think at most price ranges the cards are pretty much even and nvidia has better drivers.

My point is his criteria for benchmarks is too high and unreasonable.
Quote:


> "IMO, unless we've actually used them both in our systems for an extensive period of time, we really shouldn't be recycling what we've read from reviews"
> 
> You cant expect a review site to play every game at ever setting for a week for each card.


----------



## Seanay00

haha that is the best drunk reply thats actually made sense well done







+1 rep for u. lol


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12056702*
> This. But keep fanboyism and arguing out of this thread.


^ Wait till you read my post









Smoke








here :
1.Mind's definitely made up --- yeah lol . Like GO GO apple mac 9400GT with flash lol.
2.Newegg reviewers mostly consist of a bunch of ppl upgrading from a 6xxx-250(nvidia ) or 38xx (ati) to the 68xx LOL so THEY REALLY DON'T HELP








It's pretty entertaining though to go thru their posts !!
3. I HAVE set up a 460 and 6850 .. AMD ROX da houC:band:
4. If one is buying cards solely with the intention of out-of -the -box performance, the 6870 WILL NOT DISAPPOINT ? Surely there is no cause for concern ?
5. no no no Higher framerates!= smoother gameplay. What's the flip queue size and something similar in NVCPL - i think pre-render frames.. for??
6. Why can't we all live in peace together..









Edit : I'm on some sort of probation by the mods for posting dumb stuff in this state








Let this gooo plzz- took some time and a lot of effort to type- a bit of spell check thrown in - can't seem to find keeys on this keyboard of mine- stupid black on black arctosa- can't see a thing!!


----------



## Jodiuh

My head is actually in a little bit of pain right now.


----------



## qbical

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ikem;12053632*
> ok i have 1030/1240 @ 1.230v what are expected idle and load temps?


daaamn, what are your temps?


----------



## Seanay00

Im running 2 powercolor 6870's and have been extremely pleased with them. At full load they only get up to about 70 degree's and play games flawlessly. I havent really overclocked them much cause i havent had to. My best 3dmark vantage score was 28786 with the core clock over clocked to 950mhz and shader clock to 1120mhz. With no voltage change. Now im thinking i want a couple 2 6970's but does ne1 know if they're worth spending the $800+ dollars on 2 of them over my current 6870's? Or should i wait 6 or so months for when they come down.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seanay00;12056889*
> haha that is the best drunk reply thats actually made sense well done
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> +1 rep for u. lol


Oh thanks!!







Hic*
I'm liking this forum. Really am - some of the case mods and mobo NB cooling solutions here have really inspired me








Some seriously hot dimsums have made my evening tonight







Damn that HOT:devil: garlic Chili sauce. They should make such strong spices illegal ! Alas, am from the land of the spice


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seanay00;12056998*
> Im running 2 powercolor 6870's and have been extremely pleased with them. At full load they only get up to about 70 degree's and play games flawlessly. I havent really overclocked them much cause i havent had to. My best 3dmark vantage score was 28786 with the core clock over clocked to 950mhz and shader clock to 1120mhz. With no voltage change. Now im thinking i want a couple 2 6970's but does ne1 know if they're worth spending the $800+ dollars on 2 of them over my current 6870's? Or should i wait 6 or so months for when they come down.


I wish I had what you have









WHY on EARTH would you want more ?


----------



## Seanay00

im get sucked into new stuff that gets released. I also do alot of flight sims and they require more graphics card processing power than nethn. also alot of ram so i like to keep everything running smooth at high res







so 4gb of graphics memory compared to 2gb would b very nice indeed.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seanay00;12056998*
> Im running 2 powercolor 6870's and have been extremely pleased with them. At full load they only get up to about 70 degree's and play games flawlessly. I havent really overclocked them much cause i havent had to. My best 3dmark vantage score was 28786 with the core clock over clocked to 950mhz and shader clock to 1120mhz. With no voltage change. Now im thinking i want a couple 2 6970's but does ne1 know if they're worth spending the $800+ dollars on 2 of them over my current 6870's? Or should i wait 6 or so months for when they come down.


I don't think there's a shader clock







??? There's a memory clock AFAIK









Go higher on that mem clock - heck , I'm hitting 1185 Happily stable *( i can do 1200 but ecc counts for some perf loss) and that too without decent heatsinks and absolutely NONE on the VRMs


----------



## Seanay00

yea memory clock thats wat i meant. lol. yea i mite play around with it more today, havent been benching much cause it's been damn hot here lately. We've gone from weeks of rain and floods to 35+ degree's Celsius.


----------



## smoke420

@0razor1
when I said higher framerates dosnt mean smoother gameplay I was refering to benchmarks. Only showing average FPS and not minimums does not tell how smooth the game will play.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seanay00;12057047*
> im get sucked into new stuff that gets released. I also do alot of flight sims and they require more graphics card processing power than nethn. also alot of ram so i like to keep everything running smooth at high res
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so 4gb of graphics memory compared to 2gb would b very nice indeed.


I doubt that man , the 570 would suffer from memory issues not the 6870 cfx ?? like come on








what is the world coming to ??

But and CFX a couple of 5GB ddr5 firepro's ??? They support cfx now









LOL- thoroughly invaluable input huh"?









IMHO- turn a spec or two down ? Use some optimisation-- ATT is a great tool and i CANNOT help but iterate its usefulness in giving me 75FPs / Game- Per game profiles THUMP

I cannot imagine a 6870 x2 setup failing on ur demands- the new 11.1 driver releasing wed/thurs next week will up your performance a bit- make sure your drivers and games are well patched..

I'm running 8GB ram- u want to up the ante ? 6vs 12 GB?? :_)
Just saying . But more RAM = Less HDD access stutters.


----------



## Jodiuh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12057013*
> WHY on EARTH would you want more ?


I am also wondering about this. You know the difference between 32x AA and 128x AA really isn't that big of a deal.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seanay00;12057047*
> ...flight sims...


...and there it is. I remember picking up...200...2? Hmmm...anyway it was in a tin metal box and ran walked across my screen. Yes, it was my fault for pushing all the little sliders to the right and clicking "high" or "max," but that's not my fault. I wonder if it runs ok now?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12057158*
> @0razor1
> when I said higher framerates dosnt mean smoother gameplay I was refering to benchmarks. Only showing average FPS and not minimums does not tell how smooth the game will play.


How bout a graph then?


















The other maps and Vietnam especially aren't anywhere nearly as rough on 6870.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seanay00;12057105*
> yea memory clock thats wat i meant. lol. yea i mite play around with it more today, havent been benching much cause it's been damn hot here lately. We've gone from weeks of rain and floods to 35+ degree's Celsius.


My summer's coming , it looms overhead :/
Looking at 45^C ambients ( out of the case- wonder what it'll be inside )
WHY didnt we just have compulsory WC on such cards ?? Life would be SO MUCH SIMPLER -- Well worth the extra $$.
I haven't the guts to do it myslef.

@ smoke-- well, I knew that - but the pre-rendered frames , microstutter* cough , stutter ( min framerates) all adds up ?? also inconsistent cpu bottlenecks??


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jodiuh;12057215*
> I am also wondering about this. You know the difference between 32x AA and 128x AA really isn't that big of a deal.
> 
> ...and there it is. I remember picking up...200...2? Hmmm...anyway it was in a tin metal box and ran walked across my screen. Yes, it was my fault for pushing all the little sliders to the right and clicking "high" or "max," but that's not my fault. I wonder if it runs ok now?
> 
> How bout a graph then?


^LFMAO









but he's so right









But I wouldn't let ONE SPIKE (drop, well) DICTATE my gameplay experience.
Most of it's over 60 fps , yes ? Be happy








sorry for the caps- too lazy to look for smileys rite now.


----------



## Jodiuh

It looks a lot worse if you see only min and avg. But looking @ the graph you can clearly see that 6870 kept things above 60 97% of the time. Also, that last spike's more than likely an MCOM blowing up in my face. Framerate doesn't really matter when you're exploding...pretty much a done deal at that point.


----------



## Seanay00

yea im thinking of putting another 6gb of ram into the system, giving me 12gb total. Thats the biggest killer for flight sims i think. I play everything at max so it can b quite demanding on the cards and ram. ne1 played A-10 DCS? the graphics r ridiculous but it does stutter when i start blowing **** up. So im thinking more ram is the go or ramping up the cards a bit.


----------



## Obito Ishii

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Obito Ishii;12048868*
> I just picked up the ASUS EAH6850 "v2". On this one there is 2 x 6 pin power connectors. All the reviews I read, and the instruction manual states the need to only connect 1 connector. My question is will it matter which connector I need to use? Or do I need to hook up both?


Alright so I decided to hook up both 6 pin connectors and it works awesome.

I do however have a glitch of some sort. Only in MSI Afterburner, and the device manager does it state I have a 6800 series card. In CPU-Z, HW Monitor, AMD Overdrive, and the FFXIV benchmark program it states I have 2 x HD 4550. Now my previous card was a single HD 4550.

Also I have been using both my 32" LCD, and 24" LCD as monitors. Even with the HD 4550, it only showed up as a single card. Anyone know how I can correct this?

My Windows Experience Index for the graphics went from 3.8 to 7.3, and damn near x9 better benchmark, so it would seem like the card is working.

I'm going to post a few pics once I get back home.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seanay00;12057428*
> yea im thinking of putting another 6gb of ram into the system, giving me 12gb total. Thats the biggest killer for flight sims i think. I play everything at max so it can b quite demanding on the cards and ram. ne1 played A-10 DCS? the graphics r ridiculous but it does stutter when i start blowing **** up. So im thinking more ram is the go or ramping up the cards a bit.


RAM is dirt cheap right now ..

BUY 00000 FORGET 000 PAWN!!!!


----------



## Seanay00

yea i can get another 6gb of Kinston Hyperx 2000mhz for $155 AUD. gone down $40 in 2months. crazy cheap!


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Seanay00;12059608*
> yea i can get another 6gb of Kinston Hyperx 2000mhz for $155 AUD. gone down $40 in 2months. crazy cheap!


I WISH* i had that ... my ram sucks ..
some corsair 1600 cl9 xms 3 F*%*%*


----------



## Ash_

soooo guys I OCed my 6850 as suggested by coffeejunkie on his thread and I have it working a lot better than before with SmartDoctor, I guess I just had some issues with Afterburner when I first started it.

Core Voltage: Stock @ 1149
Core: @ 910
Memory: @1180

I just cranked the fan after a while because it dropped down to 20% when it was cruising @ 66*C and I dropped my CPU to all stock speeds... Very happy with this. What do you guys have ur 6850 @?










oh here is a snap shot of my profile to prove something so that i can belong to this group


----------



## Seanay00

Wow ash welcome to the thread







who says pretty girls dont play games!!! lol not a bad overclock on ur 6850. I know my 6870's will b stable at 1200mhz memory and 950mhz core. Dont really have to push them to hard as yet as 6870's in xfire r very impressive. Im waiting till winter to really get some overclocking going and get that max benchmark score. lol


----------



## Regamaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ash_;12059985*
> Very happy with this. What do you guys have ur 6850 @?


Got both of mine @ 920/1150 stock voltage with 70% fan speed on load and it's a dream but I'm gettin CPU crashes due to all the extra heat, and the worst thing is I can't even see my damn core temps because of the unlocked core. :/

I guess I'm gonna disable the unlocked core but leave the same voltage and speed to get an idea of what temps the core is hitting, probably gonna put the cpu under water soon.


----------



## 0razor1

Hot stuff!!
Just don't book me officer!

And welcome to the forums!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ash_;12059985*
> soooo guys I OCed my 6850 as suggested by coffeejunkie on his thread and I have it working a lot better than before with SmartDoctor, I guess I just had some issues with Afterburner when I first started it.
> 
> Core Voltage: Stock @ 1149
> Core: @ 910
> Memory: @1180
> 
> I just cranked the fan after a while because it dropped down to 20% when it was cruising @ 66*C and I dropped my CPU to all stock speeds... Very happy with this. What do you guys have ur 6850 @?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> oh here is a snap shot of my profile to prove something so that i can belong to this group


----------



## Ash_

oh here is heaven


----------



## Ash_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12060229*
> Hot stuff!!
> Just don't book me officer!
> 
> And welcome to the forums!


It's my brother u got to worry about.. he is a federal agent though I can't say for who, and i prob should have said that, he doesn't like us talking about it... he is the one who told me about this site


----------



## Seanay00

lol well note to self "dont piss ash off"


----------



## Liquoid

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
http://i.imgur.com/jR4DO.png


----------



## kzone75

What I've been up to this morning. And it's not even 6am yet.


----------



## Regamaster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Ash_*


oh here is heaven


You mind redoing your benchmark on Heaven 2.*1* please? I ran 2.1 on my crossfire setup at the same settings you used and the numbers just didn't add up, thanks (i'll post my results too).

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kzone75*


What I've been up to this morning. And it's not even 6am yet.


Overclock that CPU Northbridge brah, you should be able to reach 2.8GHz since your chip is the C3 revision. It'll bump your RAM and CPU score in WEI to 7.7. You'll notice a definite increase in throughput and faster start-up.


----------



## Bassdoken

Anyone have Trixx v3.0 or 3.0.2? I don't have a registered Sapphire card (obviously lol), so I can't get it.


----------



## Regamaster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Anyone have Trixx v3.0 or 3.0.2? I don't have a registered Sapphire card (obviously lol), so I can't get it.


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S71ZJ4SW


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Regamaster*


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S71ZJ4SW


Thank you. +rep


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ash_;12060318*
> It's my brother u got to worry about.. he is a federal agent though I can't say for who, and i prob should have said that, he doesn't like us talking about it... he is the one who told me about this site


+ rep for successfully intimidating me from across the Indian ocean









Your benches are good. Quite good-

Few thoughts :
1. Push that Vcore and core clock- Maybe the summer doesn't permit it







I too hold off till the winters to get monster OCs
2. that memory clock- 1180.. Do note that these cards have poor IMCs-- the ram controller if you please. Not this limits the OC potential- Sure these cards can be bumped from 1000 stock to about 1150~1200 But do take care -An ECC function kicks in - This potentially LOWERS bandwidth because of the overhead. NOW the ECC tries its level best to keep the artifacts away. So while you think that no artifacting = better OC , not really.
So this is my recommendation - Hit the artifacting point on the ram.
Fall back about 15~20 MHz.
If you want , You can run a bench and see the diff. yourself.









Another point- referring to that guide that you used, the artifact scanning is NOT real time - May I recommend OCCT to you ? OCCT with error check will potentially BURN YOUR CARD- ITS that great a stress tool! However , keep a keen eye on your CPU core temps using - any odd tool- msi AF will do its job satisfactorily! The second it hits 90*C - stop the run.
Now if your card is heating up very quickly ( <2 minutes to 90C) then run the Occt test a couple of times.. This will ensure a very good measure of stability.
However, before you decide to run the card 24x7 at that particular freq / volt setting, I'd recommend you run ATLEAST 5 loops of OCCT till 90C, let it cool, and again.

Now, do throw some better clocks this way. 910 is pretty poor imo if your card is stuck @ those freqs. OC headroom varies from card to card- 910 is still A BIG improvement over 775 stock, but I've seen some cards do 1000+ on air !!!

I'm fitting a custom cooling solution in a couple of days- I'd suggest you do the same IF you're worries about the heat- when OC'd with a bit of upped voltage, these card jump to insane thermal limits , ESP. under occt- be careful, if you dont stop the loop @ around90 , this tool can , and prolly will fry your card- however, its arguably the BEST stability/artifact checking tool out there--
Under GPU-z ( another nifty tool) you shall see your VDDC current hit amazing amps- mine hit 82 the other day compared to 40 on the kombustor (that comes with MSI AF).

Happy OC'ing !








And if you want your clocks to return to 2d idle I'd suggest hitting RESET and saving that as an option-- I.e. the VOLT CHANGE TO DEFAULT MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE 2D PROFILE!!
This fixes MOST of the downclocking problems people have been having.

BTW, I found this little piece of info and I'm all for it -- HOWEVER, the problem w/ it is that if u change ur clock in MSI AF, Clocks first revert to 2d and the to the new clocks/ volts // so do the below after each clock adjustment!!_
"Found a nice way to test if you are pushing the mem speeds too far btw - run furmark in extreme burning mode windowed at 640*480 and watch the min fps, it should be almost identical to the current fps, if you push too hard on the mem the min fps dips as the memory tries to correct itself.

Pretty nice way to fine tune the memory speeds."_


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Regamaster;12063021*
> Overclock that CPU Northbridge brah, you should be able to reach 2.8GHz since your chip is the C3 revision. It'll bump your RAM and CPU score in WEI to 7.7. You'll notice a definite increase in throughput and faster start-up.


_Bugga







_
My wei on 1333 cl9 ram ( 8gb) is 7.9 .... zz so much so for G.skill eco ram








My cpu score @ 3.8 GHz , 2.9 GHz is the same - 7.5
My gfx is stuck at 7.8 regardless of the OC 

WEI FAIL.
I have a c3 rev and i CAN't hit 2.8 on my nb :/
You've inspired me to try again!!!









KZONE!!
OC IT







the nb WILL , as regamaster said, boot your platform's performance is soo manyyy waysss:thumb:
NB moves your IMC and L3 cache performance to new heights, and I believe for about a 3.8~4GHz OC, a 2.6Ghz+ NB freq. is recommended === not just for performance but stability too !!
I wonder why the ph2 had an NB in the first place :/


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liquoid;12061256*
> Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
> http://i.imgur.com/jR4DO.png


Dude, Go with higher clocks-- you must have the stock sapphire cooler right ? How is it ? It was some 10$ cheaper than MSI over here ..










Should be running ATLEAST 1140+ mem 900+ core on stock volts-- If colts are locked , then get the MSI AF beta 5 or 6


----------



## DB006

Anyone using the beta 11.1 CCC and driver on their 6850/6870? I got a great increase in FPS in some benches and games









http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/downloads/treiber/grafikkarten/doc_details/169-amd-catalyst-111a-hotfix.html

Download link bottom of screen


----------



## kzone75

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Regamaster;12063021*
> Overclock that CPU Northbridge brah, you should be able to reach 2.8GHz since your chip is the C3 revision. It'll bump your RAM and CPU score in WEI to 7.7. You'll notice a definite increase in throughput and faster start-up.


Thanks. Will get right on it. Been keeping everything on auto so far, just to see how stable it is. +rep for you


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DB006;12064952*
> Anyone using the beta 11.1 CCC and driver on their 6850/6870? I got a great increase in FPS in some benches and games
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/downloads/treiber/grafikkarten/doc_details/169-amd-catalyst-111a-hotfix.html
> 
> Download link bottom of screen


here's another link
http://files.ngohq.com/ati/AMD_Catalyst_Win7_8.82.2Beta1_Jan13.exe
No ,I've removed it . Would rather wait a week for the official relase ( 26th Jan) rather than go with a non functional CCC :/ Tess. scaling has NOT BEEN IMPLEMENTED- even though you see a slider.
And for the most- ATT does my job so the new ccc needs to be made lighter.

Fps increase , yes. Avp is definitly smoother. No more fps drops







nice ness








By default a ton of optimisations are enabled. Fix that and then post your scores??


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

Add me to the list


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kzone75;12065123*
> Thanks. Will get right on it. Been keeping everything on auto so far, just to see how stable it is. +rep for you


Aww, you shouldn't have ( don't really mean that







) !!

Strange - tried AGAIN and can't seem to cross 2.6 ..
Same with the CPU - can't cross 3.8 (1.40V) even at 1.55V -- My temps are <53*C Prime95. Shame. Wonder what to blame it on -- a bad PSU ?? ( mine did go for repair once- lol, this UPS of mine was putting out 360Volts with my LCD on standby and 240 without my lcd attached- Blew my smps and took my 260gtx with it ) or bad bad mobo ??

I'm running a m4a785td-v evo
See and help :+)_
"We were also very impressed by ASUS' load line calibration in the "V". Put simply, it can be fine tuned to any degree of vdroop desired. These features, coupled with a very solid power delivery system made overclocking with the "V" a very pleasurable experience. We were able to push our X2 550 well beyond 4GHz, and could even achieve reference clocks beyond 350MHz which good news for those without Black Edition processors."_

_- 8+2 Phase CPU power design that supports 140W CPUs
- Very effective and tweakable load-line-calibration! Solid voltage regulation.
- 352MHz reference clock achieved!
_
Again : a reviewer's NB freq. :/









More :_
" most people with our board tend to get 2800 w/ 1.3v okay."_

So where do I go from here ? Am running 2600NB @ 1.31V and 3.8GHz Cpu @1.40Vcore ???


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari;12065455*
> Add me to the list


Lol, My signature's in ur pic









Think I'm hijacking this thread, one page at a time


----------



## HobieCat

I've got a quick question for you 6850 owners...

Can the 6850 output to three monitors using the two DVI's and the HDMI? Or do you need to use the two DVI's and the display port?


----------



## Ash_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Regamaster;12063021*
> You mind redoing your benchmark on Heaven 2.*1* please?


will do


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HobieCat;12067615*
> I've got a quick question for you 6850 owners...
> 
> Can the 6850 output to three monitors using the two DVI's and the HDMI? Or do you need to use the two DVI's and the display port?


No one of the dvi's is connected to the hdmi .So for three monitors you have to use a display port.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12068082*
> No one of the dvi's is connected to the hdmi .So for three monitors you have to use a display port.


For >=three displays, either go in for a sapphire flex edition when it releases, else an active DP-> DVI/ HDMI convertor is required. New models are dirt cheap ~ 25$ no kidding, and even amd eyefinity certified. They MAY draw power from a USB slot or so !

amazon.com , my friend!


----------



## HobieCat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12068082*
> No one of the dvi's is connected to the hdmi .So for three monitors you have to use a display port.


Thanks +rep
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12068219*
> For >=three displays, either go in for a sapphire flex edition when it releases, else an active DP-> DVI/ HDMI convertor is required. New models are dirt cheap ~ 25$ no kidding, and even amd eyefinity certified. They MAY draw power from a USB slot or so !
> 
> amazon.com , my friend!


Yeah, I knew about the active display port adapters because of the 5000 series cards, I just didn't know if that was the case with the 6000 series cards too.

Thanks +rep


----------



## Ash_

here Regamaster,

core volt: 1149
core clock: 910
core mem: 1160


----------



## tesco

Well this is a bit crap.

AMD are saying they are changing the price of ATI 6870 to $225 / Â£140.

Makes me want to get rid of 6850 now and get one of them = ( Don't know what to do. = (


----------



## 0razor1

Ok. crap! that's 2 /3rds of what ir retails for here  
Mainly and squarely aimed at the 560 I suppose , esp. w/ the rushed drivers (11.1a)

I'd say wait and pick up a 6870 4 months hence !

but then again, q3 we're gonna see 28 nm card  so I'm thinking I'm gonna sell off my 6850 i a few months


----------



## Regamaster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kzone75*


Thanks. Will get right on it. Been keeping everything on auto so far, just to see how stable it is. +rep for you










No problem man, thanks for the rep.









In the screenshot below you can see my CPU-NB overclock, it's a C2 so I got it to stablize @ 2.6GHz/1.35v.

On my old 95W 1055T I was @ 4.0GHz/3.0GHz CPU-NB but like an idiot I decided to sell it.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Ash_*


here Regamaster,

core volt: 1149
core clock: 910
core mem: 1160


I see what you did thar.. you disabled anti-aliasing (had mine @ 4x). Thanks for the benches though, I appreciate it.

Here's what your score would look like if you decide to go crossfire, 99% scaling ftw playyya.


----------



## smoke420

CPU 3.9 NB 2.8
GPU 920/1150


CPU 3.9 NB 2.8
GPU 1000/1200


BTW Regamaster I like your system .Great minds think alike.lol


----------



## Jodiuh

Took back the 6870 today. 470's $10 less and performs much better for me, especially w/ newest drivers.

Hopefully you guys will see a boost w/ some new drivers too.


----------



## groodal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jodiuh;12074767*
> Took back the 6870 today. 470's $10 less and performs much better for me, especially w/ newest drivers.
> 
> Hopefully you guys will see a boost w/ some new drivers too.


i just did the oposite







i sold my GTX 470, oc'd to 775/1820mhz and bought a 6870, and i've just oc'd it to 980/1150mhz. i'm actually more satidfied with the 6870 ;P


----------



## Ash_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Regamaster;12072277*
> I see what you did thar.. you disabled anti-aliasing (had mine @ 4x). Thanks for the benches though, I appreciate it.
> 
> Here's what your score would look like if you decide to go crossfire, 99% scaling ftw playyya.
> [/IMG]


I didnt disable AA, I ran it w/o changing anything.. and yes I plan on picking up a second 6850 and a second 22'' monitor when I get the $..


----------



## Jodiuh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *groodal;12076919*
> i just did the oposite
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i sold my GTX 470, oc'd to 775/1820mhz and bought a 6870, and i've just oc'd it to 980/1150mhz. i'm actually more satidfied with the 6870 ;P


Good to hear things worked out for ya! It's so dependent on persona cpu/gpu config, you just never now.

A buddy of mine couldn't get a 570 to do anything for him...plopped in a 5870 and it took off. It seems Fermi really needs a core i5/7 to take off right now.


----------



## 0razor1

I'm wondering -- what's better ??

A GOOOOD 23in monitor pref >1080p along with my current 19in 900p ???
Or 19 x 3 eyefinity???

Pros: (option 1 )
1. Finally full HD
2. Separate workspaces.

Pros : (option 2 )
1.EYEFINITY GAMING!!!
2. Frankly, nothing else
Cons (option 2)
1. NO full hd so some movies are a waste.
2. My dad'll get pretty pissed :/

Both options are gonna cost me ~ 230$

Add to the above!!

Thanks!!

FYI-- will upgrade gfx later this year-- +6870 or 28nm FTW!!


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jodiuh;12077034*
> Good to hear things worked out for ya! It's so dependent on persona cpu/gpu config, you just never now.
> 
> A buddy of mine couldn't get a 570 to do anything for him...plopped in a 5870 and it took off. It seems Fermi really needs a core i5/7 to take off right now.


Jodiuh, what volts are u running that ram at ?? Thought they were rated for about 1.3V but those timings (yum)!

Btw, my friend has that ram and his mobo won't go below 1.5V so he's scared ****less . Infact he's using a single 4gb dimm borrowed from me ATM.

Acc. to the JDEC spec.. DDR3 should not ruin before it hits 1.8 V right??
EDIT : can someone recommend a program in windows to set ddr3 timings ?? Other than AOD thanks!! I'm running mismatched 2x2 and 4x1 ATM and is somehow running in dual channel.


----------



## Ash_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12077096*
> I'm wondering -- what's better ??
> 
> A GOOOOD 23in monitor pref >1080p along with my current 19in 900p ???
> Or 19 x 3 eyefinity???


One is much better... if u said 2x 19'' and a 23'' in the center than that, but come on, 3x 19'' monitors.. = 4 black 1/4'' bars in front of ur viewing area where as the one high quality screen would yield better viewing pleasure. At least that's how my eyes work. Well, that coupled with the fact that at work I look at a 19'' all day and the dimensions are just irritating.


----------



## Jodiuh

It means nothing w/ regard to performance, but this ram is sick. I'm up to 1600Mhz, 7.7.7.24 @ 1.3750 now!


----------



## groodal

the only thing is i got lower score in 3Dmark Vantage because of PhysX







but i'll leave physx disabled in most games anyways!


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ash_;12077295*
> One is much better... if u said 2x 19'' and a 23'' in the center than that, but come on, 3x 19'' monitors.. = 4 black 1/4'' bars in front of ur viewing area where as the one high quality screen would yield better viewing pleasure. At least that's how my eyes work. Well, that coupled with the fact that at work I look at a 19'' all day and the dimensions are just irritating.


Well, eyefinity will have to wait a few years till I get my own landing pad








Going with a good 23in monitor then -- lookinf doe an LED , not just led backlighting.. Buying in a coupla months' time and will worry about it then









Thanks anyway!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jodiuh;12077298*
> It means nothing w/ regard to performance, but this ram is sick. I'm up to 1600Mhz, 7.7.7.24 @ 1.3750 now!


That's what I said.. But he claims that low voltage ram should work w/ the new bulldozers and doesn't want to use the stick till then :/ such a twerp. I'm getting my stick back from him  12 GB FTW!!!









EDIT: may I ask you to post your spd and memory timings from cpu-z ?? were your sticks 1333 to begin with ? His are 1600 . No idea what Lats.


----------



## Jodiuh

I'm on netbook now...post later.

The default spd's 7.8.7.24 2T @ 1.35V. I have them running @ 7.7.7.24 1T @ 1.375V.


----------



## Regamaster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12073513*
> BTW Regamaster I like your system .Great minds think alike.lol


Thanks, I guess so. It's still a work in progress though.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ash_;12076925*
> I didnt disable AA, I ran it w/o changing anything.. and yes I plan on picking up a second 6850 and a second 22'' monitor when I get the $..


True it is disabled at start. I meant to say you ran the bench without it, my bad, it's just that people usually always enable it.

As for that second 22" hope you don't plan on gaming on that because havin 2 bezels where your crosshair should be sucks.


----------



## Ash_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Regamaster;12077942*
> As for that second 22" hope you don't plan on gaming on that because havin 2 bezels where your crosshair should be sucks.


english much?? 2x monitors is more than a year away, much can change.


----------



## 0razor1

Lol bezel's that black border around your monitor == every1 knows








crosshair is that funky marker that gives u an idea of what you;ll be shooting at -- in an FPS --- a first person shooter.

Eeengleesh!!


----------



## Ash_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12078521*
> Lol bezel's that black border around your monitor == every1 knows
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> crosshair is that funky marker that gives u an idea of what you;ll be shooting at -- in an FPS --- a first person shooter.
> 
> Eeengleesh!!


well crosshairs and my formula crosshair are two different things.. read it thinking that you are talking about a mobo and it makes non-sense... get it now.. and I wouldnt game on both.. I would game on one while having FB/iTunes and skype up so my site *sight* picture would be just fine (and i am noobish and didnt know what bezels were so shut it







)


----------



## smoke420

@ASH you have a pretty nice system but you can get a lot more out of it if you overclock.My 945 will go from 3.0 to 3.6 with no voltage bump.
This will help a lot.
http://www.overclock.net/amd-general/525113-phenom-ii-overclocking-guide.html
BTW anything above 3.7 needed lots of voltage and a good cooler.imo you should try to find a good cooler with your system as is that will be your best bang for buck.(performance per dollar)


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ash_;12078843*
> well crosshairs and my formula crosshair are two different things.. Read it thinking that you are talking about a mobo and it makes non-sense... Get it now.. And i wouldnt game on both.. I would game on one while having fb/itunes and skype up so my site picture would be just fine (and i am noobish and didnt know what bezels were so shut it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> )


lol^


----------



## kzone75

meeh My mobo sucks butt. Trying to up the CPU NB. Any thing above 2.2GHz and the comp won't post at all. More voltages? No difference. Are the CPU NB and HT link supposed to be at the same level? Because my bios claims that they need to be..







I run at 4.2GHz now. And stable.







I need water cooling.. Think I'll order one of those CoolIt Vantage Eco-thingies.. Cheap n' efficiant.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1607910

oh And I suck at OCing.


----------



## 0razor1

LOoooOL








lol^ at ur mobo








My mobo's goving me hell above 2.6 and I though mine sucked









You have a good proccy- HF








Mine won't climb over 3.8 @ 1.4V regardless of the votls thrown at it --- and its cold here... Summer's gonna wreak havok on all of my work  Time to pickup even more fans/ a better heatsink then// Oh well/
Again, I'll re-iterate-- you have a very good processor sample. Nice OC btw








Up your ram timings ?
Believe it or not?? 
My G.Skills Value ram sticks are now running at 7-9-8-23 (from 9-9-9-25)@ 1.65V and I just started to tweak them =) This is ofcourse @ 1600MHz.. Think tighter timings help in a big way--- have shaved off about 10/59ns latency so far so yeah, big improvement.

My advice??

Head on to reading this -- nice document. Look at AOD but avoid using it IMO :/ AOD fails w/ my mobo and this processor : 955.

Do get back to me w/ a better OC







The NB IMO is the biggest factor holding these chips back--- having a -ve effect on ram badnwidth, latency, and the same for the L3 Cache..

Something I don't get =- the L3 cache is part of the processor ./. Now why the heck did AMD have to go and put it on the NB bus >

ssaaddnneess

AFAIK -- The coolit LC LC ( thats actually low cost liquid cooler) is SAD :/
Buy a scythe mugen 2 or a true or better ( a CM V6 or something) and do realise that anything < a corsair H70 is a WASTE OF CASH.. and suffers from cooling problems.

The coolit will NOT handle a 125W OC ( that's pegging ur cpu @ about 135+W) amd 45nm processor.

Either H70 or good air cooling.

LOL - Oc'ing ur mobo's HT link above 2000MHz can cause potential instabilities + dada corruption on your data channels-- the HDD and PCI-e too I think.
I have mine @ 2GHz and am happy.
Saturating this HT is suppossed to be very difficult.

Best of luck!

EDIT: may I recommend THIS link for ram tweaking








Helps a ton. there are better guides, but if you have a light background of the way things work, you actualy get to understand timings better


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kzone75;12080134*
> meeh My mobo sucks butt. Trying to up the CPU NB. Any thing above 2.2GHz and the comp won't post at all. More voltages? No difference. Are the CPU NB and HT link supposed to be at the same level? Because my bios claims that they need to be..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I run at 4.2GHz now. And stable.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I need water cooling.. Think I'll order one of those CoolIt Vantage Eco-thingies.. Cheap n' efficiant.
> 
> http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1607910
> 
> oh And I suck at OCing.


no your ht link and NB dont have to be the same you should try to keep it close to 2000.


----------



## 0razor1

I said so too







But oh we posted within a minute of each other


----------



## smoke420

@0razor1

Im stable 3.8 v1.56 but I can play games and bench at 3.9 v1.65.For some reason I have more stability issues at 3.9 when watching movies or web browsing.On my old asus ddr2 board this chip would boot at 4.0 but no go with this one.I agree the h70 is overpriced but if you can find a h50 there great.I have mine mounted outside my case and can run prime at v1.65 and my temps never past 53c. now a couple questions
1.How much voltage did you try?
2.Do you think its safe to run such high voltage givin my temps are so good?
(changed tim on my NB/VMR ,and SB heatsinks and there are temp sensor's built in all over board that never past 41c)
3.If temps is the only thing I have to worry about how much voltage should I try?


----------



## 0razor1

High volts degrade your silicone over time --- not quite so with the CPU but significantly shorten the RAM , Mobo components etc... 
1.65 is OK on WC . why not-- My recommendation == stick to the 3.8.. even 3.7 if that requires significantly lower volts ???
1. I went A complete 1.5 V up ( 1.4to 1.55) for a 100 MHz increment (3.8 to 3.9) FAIL-- maybe temp related-- but I dont think so - would happen randomly as load fluctuates-- particularly @ idle :/ can u believe that ?? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that temps had abs nothing to do with it :/
2. Temps well, further dictate the life of the component. But just cause one could Liquid He his prooccy doesn't let him run >2V core right ??
Your chip need to have a high leakage tolerance , else the chip won't work well with high voltages ... I'm talking 1.4+ so thats not too much to go on- Every1's mileage may vary. You're running 45 nm.. anything over 1.55 V is harmful. Some may debate that but I have pretty strong opinions on extending component life-- overvolting and killing a processor, or any other silicon is easily detected and I like warranties.. Can't afford a new one tomoro if this dies -- absolutely no chance of an RMA :/
3. No you don't just worry about the temps. Worry about the volts..
Thermal dissipation and backward leakage current increase EXPONENTIALLY on increasing current/ volts.. so a 100MHz requiring a .9V boost  not worth it :/

FYI - the max volts on the new x6 has further been reduced-- gives u an idea of what harm it can do.


----------



## kzone75

@0razor1 I will get that 2.6 or 2.8GHz one way or the other, dang it.







Will get busy with that this weekend.

Yeah, the cpu is good. I almost love it. But why does it say 115.5W on HW monitor? And some of the other cpu monitors as well.. 
The temps are now at 39C idle/53C stressed. So it's not all bad. Running the AC freezer 64 pro at 100%. Still much quieter than the stock cooler was on idle.








Will try to read into the memory timings. But I am already way up the list on Everest.









I have AOD but I don't really use it for anything. I'll read that document over the weekend. I LOVE reading as long as I understand what I am read about. lol

You expect me to go higher with this cpu?







I am wondering if the 80C on the 770 chipset is something that's holding me back.. But Gigabyte said it's normal. I would say it's a misread. Only a wild guess.. Fluctuates between 79-81C.. And I hate those numbers. I want everything to be









ok Won't get the CoolIt then. Don't want a lot of tubes inside the case so I just might get air cooling. Or I could put the comp outside. It's -15C out there now.









Thanks for the link on ram tweaking. Will read that this weekend also.









You just got yourself another +rep.


----------



## 0razor1

My pleasure--Thanks for the rep! Do know that the AOD guide is THE MOST CONCLUSIVE in house guide out there.. and If you can work with AOD, look no further







Just change the preferences to advanced mode and then simply head over to the performance clocks/ tuning section !









Can't help it but this has really stuck a note







Can't get it out of my head. If we can have pictures of Fugly gfx card here, then why not this ?

With the mobo and at the rate you're going (in a good way- the weather is now COLD, in the summers you're OC will fall, so read up now and oc now. Don't wait till the heat catches up wid'ya! instabilities actually start creeping in after the 50C mark on OC's , not on stock freq.s so while a processor may be rated to take upto 62C on stock, >50C when OC'd will yield funny results)

With regards to the NB, I honestly think 2.6+ is going to be a headache=- that usually requires 1.4v on th NB while the default should be 1.1.. and if 1.1 is giving u 80C on the NB then either attach a fan to it .. or ur mobo's dead soon. Could just be a badly calibrated sensor, I'd recommend using a thermal gun ( those fancy thermometers) to check temps manually. 
Do you have good case airflow ??
Here I choose to take the safe route out -- 1.3V gives me 2.6Ghz NB.
1.45 Gives me 2.8GHz NB. Not worth it - heat-wise , and read below:

remember to some extent, an individual max OC ( minimal instability) of a ton of components ( the CPU , GPU , RAM , NB, HT etc ) together make for ONE UNSTABLE SYSTEM







( simply multiply







like a 2% failure rate on 3 components tends to an 8% failure rate together =X not acceptable ). So if a pc is meant to crash once a month on 24x7 on ONE max oc component, then with 7 MAX OC components - besides the exxtra strain on your cooling and PSU, expect it to crash on an avg, once every second day or so :/ not cool eh ? 
Now when i say maxx oc ... I mean the 3.9 u strive to achieve @ 1.6 ish not worth it IMO :#
Close to happy hours .. its 3:45 am here and must get a beer and sleep soon!

I'd like to keep pace with your OC'ing but I'm headed back to the hostel in a bit , and the net's pretty unstable ( blocked, honestly) there.. I keep circumventing it but then they beat me round it again and again. I've given up for the most-- So OCN will have to work on EDGE (miserable speeds) and so I may be out of touch come this sunday









Quote:



Originally Posted by *kzone75*


@0razor1 I will get that 2.6 or 2.8GHz one way or the other, dang it.







Will get busy with that this weekend.

Yeah, the cpu is good. I almost love it. But why does it say 115.5W on HW monitor? And some of the other cpu monitors as well.. 
The temps are now at 39C idle/53C stressed. So it's not all bad. Running the AC freezer 64 pro at 100%. Still much quieter than the stock cooler was on idle.








Will try to read into the memory timings. But I am already way up the list on Everest.









I have AOD but I don't really use it for anything. I'll read that document over the weekend. I LOVE reading as long as I understand what I am read about. lol

You expect me to go higher with this cpu?







I am wondering if the 80C on the 770 chipset is something that's holding me back.. But Gigabyte said it's normal. I would say it's a misread. Only a wild guess.. Fluctuates between 79-81C.. And I hate those numbers. I want everything to be









ok Won't get the CoolIt then. Don't want a lot of tubes inside the case so I just might get air cooling. Or I could put the comp outside. It's -15C out there now.









Thanks for the link on ram tweaking. Will read that this weekend also.









You just got yourself another +rep.


----------



## kzone75

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*











With the mobo and at the rate you're going (in a good way- the weather is now COLD, in the summers you're OC will fall, so read up now and oc now. Don't wait till the heat catches up wid'ya! instabilities actually start creeping in after the 50C mark on OC's , not on stock freq.s so while a processor may be rated to take upto 62C on stock, >50C when OC'd will yield funny results)

With regards to the NB, I honestly think 2.6+ is going to be a headache=- that usually requires 1.4v on th NB while the default should be 1.1.. and if 1.1 is giving u 80C on the NB then either attach a fan to it .. or ur mobo's dead soon. Could just be a badly calibrated sensor, I'd recommend using a thermal gun ( those fancy thermometers) to check temps manually. 
Do you have good case airflow ??

Close to happy hours .. its 3:45 am here and must get a beer and sleep soon!

I'd like to keep pace with your OC'ing but I'm headed back to the hostel in a bit , and the net's pretty unstable ( blocked, honestly) there.. I keep circumventing it but then they beat me round it again and again. I've given up for the most-- So OCN will have to work on EDGE (miserable speeds) and so I may be out of touch come this sunday










That is a nice pic.







Reminds me a bit about my imaginary girlfriend.









The NB sink is a bit loose, I noticed. Seems to be very common with these mobos. Why do they even use springs on the nb AND the sb? Will tighten it up tomorrow somehow. IF temps drop then I'll try to up it. At 2.2 now.. If not, I'll keep it at 2.2..

Airflow should be good. Or so they say, the people that's got the HAF Xs. Got another 200mm fan coming in tomorrow. And thinking about installing the gpu air duct. Should be able to cool off both the nb and gfx card with the air duct.

1 am here and I have to go to work in about 4 hours.









Good night y'all.


----------



## reflex99

you guys and your HT link..

QPI is where it's at

OR DMI if you are looking at my sig rig


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *reflex99*


you guys and your HT link..

QPI is where it's at

OR DMI if you are looking at my sig rig


All u rich folks with your big guns... but u know what they say ...









Anyhow. Ht links are useless :/ I dn't really care abt them . they have mroe than enough bandwidth!

U DO OC your QPI/DMI right?? Cause officially DDR3 is only supported @ 1333MHz by both platforms, right?? :/ So we OC out NB's to get better perf. out of ram , and sadly L3 cache 

So do we .. Can't we all co-exist








Cheers !!


----------



## Regamaster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Regamaster*


As for that second 22" hope you don't plan on gaming on that because havin 2 bezels where your crosshair should be sucks.



Quote:



Originally Posted by *Ash_*


english much?? 2x monitors is more than a year away, much can change.












Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Lol bezel's that black border around your monitor == every1 knows








crosshair is that funky marker that gives u an idea of what you;ll be shooting at -- in an FPS --- a first person shooter.

Eeengleesh!!


Thanks for clearing that up for me.

On the contrary I like how this thread shifted into a Northbridge overclocking tutorial, and sadly it's all my fault.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Regamaster*


Thanks for clearing that up for me.

On the contrary I like how this thread shifted into a Northbridge overclocking tutorial, and sadly it's all my fault. [IMG alt=""]https://www.overclock.net/images/smilies/frown.gif


Lol - i really did laugh out loudly a second back








well, kzone I think just went up from an athlon x2 to a 965!! Three cheers ??

It was obligatory for me to help w/ the NB oc'ing -whatever little I know. We started somewhere around the point where our processors were holding us back and how a processor's performance , and the ram's , is tied around the NB









And after we're done with the ram and NB tuning ( pcie too now







, we'll repost our benches









Oh, and along came ash -- the bezels weren't aimed at you LoL.

So the whole thing's









Notice the hot chick (FOx) I just posted .. how's that relevant? Invites views and I'm hoping enough encouragement for someone to post something substantial about their 68xx cards-- like new coolers / mods etc..


----------



## Liranan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *reflex99*


you guys and your HT link..

QPI is where it's at

OR DMI if you are looking at my sig rig



















Sometimes it's a shame we can't down rate people, because either this was a troll or just some fanboy comment. If it was a joke it comes off as a very bad one.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


All u rich folks with your big guns... but u know what they say ...









Anyhow. Ht links are useless :/ I dn't really care abt them . they have mroe than enough bandwidth!

U DO OC your QPI/DMI right?? Cause officially DDR3 is only supported @ 1333MHz by both platforms, right?? :/ So we OC out NB's to get better perf. out of ram , and sadly L3 cache 

So do we .. Can't we all co-exist









Cheers !!










Ignore the troll.

DDR3 is only supported at 1333MHz but it can be OC'd in the BIOS, meaning the 2000MHZ memory you bought is useful.

NB overclocking increases bandwidth and throughput, increasing performance. I have noticed an increase in FPS and smoothness in games when I run several games/applications simultaneously. I went from 2000 to 2600 last week and am glad I did, for one my BOINC WU's complete faster, which proves there's performance to be gained.

You are dead against overclocking of the NB without actually understanding it, while it's true you won't experience a massive boost, it is enough, as far as I see it.

For questions regarding North Bridge, memory and CPU speeds please post in the correct AMD section.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liranan;12085563*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes it's a shame we can't down rate people, because either this was a troll or just some fanboy comment. If it was a joke it comes off as a very bad one.
> 
> *LoL -- don't care.. Poor chap!*
> 
> Ignore the troll.
> *done^*
> 
> DDR3 is only supported at 1333MHz but it can be OC'd in the BIOS, meaning the 2000MHZ memory you bought is useful.
> *Too cheap to buy 2000MHz memory :/ Am running 3 banks now and that means even 1600 is a bit of an issue- instead running 1333 cl9 at cl6 and testing as I type
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Infact, 1333CL6 is giving me better results and benches than 1600cl9 !! Am running a C3 rev. and probably, using a better memory kit would enable ~ cl7 @ 1600-- that would be ideal, but I'm, stuck with value ram and performance ram  What a bummer--- But still a, thoroughly impressed with my cl6 achievement !! current timings ( not even close to finished) -- 6-8-8-22 2T*
> 
> NB overclocking increases bandwidth and throughput, increasing performance. I have noticed an increase in FPS and smoothness in games when I run several games/applications simultaneously. I went from 2000 to 2600 last week and am glad I did, for one my BOINC WU's complete faster, which proves there's performance to be gained.
> *That's what I've been talking about! Am at 2.6 Myself-- working to get 2.8 running soon!*
> 
> You are dead against overclocking of the NB without actually understanding it, while it's true you won't experience a massive boost, it is enough, as far as I see it.
> *LOL< read the last three pages and you'll see, THATS ALL I've BEEN TALKING ABOUT !!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The NB OC is the single biggest boot ( after maybe an SSD --- but the NB OC IS FREE!!! --one can give his PC !*
> 
> For questions regarding North Bridge, memory and CPU speeds please post in the correct AMD section.


Aww well, am well aware of the fact that I've taken over this thread..








But you see... NB, RAM, CPU OC's five us PH 2 owners better gfx performance, and that;s what it's all about!


----------



## Liranan

Sometimes you're a little hard to understand, which is why I thought you were against NB overclocking. The only problem I have with increasing the NB speed is the added CPU temperature, and that I can't increase mine to over 2600.

The only thing I have come to dislike about my 6870 is it's lack of overclockability. I just can't get past 1000 entirely stable, without applying a lot of Voltage and I can't increase the memory past 1150 either. I was wondering about getting a 6850 but knowing my luck I knew I would get a 'bad' one, so went with a 6870 instead. Love the card, but I can see AMD dropping their price, making me cry. That's always the way it is, you buy something and a month later either its price drops or something new's out.


----------



## 0razor1

The same , prices for the 6850 have dropped by 10$ here locally in stores, without any real market influences, and I wonder what they'll be worth in 6 months -- weep +1.

Yikes, maybe that makes my 6870 CFX so much closer to reality!!! Lol so someone's loss is my gain









You have a ton of extra SPs to boot and better cooling- Why be upset?? Good hand picked 6870s, the wat i see it, are making it to the xfx black editions , and heck , some even do 1GHz on stock O.O
Oww!

EDIT: Nb speed add to cpu temps ??? :O how where and when ! I want to know


----------



## arrow0309

New arrival on the hall of fame factory overclocked 6870 fuelled by *SAPPHIRE*










"clock speeds are increased to 970MHz for the core and 1150Mhz (4.6 Gb/sec effective) for the memory"

http://www.techpowerup.com/138882/SAPPHIRE-Announces-HD-6870-TOXIC-and-Vapor-X-Editions.html


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12090595*
> New arrival on the hall of fame factory overclocked 6870 fuelled by *SAPPHIRE*
> 
> "clock speeds are increased to 970MHz for the core and 1150Mhz (4.6 Gb/sec effective) for the memory"
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/138882/SAPPHIRE-Announces-HD-6870-TOXIC-and-Vapor-X-Editions.html


That is one TOXIC OC







want me one of those







will wait for the prices to fail and then go snag one of em :_)


----------



## arrow0309

About the prices in Europe:

Radeon HD 6870 Toxic €222.24
Radeon HD 6870 Vapor-X €217.56


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12090611*
> That is one TOXIC OC
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> want me one of those
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> will wait for the prices to fail and then go snag one of em :_)


Pretty soon I'm going to get this one to accomplish my CrossfireX Gigabyte 6870


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12090629*
> About the prices in Europe:
> 
> Radeon HD 6870 Toxic €222.24
> Radeon HD 6870 Vapor-X €217.56


Bump from 900 to 970 on the core :/ the vapor x is a not go --- settle foe the toxic.. Those prices will fall in a month's time :
1. Nvidia will launch their 560 ( yumm, but 2 little 2 late)
2. Seeing that these cards will be non reference, whats 5 euros for ~ an 8% bump ??

UPDATE : Pricing on the 560 : And I expect custom solutions (MSI... blah blah) to retail higher !

Apparently, pre-orders can already be set for the price of 280.33 Euro

Compare this with <200E for the 6850 :/










YEAH,, right .. Budget middle -end ? LOOOL "??? NOT -- and outperforming a 6870 by THAT MUCH ??
Where does the 570GTX stand then ?? Or for that matter, the 480 GTX ??
So we can all agree that GF100 fermi was &**!
And how exactly is a 460 so muc hfaster than a 6870 ??? LOLAX xP


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12090710*
> Bump from 900 to 970 on the core :/ the vapor x is a not go --- settle foe the toxic.. Those prices will fall in a month's time :
> 1. Nvidia will launch their 560 ( yumm, but 2 little 2 late)
> 2. Seeing that these cards will be non reference, whats 5 euros for ~ an 8% bump ??
> 
> UPDATE : Pricing on the 560 : And I expect custom solutions (MSI... blah blah) to retail higher !
> 
> Apparently, pre-orders can already be set for the price of 280.33 Euro
> 
> Compare this with <200E for the 6850 :/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> YEAH,, right .. Budget middle -end ? LOOOL "??? NOT -- and outperforming a 6870 by THAT MUCH ??
> Where does the 570GTX stand then ?? Or for that matter, the 480 GTX ??
> So we can all agree that GF100 fermi was &**!
> And how exactly is a 460 so muc hfaster than a 6870 ??? LOLAX xP


It's insane for me paying 280 euro for a gtx 560








And, not the least consider that a occed 6870 will get very close to a 6950









*ATI IS DEAD! LONG LIVE ATI*







oops it's called AMD now


----------



## smoke420

depends on what you call budget or middle.Its more like the bottom of the top.At that price the GTX 560 is going to compete with the 6950 .Cant find pricing on it yet but it may cost more.
The 6950 is $269.99 after MIR on newegg with free shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161355

Nvidia still did a great job they forced new drivers out of amd.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12091122*
> depends on what you call budget or middle.Its more like the bottom of the top.At that price the GTX 560 is going to compete with the 6950
> Nvidia still did a great job they forced new drivers out of amd.


Thats what I want







Better drivers. Beefier game engines. 28nm.. Where's the progress at !
:cheers:To ATI! ([email protected] go tegra :/ )

Hope i won't be cheering to AMD soon in remembrance.. they're taking a bashing!


----------



## kzone75

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Regamaster;12083693*
> On the contrary I like how this thread shifted into a Northbridge overclocking tutorial, and sadly it's all my fault.


Not your fault at all. My fault entirely. Me and my oh so many questions..







I'll go into silent mode from now on.







Safer that way.. I'll read more and ask less.


----------



## Lostcase

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit DDR5

Don't have a GPU-z screenshot, away from my rig..

will this do?


----------



## Jodiuh

Although, I did wind up w/ the 470, those massive "mid tower case" size boxes of the Asus 68 and 69 series cards @ Fry's were mighty tempting!


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12090710*
> Bump from 900 to 970 on the core :/ the vapor x is a not go --- settle foe the toxic.. Those prices will fall in a month's time :
> 1. Nvidia will launch their 560 ( yumm, but 2 little 2 late)
> 2. Seeing that these cards will be non reference, whats 5 euros for ~ an 8% bump ??
> 
> UPDATE : Pricing on the 560 : And I expect custom solutions (MSI... blah blah) to retail higher !
> 
> Apparently, pre-orders can already be set for the price of 280.33 Euro
> 
> Compare this with <200E for the 6850 :/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> YEAH,, right .. Budget middle -end ? LOOOL "??? NOT -- and outperforming a 6870 by THAT MUCH ??
> Where does the 570GTX stand then ?? Or for that matter, the 480 GTX ??
> So we can all agree that GF100 fermi was &**!
> And how exactly is a 460 so muc hfaster than a 6870 ??? LOLAX xP


When in doubt or faced with the absolute truth








That man rightly deserves a cult following.

If these cards perform almost equal to a 6950 they're not that impressive, as there really isn't that much difference between the 6950 and 6870. Looking at the price of these things the 560 is competing with the 6950 and not the 6870. If they drop the price to 6870 levels they might be making a loss yet again.

The 470 and 80 are EOL. They've been replaced with the 5xx's, which are cooler, smaller and, thus, better. If you see a good deal on a 470 or 80 I'd snag it up, as they're still excellent cards.


----------



## 0razor1

Oh no ofcourse not, Don't care much about benches.. this stuff was in the news







hence the copy-paste









What you say scares me and either the world is getting richer but since when couldn't we afford the lowest model of a product lineup ?? The 560 must be an amazing card by the looks of it , and if it does turn out to be so I'm prolly getting rid of mine before the 560 hits the markets here :O

A month or two without a graphics card ( I do have a trusty 7800GTX to hang onto) would well be worth the wait if I could snag a 6950 for the price and then prolly unclock to a 6970 ??


----------



## PixelFreakz

Can I join? This is an old pic with my original terrible cable management. I'll get a more up to date pic when i pack up my case. funny thing is I was getting high temps (yes I redid cable management) and was getting up to 101C a few days ago... then today... I pinch the cooler to the board kinda gently and do my weekly dusting... turned off the computer for 6 hours... and then when I turned it back on... the temps went down to 90 in furmark. Is this just an indication of the s***** job they did with the thermal compound? and should I reapply my own?


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12097357*
> Oh no ofcourse not, Don't care much about benches.. this stuff was in the news
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> hence the copy-paste
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What you say scares me and either the world is getting richer but since when couldn't we afford the lowest model of a product lineup ?? The 560 must be an amazing card by the looks of it , and if it does turn out to be so I'm prolly getting rid of mine before the 560 hits the markets here :O
> 
> A month or two without a graphics card ( I do have a trusty 7800GTX to hang onto) would well be worth the wait if I could snag a 6950 for the price and then prolly unclock to a 6970 ??


I had edited my post but forgot to click the save button.

What will be great about the 560 is is forcing prices down. I am really glad there's real competition this year. Last year the 400's and 5000's didn't drop in price and stayed really high. This year AMD and nVidia are fighting for dominance, which is what we want to see. Of course I won't buy nVidia (I love GFlops and have come to terms with having to stick with this 6870 for another year or two) but I do love it when they release a great card, as it benefits everyone.


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PixelFreakz;12098666*
> Can I join? This is an old pic with my original terrible cable management. I'll get a more up to date pic when i pack up my case. funny thing is I was getting high temps (yes I redid cable management) and was getting up to 101C a few days ago... then today... I pinch the cooler to the board kinda gently and do my weekly dusting... turned off the computer for 6 hours... and then when I turned it back on... the temps went down to 90 in furmark. Is this just an indication of the s***** job they did with the thermal compound? and should I reapply my own?


Those are some extremely high temperatures, I would definitely change the paste and see what happens. If not I'd RMA the card, as it's only a matter of time before it dies.


----------



## smoke420

Just installed new drivers and so far I dont have stability problems with my physx card installed and games look the same .And to my suprise msi afterburner is now using my fan profile with all of my GPU's nvidia and amd alike(awesome) no matter how many monitors I have installed.I wont be changing my drivers again unless I run into a problem.A slite drop in scores to gain stability is not a problem for me but curiosity has got the best of me. Here's my problem I cant remember what I was getting at stock clocks.

Does 6000 sound right for 6850's xfire in 3dmark 11?


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Right, I had a go at overclocking last night and have got it up to 1030/1200!
I am now getting between 70 and 90 fps in BFBC2.
Even more happy!!!! hahahahaha


----------



## smoke420

Heaven 2.1 1680x1050 @920/1150

10.12
FPS:70.1
Scores:1766
Min FPS:11.7
MaxFPS:166.6

11.1a
FPS:68.2
Scores:1718
Min FPS:20.6
MaxFPS:161.8
For me the small loss in performance is well worth the stability gained.


----------



## 0razor1

Smoke, which drivers in particular? 11.1a







??

Waiting for the official whql release on the 26th!!!

6000 for a 6850 is too low in CFX .. I'd come to expect a minimum of 7K and 8K on OC's ??

Maybe its the phenom 2   Curses.


----------



## smoke420

http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=cat&dwn_cat_id=18 AMD Catalyst 11.1a Hotfix

Im using the one's you posted a link to on page 245. just installed last night well this morning 4am.have not even opened ccc to change any settings yet.Ill take the small drop in max fps for double the min fps any day.still testing but im pretty happy so far .I can say for sure the crazy instability I had with my physx card and mod are gone.and msi AB fan profile is working on all 4 of my gpu's (that alone makes it worth it for me).+1 for the link TY


----------



## 0razor1

Lol thanks for the rep. Happy to help ( do i sound like Vodafone :I ) ??
YOU have FOUR FRIGGIN CARDS :/
That doesn't make sense or I'm seeing double- Could just be both









Oh, and physx ?? RLLY?? I just hate nvidia for what they've done with it. Reserved comments 
Could be less bothered on using my 260 for that  physx crap. They've basically incapacitated my Aegia card ! DAMN U NVIDIA !!

Done venting. Rant over!

Well, with these drivers, u'll see that 1.They're not whql.
2. Max fps going down :OMG RLLY??
3. Tess. slider dysfunctional.

Wait till the 26th and expect awesumness from ati!!!
What sucks is that nvidia'll be launching the 560 on the 25th and anadtech etc etc will prolly NOT wait a day for the drivers (or they'll use beta and won't bother to update the results) just to push their benches out the doors first!!

Such is life..
And refer to my posts on the previous page and you'll just laugh at the benches.. Exactly how is a 460 > a 6870 LOL? And again , how is 280Euros mid-budget >>> FAIL>>>

Nvidia back to the drawing board .. And If they're going to launch at 880 core --- there goes overclocking out the window...

Ah well, speculation is such a beautiful thing, lets me pass the time








Too bad the more authentic* benches will be tainted with old drivers..


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12065136*
> here's another link
> http://files.ngohq.com/ati/AMD_Catalyst_Win7_8.82.2Beta1_Jan13.exe
> No ,I've removed it . Would rather wait a week for the official relase ( 26th Jan) rather than go with a non functional CCC :/ Tess. scaling has NOT BEEN IMPLEMENTED- even though you see a slider.
> And for the most- ATT does my job so the new ccc needs to be made lighter.
> 
> Fps increase , yes. Avp is definitly smoother. No more fps drops
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> nice ness
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *By default a ton of optimisations are enabled. Fix that and then post your scores??*


Smoke , lol , you must take this into consideration!!!
Last night in town se getting (am) quite drunk!!
It's back to studies then!!

While the times are high







!!!


----------



## smoke420

@0razor1
the tess slider works for me .cant say to what extent but if I pull it all the way to the left tess is off.use can use this to beat heaven 2.1. *****









Heaven 2.1 1680x1050 @920/1150



Heaven 2.1 1680x1050 @920/1150 tess off (despite what heaven says)



Just checked and I can change it to what ever level I want and it helps PERFORMANCE a $hit load


----------



## 0razor1

Lol, all the tech sites state clearly that this is a preview feature amd PLANS to implement soon... Lol @ benches... maybe some win7 background process popped up ?? An AV update + startup scan ?? Could be anything, I'll be thoroughly convinced only if u could run those test again.. Would definitely add a ton of value to the thread. Honest!!

_AMD Radeon HD 6900 and AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series:
• 3DMark Vantage improves ~7%
• 3DMark06 improves ~3%
• Call of Duty Black Ops improves ~20% at 4xMSAA and up to 35% at 8xMSAA
• Riddick Assault on Dark Athena SSAO performance improves ~20%
• Unigine Heaven OpenGL performance improves ~10% at moderate, 30% at normal and 100% at extreme tessellation levels

AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series:
• Aliens vs. Predators improves ~9% at 2xMSAA and up to 20% at 4xMSAA
• Batman Arkham Asylum improves ~4%
• Crysis Warhead improves ~2-4%
• Metro 2033 improves ~28% at 4xMSAA

AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series:
• Battleforge DirectX 11 performance improves as much as 6%
_
AMD Optimized Tessellation
_The Catalyst Control Center includes an early prototype of some new tessellation controls. Our goal is to give users full control over the tessellation levels used in applications. The default selection "AMD Optimized" setting allows AMD, on a per application basis, to set the best level of tessellation. The intention is to help users get the maximum visual benefit of Tessellation, while minimizing the impact on performance. Currently no applications have been profiled, *so the "AMD Optimized" setting will be non-operational until further notice.*

The "Use Application Settings" option gives applications full control over the Tessellation level. Users can also manually set the maximum tessellation level used by applications with the slider control

The long term goal for the "AMD Optimized" setting is to use the Catalyst Application Profile mechanism to control the AMD recommended level of tessellation on a per application basis. AMD's intention is to set the tessellation level such that we will not be reducing image quality in any way that would negatively impact the gaming experience."
_

The way I see it -- this is still dysfuntional though not much info is given. Heck, this is not even available on the amd website so I wouldn't go far enough to say AMD will have a beta release on the 26th.. but that's what I strongly feel!!!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12100411*
> Heaven 2.1 1680x1050 @920/1150
> 
> 10.12
> FPS:70.1
> Scores:1766
> Min FPS:11.7
> MaxFPS:166.6
> 
> 11.1a
> FPS:68.2
> Scores:1718
> Min FPS:20.6
> MaxFPS:161.8
> For me the small loss in performance is well worth the stability gained.


Strange








I personally see some performance gain with the 11.1a drivers (tessellation optimized for AMD) at def clocks:

10.10e
FPS:28.2
Scores:709
Min FPS:16.2
Max FPS:52.8

11.1a
FPS:29.4
Scores:740
Min FPS:17.3
Max FPS:56.3










Now let's check out the gain in oc mode


----------



## 0razor1

Bad eengleesh^ let it be


----------



## 0razor1

Loke what I SEE!!! AMD GET ON WITH THE OFFICIAL DRIVERS, WILL YOU ??

For the love of .. (market sales) ??? Loyal ATI fans?? COME ON!!!
Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Strange








I personally see some performance gain with the 11.1a drivers (tessellation optimized for AMD) at def clocks:

10.10e
FPS:28.2
Scores:709
Min FPS:16.2
Max FPS:52.8

11.1a
FPS:29.4
Scores:740
Min FPS:17.3
Max FPS:56.3










Now let's check out the gain in oc mode


----------



## smoke420

like you said the slider is broke .to get it to work remove check at tessellation AMD optimized then move the slider then put the check back and apply settings.It sounds stupid but it works trust me.
The Performance gains are huge


----------



## 0razor1

Am all for it. Guess i can't wait till Thursday then !! Installing now ... But going offline 

back to college and the internet's blocked for the most of it :/

Last post 2moro morning







And thats the warps for me , atleast for a whil!!









EDIT :: well, the slider isn't broken per se, but thery're no real profiles so every game u now play will probably have unacceptable levels of compromise.. but do I care - abs not!! Sad tess anyday is > triangles


----------



## smoke420

More Proof 
Low Tess @920/1150
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/487128
No Tess @920/1150
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/487313
I have a higher GPU score's with 920/1150 then I had at 1020/1200.
No Tess (you dont need it in a bench lol)
No Tess @1000/1200
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/487491
Thats 9100 GPU score lol
The highest Gpu score I ever got with 10.12 was 8400 with 1020/1200


----------



## arrow0309

If Tessellation is what you're looking for just take a look

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=337224


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12110716*
> If Tessellation is what you're looking for just take a look
> 
> http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=337224


Thanks this is what ive been saying with the ability to change the level of tess.your scores are a lot higher.If you have a monster rig all this means is higher scores.If you dont this could make games that werent playable with tess playable now.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12102728*
> Lol, all the tech sites state clearly that this is a preview feature amd PLANS to implement soon... Lol @ benches... maybe some win7 background process popped up ?? An AV update + startup scan ?? Could be anything, I'll be thoroughly convinced only if u could run those test again.. Would definitely add a ton of value to the thread. Honest!!
> 
> The way I see it -- this is still dysfuntional though not much info is given. Heck, this is not even available on the amd website so I wouldn't go far enough to say AMD will have a beta release on the 26th.. but that's what I strongly feel!!!


@0razor1
Have enough proof it works yet. lol
I dont think the profiles are that big of a issue because you can lower tess to a point were there is no visable difference and still get performance gains.Hopefully Im wrong but I think the profiles are going to suck.A seperate profile for each game means updates from AMD sorry but I cant trust that.Truthfully I dont think these drivers would be coming out if it wasnt for the GTX560.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Thanks this is what ive been saying with the ability to change the level of tess.your scores are a lot higher.If you have a monster rig all this means is higher scores.If you dont this could make games that werent playable with tess playable now.


Man, just have a look of my own record (tess. 0 @1000/1150)









FPS:
37.6
Scores:
948
Min FPS:
22.7
Max FPS:
69.8


----------



## smoke420

I think you can get a little more check out my new record @1000/1200
This is it for me one of my cards gpu hit 99c.lol


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I think you can get a little more check out my new record @1000/1200 
This is it for me one of my cards gpu hit 99c.lol



Notice that I'm allways running Unigine Heaven at 1680x1050 4xAA and 16x Anisotropic Filtering








For crossfire benches I'll just have to wait some extra days (not yet decided what to choose between the GV-R687OC 1GD and the Twin Frozr II)








btw_the one that I have now somehow reaches 63-64Â° C in oc lol


----------



## kzone75

What on earth are they using as thermal pads on these gfx cards? The thing was like cheese. Temps dropped ~10C when I applied the ZM-STG2. Geez!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kzone75*


What on earth are they using as thermal pads on these gfx cards? The thing was like cheese. Temps dropped ~10C when I applied the ZM-STG2. Geez!


Man you're damn right








Just didn't use my own MX3 to proove the Zalman bundled with the cooler (stg2). Fantastic


----------



## Korlus

I've got an Asus (DirectCU) 6850 running at stock voltages at 975/1125.

Screenshot attached.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Korlus*


I've got an Asus (DirectCU) 6850 running at stock voltages at 975/1125.

Screenshot attached.


Great








For the volt. unlock just use the latest beta of AB (2.1.0 beta 6)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Afterbur...load-2604.html

for the extra clocks (above 1000) edit the cfg. file "enable unofficial overclocking=1"


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Great








For the volt. unlock just use the latest beta of AB (2.1.0 beta 6)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Afterbur...load-2604.html

for the extra clocks (above 1000) edit the cfg. file "enable unofficial overclocking=1"










Thanks, but I'm quite comfy at regular volts at the moment. My 975/1125 feels pretty snappy to me in games and while I'd push for a bit more memory, I have a feeling it's temperature and not voltage limiting it and ECC brings down FPS without artefacting.


----------



## fatmario

Asus 6850
stock setting : 790/1000
stock volt.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Overclock : 935/1200
stock Volt.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Bassdoken

Anyone have a Twin Turbo Pro on their 6850?


----------



## Yoko Littner

does temp affect these card's greatly?

My card's are sandwitched







and to get 1000MHZ core on them i need 1.275V+ and furmark can see 85C+


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I think you can get a little more check out my new record @1000/1200 
This is it for me one of my cards gpu hit 99c.lol


Duuuude--- That shld happen only during stress testing :_)
yaw yaw 99 is NOT good for ur silicion








My card starts artefacting in the 88+ range when OC'd and 92+ when stock but high volts...

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Korlus*


I've got an Asus (DirectCU) 6850 running at stock voltages at 975/1125.

Screenshot attached.


NO WAY O.O wait..  and then  So then O.- and ok *-.-
*

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Anyone have a Twin Turbo Pro on their 6850?


Installing my accelero s1 with a pci blower (zalman 80mm really fast stuff) today.. will get back to you soon!! 
Hoping it works-- am going without the extra vr001 heatsinks ATM just to check the core temps-- and will set up the VRM and RAM heatsinks after that!!

Btw, the vr001 is so damn small-- u'd be shocked to open the package-- merely 1x3 inches, or smaller really in dimensions









Unpacking now








the accelero twin turbo pro is basically an S1 w/ cool fans?? could be mistaken... :_)


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Duuuude--- That shld happen only during stress testing :_)
yaw yaw 99 is NOT good for ur silicion








My card starts artefacting in the 88+ range when OC'd and 92+ when stock but high volts...

NO WAY O.O wait..  and then  So then O.- and ok *-.-
*

Installing my accelero s1 with a pci blower (zalman 80mm really fast stuff) today.. will get back to you soon!! 
Hoping it works-- am going without the extra vr001 heatsinks ATM just to check the core temps-- and will set up the VRM and RAM heatsinks after that!!

Btw, the vr001 is so damn small-- u'd be shocked to open the package-- merely 1x3 inches, or smaller really in dimensions









Unpacking now








the accelero twin turbo pro is basically an S1 w/ cool fans?? could be mistaken... :_)


Alright. Take plenty of pictures.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I think you can get a little more check out my new record @1000/1200 
This is it for me one of my cards gpu hit 99c.lol



Hey buddy have a look of this bran-neeew one







(at Unigine default settings) Cpu at 4.01Ghz and ram at [email protected]











Temps lookin' good for me


----------



## smoke420

99c is way too hot it was that synchronize settings for similar graphics processors in MSI after burner.my second card is a much better overclocker and needs less voltage .
After lowering voltage ran heaven twice in a row first time it got to 72c second time 75c little to no cooling time between..75c @1000/1220 1.25v not bad sandwiched between two cards


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


does temp affect these card's greatly?

My card's are sandwitched







and to get 1000MHZ core on them i need 1.275V+ and furmark can see 85C+


They're good for winter time







Afterwards you could either think of replacing at least one of the stock vga coolers (the second one right? @because of the pci-e slots I know) with a AC Extreme Plus or the Gelid Icy Vision rev.2 or (why not) my own (modded) aftermarket cooling solution (based of the original backplate @Zalman VF3000A &some extra small heatsinks


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


NO WAY O.O wait..  and then  So then O.- and ok *-.-
*


Why the surprise? I could probably squeeze a tiny bit more out of the ram speed, but I don't know the temperatures it hits, so I've been a bit more conservative than I would otherwise have been (hence not wanting to volt mod).


----------



## smoke420

I thought my second card was bad because the VRM's get hotter and pull more current then the first at the same voltage .But it turns out the second card is the better one as it needs a lot less voltage to overclock.when MSI AB gave both cards the same amount of voltage the card on the bottom got hotter.normally the card on top gets hotter because the fan is covered by the bottom card and if thats the case the Aftermarket cooler that makes it a three slot card wont fit.


----------



## KingT

Hello..

Can someone confirm me that Gigabyte HD6850 model: GV-R685D5-1GD uses Chill voltage regulator and supports voltage tweaking via Afterburner?

I have red in the review of the OC model that GV-R685OC-1GD model uses different voltage regulator and Afterburner doesn't support it but the plain non OC model which is 99% identical (only has stock clocks) uses Chill and as such is a better choice for OC..

I'm about to buy this GV-R685D5-1GD card so it would be great if someone could confirm this..

CHEERS..


----------



## Yoko Littner

here is my best 3dmark vantage run so far with these card's



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Razi3l

*Updated - Please forgive me for my laziness, haha. If i've missed you, just hit me a PM.*
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner;12128535*
> here is my best 3dmark vantage run so far with these card's
> [/QUOTE]
> 
> Nice results, i'm sure if you're not afraid to give some more voltage you could hit 1050 or more. Just turn the fans to 100%, give 1.4v and do the highest run you can.
> 
> Moving on, any one else hear that AMD are apparently working on a faster 6870 to put out against the GTX 560. I'm wondering what this will do to prices, because the 1GB 6950 will be ~£200 here, the 6870 is already £175+ and where would the faster 6870 (if they release it) fit in? They would have to drop the prices on the regular one, so i guess that's good for current owners looking to CF. Unsure how well the new 6870s (if the rumors are true) will overclock. but if they are like what XFX did with the 4870-4890, then these could be great and may hit 1100MHz+ easily... well who knows. These will [I]apparently[/I] be around 950MHz core with memory running around 4600MHz or something. As for the GTX 560, not really interested as it should be slightly faster than the GTX 470 which isn't all too amazing, to be honest.


----------



## falcon26

Looks like XFX now has a 6870 with what looks like an artic cooling twin turbo pro clone type cooling system on it. I wonder how quiet it is...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521&cm_re=xfx_6870-_-14-150-521-_-Product

And just to make sure. The 6870 can ran BC2 at 1920x1200 with say 16X AF and 2X AA correct?


----------



## Yoko Littner

yes, at around 45-60 fps.

I run those setting's with 2X 6870's at a constant 90+

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *falcon26;12129562*
> Looks like XFX now has a 6870 with what looks like an artic cooling twin turbo pro clone type cooling system on it. I wonder how quiet it is...
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521&cm_re=xfx_6870-_-14-150-521-_-Product
> 
> And just to make sure. The 6870 can ran BC2 at 1920x1200 with say 16X AF and 2X AA correct?


----------



## falcon26

How much really is the 6870 slower than the 5870? I replaced my 5870 with a 6950. Well that card is pretty loud and hot. And it seems to get the same FPS on BC2 at those settings as my 5870 did, just louder and hotter. I want to get that XFX 6870 with the silent cooling, but I'm afraid that the 6870 will be much much slower than the 5870 or the 6950 for that matter. I want to be sure that it can run BC2 pretty much max out at 1920x1200. I also use Vysnc while gaming as well...


----------



## Yoko Littner

I cant give you number's. but it isnt far behind...

yes a 6870 can max bc2 easily.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *falcon26;12129604*
> How much really is the 6870 slower than the 5870? I replaced my 5870 with a 6950. Well that card is pretty loud and hot. And it seems to get the same FPS on BC2 at those settings as my 5870 did, just louder and hotter. I want to get that XFX 6870 with the silent cooling, but I'm afraid that the 6870 will be much much slower than the 5870 or the 6950 for that matter. I want to be sure that it can run BC2 pretty much max out at 1920x1200. I also use Vysnc while gaming as well...


----------



## falcon26

Cool. I just pulled the trigger on that XFX 6870 with Dual Fans. I just hope that its silent cooling and not jet cooling if you know what I mean...


----------



## Yoko Littner

6870's fan's are louder then fermi's..... just leave on auto.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *falcon26;12129656*
> Cool. I just pulled the trigger on that XFX 6870 with Dual Fans. I just hope that its silent cooling and not jet cooling if you know what I mean...


----------



## falcon26

Aw one more thing  how long is the 6870 compared to say the 5870 or 6950? Is it shorter than a 5870?


----------



## Yoko Littner

Yes the 6870 is less then 10" long.

it's shorter then my Standard ATX Rampage II


----------



## falcon26

Nice. I'll report back on noise and temps of it when I get it weds


----------



## Yoko Littner

Very well.


----------



## Yoko Littner

here is my farcry 2 benchie.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Liranan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *falcon26*


Nice. I'll report back on noise and temps of it when I get it weds 


6870 Is better than either the 5850 or 5870, due to better tesselation and power consumption. Tesselation is pretty useless but it's a future proof investment, whereas the previous generation is EOL.

Fill your specs in properly, please.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Liranan*


6870 Is better than either the 5850 or 5870, due to better tesselation and power consumption. Tesselation is pretty useless but it's a future proof investment, whereas the previous generation is EOL.

Fill your specs in properly, please.


By the time tessellation is implemented into pretty much every game, 6800/6900 will be outdated.

Future proofing in this hobby is impossible. Sure, you can make things last longer by picking the right parts. But you can not future proof your system.


----------



## smoke420

Its true you cant be 100% future proof but future proofing is possible.Getting a card that supports tessellation now is the perfect example of that.

Future proofing from Wikipedia:
The phrase future proofing describes the exclusive process of trying to anticipate future developments, so that action can be taken to minimize possible negative consequences, and to seize opportunities.


----------



## 0razor1

Ok all ya !! Done modding my card- now runs an Accelero S1 w/ the vr001 heatsinks !! Will upload pics 2moro when the wifi's up and running;;

well. temps have fallen, wait for it , by 40 *C ???? ON stock ????
From 95C OCCT ( full fan 941/[email protected] 1.219V) to 56C














WOOT WOOT ==

This is with an S1 rev.2 With the VR001 AND a zalman pci slot blower







Ambients are about 18C outside but 22ish inside the cabinet
















Now to the bad news---

BAD ARTEFACTING when the gpu core ['hits;] 52ish .. why ??

When I open GPU-z , the gpu-core #2 is insane-- when it crosses 95C ( even on the above mentioned OC), then the artefacting begins while gpu core is a cool 52ish-- on the stock cooler (similar to the CuCore on an Asus) there were NO VRM AND VREG heatsinks and even so the original cooler never artefacted unless the GPU-core went over 90 temps #1-3 stayed to within 5C of each other :...

So this means that the s1 is cooling well, but something is heating up-- now what is this GPU Temp #2 thats acting insane?? For the record, here's all of it :

10 minute OCCT unless artefacts :/
1. Stock clocks ( 820/1100) @ 1.49V fan static (pci blower)
gpu-1 56
gpu-2 83
gpu-3 66
AMPS MAX() 70

2. OC'd clocks (941/1175) @ 1.219 to the first artefact.
gpu-1 61
gpu-2 98
gpu-3 77
AMPS MAX() 90

Attached are some pics that should clear this up :/

3. UC mix -- ( 820/550) @ 1.149
gpu-1 52
gpu-2 73
gpu-3 59
AMPS MAX() 68

4. High volts only @ 1.219
gpu-1 74
gpu-2 115
gpu-3 94
AMPS MAX() 87

UPDATE : i've runn all sorts of high volts only , and as long as I don't OC at all, The gpu temp #2 Has hit 140C **** :/ and no artifacting







So if this ON THE GPU DIE as ppl @ the Gpu-z forum say it is /// WOW.. My s1 is KNOW to seat improperly ( one side gets left.) But I've done this before and this my second card with this cooler. Temps are simply amazing, but such large variations in gpu temps have me concerned-- 
_To summarise it all-_ I can't put it at high current draw in OCCT (which is no longer stable :/ even at the regular 941/1175 OC before the modding that ran occt stable) So OCCt is NOW broken for me ??? 
Or am I frying something in the longer run ??

All pictures attached. Please don't ask for other pic host sites... am in a gprs connection here :weep:

Will update later/.
Btw, furmark -3 instances gets me 970/1180 Stable @ 1.231














And i DO check for artifacts VERY CLOSELY in the old render xtreme burning mode







wicked fast eyes


----------



## 0razor1

Did I mention gaming doesn;t push my card above 42-43 degrees?? the hottest it got was on 10 loops of Farcry2 benches--- 47C









Maybe the weather's the reason behind this , but this is sweet~!


----------



## unreal104

i just played sc2..and happened to check the gpu temp.. 1st gpu rose up to 104C :S....
so i immediately quit..and found out that i accidentally set the fan speed to manual 50%...
so...104C will not damage the gpu rite ?.... after that i try to run kombuster for 10 mins and temp is around 92C and all fine..no error ... i only care about the 1st gpu..2nd gpu is fine...never even reached 80c...

I'm having a feeling that somethings might go wrong with the 1st gpu..coz...max temp for the gpu are 105c if i'm not wrong ...









any suggestion ?


----------



## Yoko Littner

104C is the point of no return...

Very bad... no damage has been done.. so long as it was a brifef period.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *unreal104*


i just played sc2..and happened to check the gpu temp.. 1st gpu rose up to 104C :S....
so i immediately quit..and found out that i accidentally set the fan speed to manual 50%...
so...104C will not damage the gpu rite ?.... after that i try to run kombuster for 10 mins and temp is around 92C and all fine..no error ... i only care about the 1st gpu..2nd gpu is fine...never even reached 80c...

I'm having a feeling that somethings might go wrong with the 1st gpu..coz...max temp for the gpu are 105c if i'm not wrong ...









any suggestion ?


----------



## unreal104

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Yoko Littner*


104C is the point of no return...

Very bad... no damage has been done.. so long as it was a brifef period.


I dont get you







..sry for my weak english...


----------



## Yoko Littner

104C for a while means it will KILL your Graphics card

Quote:



Originally Posted by *unreal104*


I dont get you







..sry for my weak english...


----------



## Liranan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *unreal104*


I dont get you







..sry for my weak english...


As long as the chip wasn't at 104C for a short/brief period of time you will be fine. At 50% the GPU shouldn't get near 100, there's something really wrong, I'd RMA it, as it will die soon anyway.


----------



## unreal104

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Liranan*


As long as the chip wasn't at 104C for a short/brief period of time you will be fine. At 50% the GPU shouldn't get near 100, there's something really wrong, I'd RMA it, as it will die soon anyway.


oh..really?.. i got a problem with the fan (1st card) after a week i bought the card...
i on the pc and the fan is not running...so took off the card and found out that the fan motor seems to be stuck. i try to rotate the fan and feels like its not rotating smoothly... got some fraction..feels heavy while trying to rotate manually... not like that 2nd card... 
later i tried to run kombuster and fan is at 100%...around 4k+ rpm...
but no issue so far..no tearing or no abnormal white spot or what so ever...

another issue is... my mobo 2 pice 16x slots has a gap area of just 1 pice x1 slot.. so its has only a small place between 2 cards...
as my mobo support crossfire 3x... shall i try to run the 2nd card at 3rd slot ? making more room for the 1st card but 2nd card will run at 8x..
so 2 cards at 16x 8x... any noticeable performance drops if i run the 2nd card at 8x ?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *unreal104;12135325*
> oh..really?.. i got a problem with the fan (1st card) after a week i bought the card...
> i on the pc and the fan is not running...so took off the card and found out that the fan motor seems to be stuck. i try to rotate the fan and feels like its not rotating smoothly... got some fraction..feels heavy while trying to rotate manually... not like that 2nd card...
> later i tried to run kombuster and fan is at 100%...around 4k+ rpm...
> but no issue so far..no tearing or no abnormal white spot or what so ever...
> 
> another issue is... my mobo 2 pice 16x slots has a gap area of just 1 pice x1 slot.. so its has only a small place between 2 cards...
> as my mobo support crossfire 3x... shall i try to run the 2nd card at 3rd slot ? making more room for the 1st card but 2nd card will run at 8x..
> so 2 cards at 16x 8x... any noticeable performance drops if i run the 2nd card at 8x ?


100C+ is a quite a lot for a 6850 (even with the cards sandwiched) since the tj.max is 102°C so check out the fan or simply rma the card.

For the pcie slots of your mb (the one you have in signature) pay attention that the 3rd slot is only 4x and lhe last one is supposed to be 8x so assuming that you will use the first and the last one you'll get a 8x link bandwidth however the performance loss will be insignificative


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12133912*
> Did I mention gaming doesn;t push my card above 42-43 degrees?? the hottest it got was on 10 loops of Farcry2 benches--- 47C
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe the weather's the reason behind this , but this is sweet~!


Maaan excellent Vreg temps you've got








Maybe I should get an AC VR001 kit too







or simply content myself with 55-60C max


----------



## 0razor1

Lol ,not the VRMs








IM TALKING GPU CORE















But super instability on heatin on OCCT ??? Come ON ?? everything else seems fine.. can ANYONE seem to look atleast interested in the post on the previous page ??
But arrow, I c ur using the zalman cooler,, rite >>? 3 slot cooler.. lol, mine's now 4 slots till i figure out a thin slipstream soooooon








My stupid vreg sensors r stuck st 27, for crying out loud !


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Lol ,not the VRMs








IM TALKING GPU CORE















But super instability on heatin on OCCT ??? Come ON ?? everything else seems fine.. can ANYONE seem to look atleast interested in the post on the previous page ?? 
But arrow, I c ur using the zalman cooler,, rite >>? 3 slot cooler.. lol, mine's now 4 slots till i figure out a thin slipstream soooooon








My stupid vreg sensors r stuck st 27, for crying out loud !


First of all did you run OCCT at default settings (shader complexity 0)? You can only activate the error check, do not attempt to turn to 8 the shader complexity since the whole gpu is about to be overburn







(I gave up pretty soon). Trust me it shld be enough stress for the gpu on the level 0








OK, then let's see what about the bloody Gpu temp #2. It's definitely a senzor temp inside the gpu core. We don't know yet for sure (unless we ask AMD







) but it seems to be the memory io or the shader core








Just look at these 2 threads too:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=65333
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=67186

One way or the other something is not going well, and i'll suggest to do some more researches or (and) just controll well the whole "aftermarket cooling system" btw what is the Zalman pci blower? Let me know of the result changes


----------



## Viridian1

here is the link. http://img191.imageshack.us/i/lolarf.png/. i also attached it idk if that worked tho.i have crossfire.


----------



## SniperZero

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


my own (modded) aftermarket cooling solution (based of the original backplate @Zalman VF3000A &some extra small heatsinks










Hi I was looking at attaching a VF3000a to my (Gigabyte) 6870. I was wondering what modifications you did with the original backplate. Also the rough locations you stuck the extra heatsinks. I can't really tell much from the images you have posted apart from it looks like you stuck the small heatsinks onto the plate (over where the memory is located) then attached the vf3000a on top.

Any help would be great thanks!


----------



## Nirso

XFX HD 6850 Dual Fan Edition

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/9bqnr/


----------



## dcloud

Just got my MSi 6870! I am loving it!


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SniperZero;12143731*
> Hi I was looking at attaching a VF3000a to my (Gigabyte) 6870. I was wondering what modifications you did with the original backplate. Also the rough locations you stuck the extra heatsinks. I can't really tell much from the images you have posted apart from it looks like you stuck the small heatsinks onto the plate (over where the memory is located) then attached the vf3000a on top.
> 
> Any help would be great thanks!


Remove the fan from the plate, put the plate back on the card and screw the Zalman on the GPU. The plate will keep the memory chips and the VRM's cool, when I've touched it it's never been hot. While it's cold right now the plate is pretty big, so it'll dissipate heat more than efficiently enough.


----------



## abu46

well as the 26th of jan. comes to an end, the official 11.1 drivers are still not here..............................








(


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;12149122*
> well as the 26th of jan. comes to an end, the official 11.1 drivers are still not here..............................
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (


Lol :__) tears at the same time =(

Hey , thanks for the links !! I've been through those posts before and every1 has an opinion








one of two :
1. some sensor on the GPU core that stays hot forever (OMG) --I've mounted my S1 properly and gpu *idle/load* temps are now *27/46* (after hours of crysis @ extreme







)

2. VRMs (not possible) -- they are supposed to run :1. cool, 2. don't have a stock heatsink at all









3. VREGs ( not possible again) -- I've put harsinks on almost EVERY black transistor/ mosfet or just about ANYTHING i thought could heay up on the card xD so everything's nice and cool.

Side note: one guy mentioned using the clips raised his heatsink so as to ruin contact with the gpu core- I faced the same problem but I bent the heatpipes a bit and so this is really no problem --

My I add this GPU temp#2 increases significantly with gpu core vids. And a bit with core frequency. Unaffected by vram over/under clcoking









Also, shall stick to shader complexity 0 then.. thought 8 for 10 minutes and or in enough loops if the card was overheating would generally suffice for a thorough stability check?

Thanks for the inputs! +rep!!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;12149122*
> well as the 26th of jan. comes to an end, the official 11.1 drivers are still not here..............................
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (


Just use the unofficial one's they work great


----------



## regae

newbie wants to join








crossfire ASUS 6870 + GIGABYTE 6870 @1000x1115 Mhz 1.200v

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/fkyun/
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2882070











Spoiler: pic


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12140279*
> First of all did you run OCCT at default settings (shader complexity 0)? You can only activate the error check, do not attempt to turn to 8 the shader complexity since the whole gpu is about to be overburn
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (I gave up pretty soon). Trust me it shld be enough stress for the gpu on the level 0
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OK, then let's see what about the bloody Gpu temp #2. It's definitely a senzor temp inside the gpu core. We don't know yet for sure (unless we ask AMD
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ) but it seems to be the memory io or the shader core
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just look at these 2 threads too:
> 
> http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=65333
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67186
> 
> One way or the other something is not going well, and i'll suggest to do some more researches or (and) just controll well the whole "aftermarket cooling system" btw what is the Zalman pci blower? Let me know of the result changes


I've posted some remarks in the previous post ^^

The zalman pci blower is available here :


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SniperZero;12143731*
> Hi I was looking at attaching a VF3000a to my (Gigabyte) 6870. I was wondering what modifications you did with the original backplate. Also the rough locations you stuck the extra heatsinks. I can't really tell much from the images you have posted apart from it looks like you stuck the small heatsinks onto the plate (over where the memory is located) then attached the vf3000a on top.
> 
> Any help would be great thanks!


Hi there and wellcome to the thread








Let's just say that you've got half an answer from Liranan. In fact, I'm not sure the small heatsinks will do any improovment unless you don't want to loose your warranty (coz I had to flatten, rasping with a file, the base of all screws located on the back of the allu backplate for about 1mm down all that to improove a better contact patch for the memory and vrm's) but for sure they'll do no harm, let's suppose doingo so I consider that did help me to get 1150Mhz for memory RS (not possible with the stock cooler)








However, the most important part you've to take care, is that you may find the cooler base don't make a perfect contact patch with the core when you decide to maintain the black stock plate of the card, forcing you to either rasp a bit of one extremity of the cooler copper base or if you preffer to better remove a small part of the backplate








I also described the operation (pictured) in an older post:
http://www.overclock.net/11791536-post1962.html

Just let me know everything's ok








And come back with some oc bench's


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Lol :__) tears at the same time =(

Hey , thanks for the links !! I've been through those posts before and every1 has an opinion








one of two :
1. some sensor on the GPU core that stays hot forever (OMG) --I've mounted my S1 properly and gpu *idle/load* temps are now *27/46* (after hours of crysis @ extreme







)

2. VRMs (not possible) -- they are supposed to run :1. cool, 2. don't have a stock heatsink at all









3. VREGs ( not possible again) -- I've put harsinks on almost EVERY black transistor/ mosfet or just about ANYTHING i thought could heay up on the card xD so everything's nice and cool.

Side note: one guy mentioned using the clips raised his heatsink so as to ruin contact with the gpu core- I faced the same problem but I bent the heatpipes a bit and so this is really no problem --

My I add this GPU temp#2 increases significantly with gpu core vids. And a bit with core frequency. Unaffected by vram over/under clcoking









Also, shall stick to shader complexity 0 then.. thought 8 for 10 minutes and or in enough loops if the card was overheating would generally suffice for a thorough stability check?

Thanks for the inputs! +rep!!



Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


I've posted some remarks in the previous post ^^

The zalman pci blower is available here : 










Thanks








Interresting staff the Zalman, not sure work for me








Keep on testing OCCT shader 0








I'm giving up the crossfire idea for now, let's just wait for heavier games and more convenient prices for the videocards







Maybe I'll change the cpu cooler since the new Silver Arrow just drives me nuts


----------



## kzone75

Just downloaded the 11.1 driver. It's finally here.







Let's see if I notice any differences..


----------



## regae

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kzone75*


Just downloaded the 11.1 driver. It's finally here.







Let's see if I notice any differences..


yeah, cool

im downloading now,
will see the difference between leaked version


----------



## ht_addict

For those with the Gigabyte 6850(non OC and OC), I would recommend removing the heatsink assembly, and cleaning up and reapplying heatsink compound. They certainly don't put a thin layer on it.

On another note what is the max voltage for the 6850? Currently running 900/1100 at 1149mV


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ht_addict*


For those with the Gigabyte 6850(non OC and OC), I would recommend removing the heatsink assembly, and cleaning up and reapplying heatsink compound. They certainly don't put a thin layer on it.

On another note what is the max voltage for the 6850? Currently running 900/1100 at 1149mV


Max voltage is 1300mV


----------



## 0razor1

You want to keep that below 2.8 really


----------



## Liranan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Hi there and wellcome to the thread








Let's just say that you've got half an answer from Liranan. In fact, I'm not sure the small heatsinks will do any improovment unless you don't want to loose your warranty (coz I had to flatten, rasping with a file, the base of all screws located on the back of the allu backplate for about 1mm down all that to improove a better contact patch for the memory and vrm's) but for sure they'll do no harm, let's suppose doingo so I consider that did help me to get 1150Mhz for memory RS (not possible with the stock cooler)








 However, the most important part you've to take care, is that you may find the cooler base don't make a perfect contact patch with the core when you decide to maintain the black stock plate of the card, forcing you to either rasp a bit of one extremity of the cooler copper base or if you preffer to better remove a small part of the backplate








I also described the operation (pictured) in an older post:
http://www.overclock.net/11791536-post1962.html

Just let me know everything's ok








And come back with some oc bench's


You showed me that link before I bought my VF3000A and I found I had nothing to sand down or remove. The cooler fitted perfectly and there was no obstruction. I don't know why you had to, as all reference coolers are one and the same.

I will say this, the Zalman is not the best. The best is the Shaman, but that's also more expensive and also quite a bit bigger. I went with the cheaper path and got the Zalman, my temperature has dropped by 20C, so, I'm very happy.


----------



## falcon26

Got my XFX 6870 with Dual Fans today. The card is certainly much much quieter than the stock fans on other 6870's. It does make a bit of a whoosh sound though. The card is much shorter than the 6950 I had in their. I ran a benchmark using fraps comparing the 6950 to the 6870 on BC2 using 1920x1200 with 2X AA and 16X AF vysnc on. Here are the results:

2011-01-24 17:29:43 - BFBC2Game 6950
Frames: 8071 - Time: 134633ms - Avg: 59.948 - Min: 57 - Max: 62

2011-01-26 16:35:28 - BFBC2Game 6870
Frames: 9351 - Time: 156137ms - Avg: 59.890 - Min: 53 - Max: 63

As I suspected. The 6950 is about 5 FPS faster, which is nothing really when playing a fast paced game. Now I have to decide which card to keep. Oh the card is idling about 38 at 25% fan speed.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Krusher33

I'm still oc'ing mine before I post screenshot to join the club but I got a question: My Vreg temps are ALWAYS 25 degrees no matter what. Is that normal?


----------



## abu46

whohooooooooooooooo

11.1 finally available

should i download the 11.1 or 11.1aa hotfix drivers for my 6850??


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;12156593*
> whohooooooooooooooo
> 
> 11.1 finally available
> 
> should i download the 11.1 or 11.1aa hotfix drivers for my 6850??


Definitely 11.1a.


----------



## begjr2

can i get added to the club
i have a sapphire 6970 can post the cpu-z spec cause im currently building my comp
but here is a pic of the card and the work log if u guys want to see it
http://www.overclock.net/case-mod-work-logs/920781-black-white-mm-h2go-case-mod.html


----------



## abu46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Liranan;12157133*
> Definitely 11.1a.


can you elaborate as i am new to radeon
is this hotfix the same that was released\leaked before
whats the main diff between 11.1 whql and 11.1a hotfix


----------



## Liranan

The main difference I think is that the hot fix drivers have been tweaked slightly, meaning you get more performance. Usually that's what they do with hot fix, it's to either improve performance of compatibility.


----------



## abu46

okieeeeeee then hotfix it is


----------



## Krusher33

So far I found that my stable core speed is 925 with a 30 minutes GPUTool test.

But my memory OC is freaking me out a bit. So far I've hit 1200 stable for 10 minutes and I'm concerned about going higher even though temps have still been at around 70C.

Does this seem unusual to you guys?

Edit: Stock voltage. Won't unlock.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


So far I found that my stable core speed is 925 with a 30 minutes GPUTool test.

But my memory OC is freaking me out a bit. So far I've hit 1200 stable for 10 minutes and I'm concerned about going higher even though temps have still been at around 70C.

Does this seem unusual to you guys?

Edit: Stock voltage. Won't unlock.


30 min' is a loooot of time for the OCCT gpu stress test








10' should be enough, just do lots of 3dmarks and play gpu intensive games (I'd suggest to do some overvolt too since we have such an excellent vr chip, however it's your choise) to get rs


----------



## WIGILOCO

I have 6870 and should I download 11.1 drivers or 11.1a?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Liranan*


You showed me that link before I bought my VF3000A and I found I had nothing to sand down or remove. The cooler fitted perfectly and there was no obstruction. I don't know why you had to, as all reference coolers are one and the same.

I will say this, the Zalman is not the best. The best is the Shaman, but that's also more expensive and also quite a bit bigger. I went with the cheaper path and got the Zalman, my temperature has dropped by 20C, so, I'm very happy.


If you say so








I know a guy who damaged his 6870, just trying to resolve the obstruction problem with an electric tool (he was trying to sand down a bit of the backplate directly on the videocard) it was such a misfortune








But (as I said before) just controll yourself how well the cooler base fits to the core (lucky you)









I also read a lot of the Thermalright Shaman (very good stuff) however simply it won't work to me since is too big (I don't have a 4 slot vga area if I'm planning to get another one for 6870 crossfirex). Ciao


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*


I have 6870 and should I download 11.1 drivers or 11.1a?


My oppinion is to get te 11.1a hotfix (allready running on my rig) since are especially made for the 6800 and 6900 series only and windows 7


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


30 min' is a loooot of time for the OCCT gpu stress test










I know. I wanted to do only 15 minutes worth but was doing homework and completely forgot.









Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


10' should be enough, just do lots of 3dmarks and play gpu intensive games (I'd suggest to do some overvolt too since we have such an excellent vr chip, however it's your choise) to get rs










Is there a trick or guide to it? I checked the "unlock voltage control" option in afterburner and it's still locked.

And to answer my own question I checked other overclocks at HWBot. There's one OC'd to 1275 memory on air so Imma keep pushing.


----------



## WIGILOCO

I installed 11.1a







Now I run 3DMark11 and dirt 2 bench for results, maybe some more.


----------



## Davidsen

This may not be 69xx club, but quick question(s).

Will it have a bottleneck with lower clocked CPU's, say around 3.1GHz?

And is the TIM of the Sapphire 6950 decent, or will it be worth changing it with AS5?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


I know. I wanted to do only 15 minutes worth but was doing homework and completely forgot.









Is there a trick or guide to it? I checked the "unlock voltage control" option in afterburner and it's still locked.

And to answer my own question I checked other overclocks at HWBot. There's one OC'd to 1275 memory on air so Imma keep pushing.










Look, for the AB simply download the latest beta (2.1.0 beta 6) here:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/Afterbur...load-2604.html

You should also enable (& modify the cfg. file) voices (for a full oc and ov) like that:
http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum/showpo...postcount=4809

About the mem speed it's just a matter of luck








Hope I was helpfull


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*


I installed 11.1a







Now I run 3DMark11 and dirt 2 bench for results, maybe some more.


Yeap! Here's my first 20k record on Vantage @11.1a


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Davidsen*


This may not be 69xx club, but quick question(s).

Will it have a bottleneck with lower clocked CPU's, say around 3.1GHz?

And is the TIM of the Sapphire 6950 decent, or will it be worth changing it with AS5?


I'll say yes (unless it's a core i7- phenom x6) and,
yes, change the tim


----------



## Davidsen

Well, here are my options for either tomorrow or monday:

Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB, for ~309$

GIGABYTE GV R697D5-2GD-B, for ~386$

Worth paying 77$ more for 6970?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Davidsen*


Well, here are my options for either tomorrow or monday:

Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB, for ~309$

GIGABYTE GV R697D5-2GD-B, for ~386$

Worth paying 77$ more for 6970?


I thought I saw some things about 6950's unlocking to 6970's easily with a BIOS flash???


----------



## Problame

Hello,
I was hoping to join this club because I got two (new) XFX 6850's









The cards:









_different heatsinks?_









I've been running some benchmarks and games but didn't get very good results, especially crysis. I Must be doing something wrong with the software or CF setup?









_crysis run_


----------



## DaRookie

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12164561*
> I thought I saw some things about 6950's unlocking to 6970's easily with a BIOS flash???


LOL, yea... I think I read something about that too.


----------



## Krusher33

Oh good, nice to know I'm not the only one that read the same headlines over and over again... I thought I was crazy there for a sec.


----------



## Zerkk

Problame, what's the full load temp of your top card? I have a sound card I'm not using at the moment because of how it has to but up against my card like your second card does. Kind of curious what load temps are like.


----------



## falcon26

Does the Artic cooling twin turbo pro work on the 6870? I have seen yes and no's on the subject. Something about it will but you have to buy some extra ram sinks...


----------



## M0E

Mine are that close, but I own 6870s. Highest in game temp Ive seen thus far is 73c. Benchmarking with high OC settings the top card gets to 75c


----------



## Zerkk

Sound like I could probably get away with using it then. I'll slap it in this weekend and test it.


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davidsen;12163721*
> This may not be 69xx club, but quick question(s).
> 
> Will it have a bottleneck with lower clocked CPU's, say around 3.1GHz?
> 
> And is the TIM of the Sapphire 6950 decent, or will it be worth changing it with AS5?


I don't know about the thermal paste and the bottleneck depends entirely on the resolution. At 1280x1024 and lower no CPU can bottleneck a high end video card, regardless of speed, and at super high end resolutions it's the GPU that will bottleneck the CPU. However at 1680x1050 it all depends on the game, as some rely far more heavily on the CPU than on the video card.


----------



## onslaught_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12163524*
> I know. I wanted to do only 15 minutes worth but was doing homework and completely forgot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a trick or guide to it? I checked the "unlock voltage control" option in afterburner and it's still locked.
> 
> And to answer my own question I checked other overclocks at HWBot. There's one OC'd to 1275 memory on air so Imma keep pushing.


i think you need to download the beta version of msi afterburner.

MSI Afterburner (2.0.0 Beta 6)

I'm at 950/1200. max temps on OCCT were 69deg.
gaming around 50-52deg.
hohoho i want to push it further but i dont want to mess with volts and heats keeping me from going any further









Bah someone already answered your question T_T my bad!

Anyway did it work? Don't forget to restart afterburner after making the changes


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *onslaught_;12170886*
> i think you need to download the beta version of msi afterburner.
> 
> MSI Afterburner (2.0.0 Beta 6)
> 
> I'm at 950/1200. max temps on OCCT were 69deg.
> gaming around 50-52deg.
> hohoho i want to push it further but i dont want to mess with volts and heats keeping me from going any further
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bah someone already answered your question T_T my bad!
> 
> Anyway did it work? Don't forget to restart afterburner after making the changes


Your heat looks fine to me. Still got 15C to go.









And thanks, no problem. Still +rep you for the effort.

Haven't had a chance to try. I had a 4 hour ordeal with older rig that includes interruptions by kiddos. Will have to try tomorrow instead.


----------



## Calexan

can i join you guys?


















& can i ask you guys a question about driver 11.1 & 11.1a i noticed that after i updated
from 10.12 my idle core clock that used to be 100Mhz now becomes 300Mhz does that change my idle power consumption?

& also i have friend who has MSI 6870 twin frozr II he also updated his driver to 11.1
but his idle core still remains @ 100Mhz + his memory is @ 150Mhz which further confused me cause my idle memory is @ 300Mhz that remained the same even with the driver change.. thanks to those who can answer my question


----------



## Problame

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Zerkk;12169747*
> Sound like I could probably get away with using it then. I'll slap it in this weekend and test it.


Yes it would be fine I think.
My top card gets max 74~75c on heavy gaming/benchmarking. The 2nd card doesn't get nearly as hot tho, it floats around 50c max









*edit:*I'll switch the cards to see if it'll make any difference (different heatsink).


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Problame;12172801*
> Yes it would be fine I think.
> My top card gets max 74~75c on heavy gaming/benchmarking. The 2nd card doesn't get nearly as hot tho, it floats around 50c max
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *edit:*I'll switch the cards to see if it'll make any difference (different heatsink).


Are these temps at stock clocks and volts?

what are your ambient temps?


----------



## Problame

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12173093*
> Are these temps at stock clocks and volts?
> 
> what are your ambient temps?


Yes it's on stock but their black edition cards. Their voltages vary from 0.95v to 1.15v load (core820 / memory4400). Ambient temp is ~15c.

Complete picture:


----------



## onslaught_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;12171836*
> can i join you guys?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> & can i ask you guys a question about driver 11.1 & 11.1a i noticed that after i updated
> from 10.12 my idle core clock that used to be 100Mhz now becomes 300Mhz does that change my idle power consumption?
> 
> & also i have friend who has MSI 6870 twin frozr II he also updated his driver to 11.1
> but his idle core still remains @ 100Mhz + his memory is @ 150Mhz which further confused me cause my idle memory is @ 300Mhz that remained the same even with the driver change.. thanks to those who can answer my question


I also noticed my idle clocks went from 100/300 to 300/300 since I updated to 11.1a.

Check it out.
I have profile "1" set to default 775/1005 (2D Profile)
I have profile "2" set to OC'd 950/1200 (3D Profile)
but if you check the graph..my clocks are actually at 300/300 when i'm idling.


















sign me up for the club! Gigabyte HD6850 GV-R685D5-1GD


----------



## onslaught_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12171468*
> Your heat looks fine to me. Still got 15C to go.


Thanks for the rep!
I'd love to push this baby to it's absolute limit but I don't want to decrease the life span even more hehe.. I'll definitely buy another one and CFX when the price is right, for now, it plays all the games i want in awesome settings.

taken with my iphone4









wow.. this is weird..i was watching a youtube video and noticed my clock speeds going up and down.. from 300/300 to 600/1003 back and forth...***?! anyone know why?

check out the graph and the spiking


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> wow.. this is weird..i was watching a youtube video and noticed my clock speeds going up and down.. from 300/300 to 600/1003 back and forth...***?! anyone know why?


yeah mine to it does that.. i noticed in CCC there is an option that say
"apply current video quality settings to internet videos" maybe you have it on like mine


----------



## Erper

hi guys, just quick question about cards..
upgrading from 8800gt...
looking for 6850 or 5850...
i like to play crysis, alot and waiting for new one...
stalker and metro are in too...
so which one would be good purchase...

saphire 6850 is 149e and saphire vapor-x 5850 is 161e...


----------



## Colt

Oh dear, how i didnt joined this club all this time, here my screen:









Sapphire 6870 non-reference cooler (2SR)


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Ok Here are some images of my set up, do I qualify to join the club? And if not what do I need to do to join?
Many thanks.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

@ Erper, for a couple more euros you could get a 6870, but of the two you mentioned I think you would be better off with the 6850, they are pretty evenly matched but the 6800 series has tesselation and are less power hungry.
Plus if you feel brave you could intall a 6870 bios on a 6850 and get more out of it. But if you can afford it I would get a 6870.
Hope this helps.


----------



## smoke420

@Cosmic Flash
Does your case have a back panel?
I only ask because your wire management looks pretty bad.I hate to come off as an a$$(too late)but wire management helps looks and airflow.


----------



## leecH01

*2 x XFX HD 6850 crossfire*


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash;12177043*
> Plus if you feel brave you could intall a 6870 bios on a 6850 and get more out of it. But if you can afford it I would get a 6870.
> Hope this helps.


AFAIK, only works on the 6900's...


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12177252*
> @Cosmic Flash
> Does your case have a back panel?
> I only ask because your wire management looks pretty bad.I hate to come off as an a$$(too late)but wire management helps looks and airflow.


Yeah, and many of the cables: SATA, Molex, front panel cables etc... are running behind the back panel however the main 20+4 and IDE ribon for my Optical Drives (when they were on the top of my rig) aren't long enough to go back there, plus I have very little room after the afore mentioned cables.
The case is an Antec 900 and after moving the Optical Drives to the middle and the three HDDs to the top I have an unimpeded 120mm fan at the front on the bottom pumping air straight into my 6870 and although the top 120mm fan is impeded by my HDDs it still pumps in a fair deal of air.
Nothing is over heating, I have run stringent tests on my CPU, GPU and RAM and all seems well.
Thanks for your imput, you did not come across as an a$$.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12177689*
> AFAIK, only works on the 6900's...


Thanks for setting me straight, I was under the impression that people on here had been posting that they had done just that. Oh well you live and learn.


----------



## Erper

thx but alredy ordered 6850, and with all post will cost me 178e...
on other site i could get it for 173 but idiots are having problem with their server...


----------



## Calexan

sorry i didnt read the first page requirements so here it is again..


----------



## onslaught_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;12174112*
> yeah mine to it does that.. i noticed in CCC there is an option that say
> "apply current video quality settings to internet videos" maybe you have it on like mine


did you leave it on?
btw where in CCC did you find that option? I can't seem to find it

i managed to watch a few others and it's fine now..my memory just goes up to 1003 when i'm watching something.

edit: found it, don't really think this has to do anything with the clocks going up and down that quickly though, although i could be wrong...


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

So have I qualified to join or what?
I don't try to join groups often but I have made the effort for this one so I would like to know what I need to do, somebody? anybody?
I will check back tomorrow, when I am a little sober.... ha, haha, Haha, HaHahA, HAHAHAHAAAAA.........Burp!


----------



## HobieCat

Hey, I just picked up a pair of 6850's and I was wondering what's the best driver version out right now that supports them? I have an eyefinity setup if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the help


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HobieCat;12181013*
> Hey, I just picked up a pair of 6850's and I was wondering what's the best driver version out right now that supports them? I have an eyefinity setup if that makes a difference.
> 
> Thanks for the help


11.1a hotfix


----------



## HobieCat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12181030*
> 11.1a hotfix


Thanks a lot. I think you answered another one of my questions in this thread a while back also.

+rep


----------



## damric

Has anyone received a rebate back from Sapphire on these yet?

Oh, my look what I did with my 6850 today:


----------



## 0razor1

Same







4300







on a PH 2







woo hOOoo

Trying AGAIN to upload my S1 installation pics-- OCN , Something's up with ur attachments..


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


11.1a hotfix


+1

btw, ur looking to get the 26th Jan update == pretty much the same as the 19th Jan leaked, but not the 13th jaqn leak -- that has some openGL caps removed :/

Avivo was a separate download for me :/


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*


Ok Here are some images of my set up, do I qualify to join the club? And if not what do I need to do to join?
Many thanks.


One More Pic.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;12185003*
> +1
> 
> btw, ur looking to get the 26th Jan update == pretty much the same as the 19th Jan leaked, but not the 13th jaqn leak -- that has some openGL caps removed :/
> 
> Avivo was a separate download for me :/


I have the 19th Jan release (I suppose), so far so good


----------



## qbical

11.1a updates suck......IMO


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *qbical;12186594*
> 11.1a updates suck......IMO


What do you mean?








and which version; whql or hotfix?


----------



## 0razor1

LOL ^^^ the updates suck .. no :/ Look @ my benches---- I really don't care about image qual as long as i can get 75 V sync @ every game i throw at it ..
Uploading AC S1 Rev.2 installation pics--- the attachments are giving me a 417 FAIL!!! Some-thing's up with the attachment module OCN!!


----------



## arrow0309

Did you guys see the new Gigabyte 6870 SOC?

















It is supposed to have a vr controller supported by their own oc utility OC Guru.
Dunno for sure when it gets out on the market


----------



## Bassdoken

Beastly cooler on that thing.


----------



## smoke420

11.1a hotfix is great but If you need a profile for each game (AMD optimized tess) then it will suck.for example one of the cap's(ATI Catalyst Application Profiles)October 14 2010 - Catalyst 10.9 CAP1 states clearly NBA 2K11 CrossFire update.What it does not say is crossfire does not scale in this game and actually hurts performance. The update disables crossfire nothing more.The way they worded it is not exactly lying but its definitely misleading.

So from now on I have to check load on both cards and disregard what they say.crossfire is not at all needed for this game but thats not the point.The point is AMD updates suck.


----------



## 77Pat

Desktop Capture by 77Pat, on Flickr


----------



## shnur

Got myself a waterblock, will try to get further than 975/1150 on my 6870 now








I'll have to double check for what voltages I can put up and figure out why AfterBurner wouldn't regulate my voltages before


----------



## begjr2

could i get added to the club


----------



## reflex99

i want my 6870 back......

Athlon micro shipped it, i just have to wait for UPS to deliver


----------



## pRenoM

XFX 6850
http://img534.imageshack.us/i/gpuy.png/


----------



## arrow0309

Guys, how about this gtx560 Ti OC score:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4724031&postcount=38

I'd say, "a bit better" than a similar oc (1000/1150) 6870









Blame it on the Sandy


----------



## Hungi

I'm using my old AC Accelero S1 on Sapphire 6870. I've used Furmark, ATITool and GPUTool for stability and artifact scanning and reached 1000/1150 (1.266v) clocks (1 hour test with each of them, 0 errors). Also passed few benchmark tests in loop mode like 3DMark Vantage, Crysis etc. and played so many games with these clock rates for hours. No artifacting, no crashing. But after i read few articles about stability test with OCCT in some topics i gave it a try and after 30secs it started artifacting. I checked my temps in GPU-Z while running OCCT and they were like;

GPU Temp #1: 65c
GPU Temp #2: 105c
GPU Temp #3: 85c

It seems artifacting starts after Temp #2 reaches 100-105c above. This Temp #2 is also showing highest values in every test and games but never passes 75-80c. Should i keep using my card like that or replace the old cooler with Accelero S1? I really don't know cause Accelero S1 gave me far better temp values in every condition except that GPU Temp #2.

Sorry about my bad english. Btw here are the pics of my card with Accelero S1;


----------



## PlayedStation

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash;12175599*
> Ok Here are some images of my set up, do I qualify to join the club? And if not what do I need to do to join?
> Many thanks.


Why do you have your Corsair PSU mounted upside down? Just wondering as i've a similar case & PSU and mines mounted the other way round.....


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PlayedStation;12208115*
> Why do you have your Corsair PSU mounted upside down? Just wondering as i've a similar case & PSU and mines mounted the other way round.....


You can have it either or. I originally had mine set up to intake from floor but there was so much dust getting sucked into it and filters keeps getting clogged that I decided to flip it around. There's no concern for me as for GPU airflow because there's a sound card in between. Temps stayed the same when I did it.


----------



## PlayedStation

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12209346*
> You can have it either or. I originally had mine set up to intake from floor but there was so much dust getting sucked into it and filters keeps getting clogged that I decided to flip it around. There's no concern for me as for GPU airflow because there's a sound card in between. Temps stayed the same when I did it.


Maybe i'll consider doing that myself too then, seeing as my girlfriend doesn't dust nearly enough









Thanks for the reply


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Guys, how about this gtx560 Ti OC score:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...1&postcount=38

I'd say, "a bit better" than a similar oc (1000/1150) 6870









Blame it on the Sandy










It may be a bit faster in benchmarks but the 560 is only $10 cheaper than a 6950 1gb so thats what you should be comparing it to.
also $40 more 6950 2gb.


----------



## Chuckclc

Got the Asus directCU 6850 on the UPS truck today expected for delivery any minute. Ill post my shots to join the club, and post some comparisons to the HD 4870.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:



Originally Posted by *PlayedStation*


Why do you have your Corsair PSU mounted upside down? Just wondering as i've a similar case & PSU and mines mounted the other way round.....


Thats just the way it fits in the case, I had another look after your observation and if it were the other way up the fan would be restricted.
What do you see the problem with it being upside down?


----------



## NickCC1991

I love my HIS Radeon 6870


----------



## Liranan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12199889*
> Guys, how about this gtx560 Ti OC score:
> 
> http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4724031&postcount=38
> 
> I'd say, "a bit better" than a similar oc (1000/1150) 6870
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Blame it on the Sandy


The 6850 competes directly with the 460. The 6870 competes with the 470 and the 6950 with the 560. It all depends on how you want to word it but that's what it comes down to. The 470 has been phased out, that means the 6870 doesn't really have any competition, unless it's competing with an overclocked 460 or 6850.

I'd say the 560 is high end and the 6870 is either the highest end mid range card or the lowest high end.

You guys are saying the 11.1a isn't a good driver but I thought it improved compatibility with certain games.


----------



## arrow0309

MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 7 (31-01-2011)

Link: http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner...up210Beta7.zip

MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Beta 7 is ready, changes list includes:

- the official support of GTX 560 Ti / GT 440.
- Now Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 runtime libraries are included in distributive
- Hardware database is now configured to force fan duty cycle monitoring to be performed via slower AMD ADL SDK path on AMD RADEON 4870 X2 and 5790 series cards
- Changed way of unlocking unofficial overclocking on AMD graphics cards to make overclocking newbies think harder before enabling this functionality blindly and coming to support forums with fake bugreports
- Added alternate unofficial overclocking path allowing keeping PowerPlay active on some modern ASIC families during overclocking
- Fan control settings are now being forcibly reapplied after changing the clocks via unofficial overclocking path to bypass bug in AMD driver causin the fan control settings to be reset to defaults after programming PowerPlay table

*To enable unofficial overclocking in this version it is necessary to:
- Set UnofficialOverclockingEULA field to the following text: I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it.
- Set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 to keep PowerPlay active (may not work on old ASICs), 2 to traditionally disable PowerPlay or to 0 to temporary disable unofficial overclocking path.*


----------



## arrow0309

Nice review on the MSI 6870 Twin Frozr II (maybe the first) in german:



















http://ht4u.net/reviews/2011/msi_r68..._frozr_2_test/


----------



## arrow0309

*Gigabyte Rolls Out HD 6870 SuperOverclock UDV+*

Gigabyte introduced its fastest graphics card based on the AMD Radeon HD 6870 GPU, bearing the SuperOverclock (SOC) badge.
The card uses a 10-inch long PCB that uses a stronger VRM to leave room for some overclocking. The GPU itself is hand-picked by performance binning. 
The card is cooled by Gigabyte's WindForce 3X GPU cooler, which makes use of a large aluminum fin array to which heat is conveyed by copper heat pipes, ventilated by three 80 mm fans.
Gigabyte's HD 6870 SOC is expected to be priced closer to the $250


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


- Changed way of unlocking unofficial overclocking on AMD graphics cards to make overclocking newbies think harder before enabling this functionality blindly and coming to support forums with fake bugreports


LOL... that's almost as bad as OCZ's RTFM forum message in the memory section couple of years ago.

Some people... I mean I'm a newbie and I didn't risk going over 1.18v yet. I'm still researching how high I can go but haven't found anything concrete yet. I mean really... dummies.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


LOL... that's almost as bad as OCZ's RTFM forum message in the memory section couple of years ago.

Some people... I mean I'm a newbie and I didn't risk going over 1.18v yet. I'm still researching how high I can go but haven't found anything concrete yet. I mean really... dummies.


Just rubbish








You're not suppose to believe it


----------



## Krusher33

Ha ha! Consider me gullible then.


----------



## smoke420

does any one know of an aftermarket air cooler that wont make my cards more than two slots.Cost is an issue I dont want to spend more than it would cost for a good waterblock.But I would like any info on coolers that fit the 6850's.links are great but personal experience is even better.But if your under water please tell your load temps and include ambient temp,size of rad, and number of fans on it.(is it push/pull)


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


does any one know of an aftermarket air cooler that wont make my cards more than two slots.Cost is an issue I dont want to spend more than it would cost for a good waterblock.But I would like any info on coolers that fit the 6850's.links are great but personal experience is even better.But if your under water please tell your load temps and include ambient temp,size of rad, and number of fans on it.(is it push/pull)


Let's just say it is quite difficult to find aftermarket vga air coolers that won't exceed two slots (exept from original aftermarket cooler videocards and waterblocks). And it really is a problem when you're having a multigpu system where you can't afford 3 slot width coolers








Therefore I will only indicate you 2 models of the famous Thermalright wich somehow could work for you; the Spitfire and the all copper V2:


























Think well, could have been easier if at least one card could afford a 3 slot width








PS: cooling the vrm's is another problem


----------



## smoke420

+1
thanks a lot. If I ever get a HD tv and I can dump my 8500gt as im only using it for s-video out.now the physx card im only useing because I have it .I recently stoped playing metro 2033 and mafia 2 sucks imo but I loved my BFG maxcore 260 and cant stand watching it collect dust.
Im just looking for somthing for my current rig as is because when I get the HD tv both of my 6850's go under water.
the copper v2 does not have enough surface area to be better than my asus cooler the spitfire on the other hand would be great for one card but I dont see how I could fit two.








The asus cooler is great but I was looking for more surface area and two fans.something like the msi twin frozr 2 or the gigabyte 3 fan coolers on the 6870's.I think I might try to get one of these used if someone upgrades to a waterblock.most of the 6850's and 6870's use the same PCB so the coolers should fit with little to no mods.


----------



## Krusher33

From the pictures I can see that both are going to have trouble cooling the memory chips right? The heatpipes sits right on top of them and not allowing airflow on them?

Why o why do they have to be there? I'm seeing people hacking away at heatsinks and bending heatpipes just to make it fit.


----------



## the.hollow

Sold my cards so guess can take me off owners list.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12225203*
> +1
> 
> The asus cooler is great but I was looking for more surface area and two fans.something like the msi twin frozr 2 or the gigabyte 3 fan coolers on the 6870's.I think I might try to get one of these used if someone upgrades to a waterblock.most of the 6850's and 6870's use the same PCB so the coolers should fit with little to no mods.


I'd say this kind of coolers would be just perfect however I don't think they're so easy to find. Just try to remove the gtx260 (I also have one Gigabyte gtx 260 oc ready to be gifted to my nephew) and so be able to use a bigger cooler for the second vga


----------



## arrow0309

*Sapphire HD6870 Toxic Edition (Vapor-X)* by KitGuru

Link: http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-hd6870-toxic-edition-review-the-fastest-hd6870-available/
























Gpu core: 970 Mhz, Memory core: 4600 Mhz (Gddr5).
Uses CHiL VR controller (with full support for voltage adjustment via software) and an upgraded pcb with 6 phase power system.


----------



## WIGILOCO

Wow! I thought that Gigabyte's 6870 SOC with 950MHz core was the devil but that's even better.


----------



## Bassdoken

Holy balls. That's a really awesome overclock.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

add me, 6870 gigabyte windforce x3. Have a 2nd comming in tommorow for Crossfire!!!!!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer;12235062*
> add me, 6870 gigabyte windforce x3. Have a 2nd comming in tommorow for Crossfire!!!!!


Wellcome, what version precisely?
We wanna see a lot of pics and benches if possible. Nice card, I'd like to know if there's any possibility to overvolt it, or at least how much can you oc the card at stock volt.


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hungi;12204703*
> I'm using my old AC Accelero S1 on Sapphire 6870. I've used Furmark, ATITool and GPUTool for stability and artifact scanning and reached 1000/1150 (1.266v) clocks (1 hour test with each of them, 0 errors). Also passed few benchmark tests in loop mode like 3DMark Vantage, Crysis etc. and played so many games with these clock rates for hours. No artifacting, no crashing. But after i read few articles about stability test with OCCT in some topics i gave it a try and after 30secs it started artifacting. I checked my temps in GPU-Z while running OCCT and they were like;
> 
> GPU Temp #1: 65c
> GPU Temp #2: 105c
> GPU Temp #3: 85c
> 
> It seems artifacting starts after Temp #2 reaches 100-105c above. This Temp #2 is also showing highest values in every test and games but never passes 75-80c. Should i keep using my card like that or replace the old cooler with Accelero S1? I really don't know cause Accelero S1 gave me far better temp values in every condition except that GPU Temp #2.
> 
> Sorry about my bad english. Btw here are the pics of my card with Accelero S1;


OK same here?? I posted something very similar--- gpu temp #2 is insane-- and no -- undeclock and push up thw voltages and u'll see that even if u stress it -- this temp will reach MUCH higher ( I've hit 140+) without artifacting so I doubt this is the problem ..

There is also some text that says that inserting the clips will ruin, repeat, ruin the contact with the core as the whole frame bends a bit to accommodate the clips-- I had to bend mine a BIT -- and i did that well in advance so no way that could affect me ...

Typical temps ( it's getting warmer now)
:
load OCCT---56
load crysis warhead max after half an hour-- max -50
idle 2d mode -- 27C

Nice temps yes.. but thats the half of it --0-

a ton of forums point to this being a thermal sensor INSIDE the die a t certain 'strategic ' positions LOL???? All cuckoo I know. The s1 makes good contact-- better than the HDT cooler MSI supplied as stock . Sp this is really something that makes no sense -- btw , are you using the VR001 VRMS ??? How are u cooling ur VRMs with an old s1 maite ??
I ended up using a bit of thermal grease with the thermal epoxy and it worked out quite well!!

Using a pci slot fan blower and the max stable clocks ( along with the same problems u face.. are) (on a 6850 )
Memory:1190
core :960
I can hit 970 but stupid artifacts :/
No logic behind it really.
Maybe my card isn't getiing enough power- single 6 pin after all.. however.. upping the volts by 2 steps gets me better stability as per that gpu sensor #2 but then I end up hitting higher temperatures sooner and instabilities kick in again :/ So 960 is where I can cut it and live peacefully.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12235201*
> Wellcome, what version precisely?
> We wanna see a lot of pics and benches if possible. Nice card, I'd like to know if there's any possibility to overvolt it, or at least how much can you oc the card at stock volt.


i have not done anything with the card yet(OC'in). im waiting for my 2nd to get here thursday then im gonna try from there once i get it all up and running. i have only had the system up and running(done with updates/downloads) since about 9am this morning. ill post pics as soon as i hook up my old hd and pull the pics off there.


----------



## gonzas144

Hi, can anyone help me with a little problem ...

I've got 2 HD 6870 connected by Crossfire , one XFX and the other Sapphire. Looks like when I connect the XFX like primary and the Sapphire secondary the Crossfire works ok, but not with the performance that I've expected (like 15% less).

So because of the low performance I've decided to shift the video cards, but then the Crossfire stopped working. It only takes one video card and not the other one.










I have the last Catalys drivers 10.12 and the Win7 x64 fully updated.

CPU: Phenom II 965 @ 4.0, HD 6870 x2, Cooler Master 850w, ECS A790GXM (dual x8 PCI-E or Single x16 PCI-E).

Thanks.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

here are some pics, it is THIS model specifically


----------



## ltg2227

It' looks like i can be included. I finally decided on which card to buy and chose this Gigabyte card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125348

I went back and forth for days trying to decide, because i don't usually game but still wanted a good mid-range card. It had good reviews and free shipping(which always helps) and to note, this has got to be one the coolest looking boxes i've ever seen! Hopefully it will be delivered shortly!


----------



## Blue Destroyer

downloading vantage so i can get a base line before i install my 2nd card tomorow.


----------



## Cartman372

I tried searching but didn't come up with anything, I am about to purchase two 6870s and I wanted to know if the dual monitor issues have been resolved yet.


----------



## jammo2k5

Just got my second card


----------



## Hungi

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


There is also some text that says that inserting the clips will ruin, repeat, ruin the contact with the core as the whole frame bends a bit to accommodate the clips-- I had to bend mine a BIT -- and i did that well in advance so no way that could affect me ...


This can be the solution for me cause im using both clips atm. I'll test again without the clips but is it safe to use the cooler like that? cause cooler seems really heavy with 2x120mm fans and only 4 screws holding it.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


btw , are you using the VR001 VRMS ??? How are u cooling ur VRMs with an old s1 maite ?? 
I ended up using a bit of thermal grease with the thermal epoxy and it worked out quite well!!


I'm using the old vrm sink which comes with S1. It wasn't fitting in the beginning but i cut the both sides of it with hacksaw and then it fit well. There was some paste stuff on the vrm's when i remove the stock cooler. I left it and put the vrm sink on it with it's own sticker thing. My Vreg temp. doesn't reach 50c above so i think there is no problem about it. OCCT start artifacting after gpu temp 2 reaches 105c.


----------



## pRenoM

Haven't dropped below 30 fps for the most part while playing metro 2033 Max'd out...I'm normally a 60+ Fps kind of guy. But I don't mind it for single player games.(Especially one as demanding as 2033) Very happy with my 6850 performance.
Edit : I'm still not on the list...Stop lagging it and put me on!


----------



## toyz72

my second sapphire 6870 gets here thursday....so you'll be able to add an x2 to my name







i'll post my pic's of crossfire this weekend.


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:



Originally Posted by *toyz72*


my second sapphire 6870 gets here thursday....so you'll be able to add an x2 to my name







i'll post my pic's of crossfire this weekend.


Lucky!..When I built my computer I had no intent to crossfire so I didn't get a MB with crossfire support and just got a 550 watt psu..Now I want to crossfire. Learned a lesson there. Guess for now I'll just upgrade my sound-card, Ram, and Cpu cooler. Then sooner or later crossfire haha


----------



## Blue Destroyer

My 2nd 6870 arrives tomorow....cant wait...so excited


----------



## a pet rock

XFX Radeon 6850


----------



## Korlus

Hey there guys. I've been playing around with my OC on my 6850, and while I can get it stably to 1150 memory, having run Unigine Heaven Benchmark, I get better results running it at 1125. It gets a slightly lower max framerate, but a much higher minimum (from about 3.4 to 14.something), and a marginally higher total score.

This ought to be fairly representative of most games, right? I'm currently fiddling with my memory OC a bit. Do other people get these problems?


----------



## Zerkk

I'm running mine at 950/1150, when I get home I'll run heaven and drop my memory and run it again then post back with results. Every cards different though so it'll be interesting to see the results.


----------



## Problame

I'm quite a noob when it comes to crossfire and wonder if anyone could tell me if these results are ok for a CFX setup? (top card max temp 82c)










Also can't seem to run Heaven 2.1 on DirectX11, is this because of winXP 32-bit?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Problame;12246592*
> I'm quite a noob when it comes to crossfire and wonder if anyone could tell me if these results are ok for a CFX setup?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also can't seem to run Heaven 2.1 on DirectX11, is this because of winXP 32-bit?


Of course, you won't have directx 11 on windows xp








Why don't you get windows 7 (x64), it's the best choice


----------



## Blue Destroyer

well downloading some programs to benchmark my 6870. then when my new 6870 arrives today i will run em again to see how well crossfire works.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Problame;12246592*
> I'm quite a noob when it comes to crossfire and wonder if anyone could tell me if these results are ok for a CFX setup? (top card max temp 82c)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also can't seem to run Heaven 2.1 on DirectX11, is this because of winXP 32-bit?


You seriously bought a 6800 series card when you're on XP?
For shame. I am disappoint.

(I have some hate towards XP 32-bit now that 7 is out. There is no reason not to upgrade.)


----------



## Korlus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12246774*
> You seriously bought a 6800 series card when you're on XP?
> For shame. I am disappoint.
> 
> (I have some hate towards XP 32-bit now that 7 is out. There is no reason not to upgrade.)


I kind of agree. Running XP 32 bit is not great, but as for performance...

I get 58.2 fps and 24.9 minimum on the same settings as you on my 6850. I guess that it's not overclocked at all.


----------



## Rhenzinger

i'm looking at this list and wondering why people arent getting the HIS 6850's HIS is noteably cheaper and just as high quality as an asus card...in most cases run cooler than xfx/asus


----------



## pRenoM

My 6850 running metro 2033 Maxed..Never dropped below 25 with fraps running. Pretty good I'd say.
[ame="



]


----------



## Cartman372

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cartman372;12239341*
> I tried searching but didn't come up with anything, I am about to purchase two 6870s and I wanted to know if the dual monitor issues have been resolved yet.


Just bumping this up since it's managed to fall back two pages already.


----------



## Zerkk

@Korlus

When I go from 950/1150 to 950/1125 I drop 10 Max, 3 min, and 126 points.


----------



## Korlus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Zerkk;12250525*
> @Korlus
> 
> When I go from 950/1150 to 950/1125 I drop 10 Max, 3 min, and 126 points.


What about 1140?


----------



## Zerkk

I'll test it again tonight and post the screens.


----------



## McFlurry

Thought I'd join the club.
It's a Sapphire 6850 with the clocks at 800/1100 right now. Default voltage.


----------



## 77Pat

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Rhenzinger*


i'm looking at this list and wondering why people arent getting the HIS 6850's HIS is noteably cheaper and just as high quality as an asus card...in most cases run cooler than xfx/asus


People had reported having a hard time with RMA's. I was able to get the Asus for $180-$20 MIR-$10 Cashback from buy.com.

I have seen reviews where the Asus is a good overclocker, and the fan helps it run cooler.


----------



## Erper

got my saphire 6850 today... just love it...


----------



## Silomatic

I'm in. Love this card =)


----------



## TwistedDane

Love my XFX 6850 Black edition it rocks









This is my stable OC atm.

Core: 1003 @ 1.162v
Mem: 1205 @ ????v
Stock cooler with stock auto fan


----------



## leecH01

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TwistedDane*


Love my XFX 6850 Black edition it rocks









This is my stable OC atm.

Core: 1003 @ 1.162v
Mem: 1205 @ ????v
Stock cooler with stock auto fan










occt, furmark ?


----------



## TwistedDane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *leecH01*


occt, furmark ?


CPU tested with Intel Burn Test V2.3

And GPU is tested with furmark 1.8.2

Max temp on core is 80c and mem is around 85c after 10min furmark

_edit: just ran a test _


----------



## arrow0309

My newest record on Vantage High Preset


----------



## leecH01

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TwistedDane*


CPU tested with Intel Burn Test V2.3

And GPU is tested with furmark 1.8.2

Max temp on core is 80c and mem is around 85c after 10min furmark

_edit: just ran a test _










with no artifact ? you can use occt at least 30 minutes


----------



## TwistedDane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *leecH01*


with no artifact ? you can use occt at least 30 minutes


No artifacts









DonÂ´t trust occt, had some bad experience with that program


----------



## pRenoM

You don't get artifacts?..**** my computer was getting artifacts in Kombuster and shut down when I was at 975/1200 on my 6850. I just leave it at 925/1150 now.


----------



## Bassdoken

I want a new card. Anyone want to switch?









I'm trying to justify me getting the Twin Turbo Pro. Anyone have it on a 68*50*?


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TwistedDane*


CPU tested with Intel Burn Test V2.3

And GPU is tested with furmark 1.8.2

Max temp on core is 80c and mem is around 85c after 10min furmark

_edit: just ran a test _


















I'm wondering why my Catalyst driver is below yours when I have the most up to date driver..Weird


----------



## kzone75

As of today. (Not much changes, but still..)

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/590900

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/3zus6/

Unigine Heaven Benchmark v2.1
FPS:
31.8
Scores:
802
Min FPS:
10.8
Max FPS:
71.8


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


I want a new card. Anyone want to switch?









I'm trying to justify me getting the Twin Turbo Pro. Anyone have it on a 68*50*?


Am running an S1 w/ a pci blower so I think it qualifies-- however... as another guy with the same setup-- I'm facing stupid high temps on the GPU_ temps#2 and esp . so on high current (vcore)

And thats that ..


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:



Originally Posted by *korlus*


what about 1140?


1150, 1140, 1125


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Am running an S1 w/ a pci blower so I think it qualifies-- however... as another guy with the same setup-- I'm facing stupid high temps on the GPU_ temps#2 and esp . so on high current (vcore)

And thats that ..










Eh, they're not the same. Apples and Oranges.


----------



## leecH01

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Zerkk;12275763*
> 1150, 1140, 1125


i think, @1125 score is wrong try again because

1100 and 1150


----------



## Zerkk

I don't think so, and I can't even read what settings you're using. Plus mines a single card.


----------



## myEZweb_net

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12274227*
> I want a new card. Anyone want to switch?


I'm gonna buy your 6850


----------



## Blue Destroyer

WAit, my 2 6870's score 1498.......


----------



## leecH01

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Zerkk;12276361*
> I don't think so, and I can't even read what settings you're using. Plus mines a single card.


i fix it. I know you use single card but 1125 to 1140; 5 fps not true


----------



## Zerkk

Re-ran it, must have had my afterburner profiles jacked up.


----------



## amd+ati

Asus EAH 6850
















sry for a mess case, 2 lazy to cable tie it all


----------



## Krusher33

Here's mine:


----------



## toyz72

here's my double trouble. i need alittle more cable management, but other than that it's runnin great.


----------



## pRenoM

Just got my 6850 stable on 1000/1150 with a voltage increase. Going to try to push the limits a little further..Ill up date you guys.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12274227*
> I want a new card. Anyone want to switch?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying to justify me getting the Twin Turbo Pro. Anyone have it on a 68*50*?


You should trade me







. Or sell me your 6850. That'd be cool too.


----------



## reflex99

APR is on OCN now 

Very interesting.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;12279256*
> You should trade me
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . Or sell me your 6850. That'd be cool too.


I could. Sell it to you, that is. lol. PM me if you're serious about it.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *reflex99;12279276*
> APR is on OCN now
> 
> Very interesting.


IT'S LIKE WE ALL KNOW EACH OTHER FROM SOMEWHERE. Lol.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *reflex99;12279276*
> APR is on OCN now
> 
> Very interesting.


Boy, whatchu looking at me like that for.









I figured I might as well. Computer hardware has always interested me, just now I'm starting get serious about it. As in has my own monies.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12279291*
> I could. Sell it to you, that is. lol. PM me if you're serious about it.


Mmmm... not right now. Has to save up some more cash. That and I think CPU is getting in my way more right now.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;12279315*
> Boy, whatchu looking at me like that for.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I figured I might as well. Computer hardware has always interested me, just now I'm starting get serious about it. As in has my own monies.


It's nice having your own money to delve into your own hobbies, isn't it?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;12279315*
> Mmmm... not right now. Has to save up some more cash. That and I think CPU is getting in my way more right now.


Nah, your CPU is fine. You need an aftermarket cooler to overclock that sucker. I can halp. I got mine to 3.78ghz stable with ~60C load temps.


----------



## pRenoM

Think I'm going to keep my 6850 1003/1160


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12279360*
> It's nice having your own money to delve into your own hobbies, isn't it?
> 
> Nah, your CPU is fine. You need an aftermarket cooler to overclock that sucker. I can halp. I got mine to 3.78ghz stable with ~60C load temps.


Yeah, the stock cooler keeps it at 75C load at 3.2GHz. QQ I would like to buy a new CPU cooler so I can really OC like a boss but a couple things are stopping me.

1. I spent all my monies on those speakers.
2. It has to fit in my case.
3. I'm very curious about Bulldozer. I would not be surprised to see their foray into new architecture succeed.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;12279392*
> Yeah, the stock cooler keeps it at 75C load at 3.2GHz. QQ I would like to buy a new CPU cooler so I can really OC like a boss but a couple things are stopping me.
> 
> 1. I spent all my monies on those speakers.
> 2. It has to fit in my case.
> 3. I'm very curious about Bulldozer. I would not be surprised to see their foray into new architecture succeed.


Whoa. That's pretty hot. What are your BIOS settings at? Perhaps I can halp.

1. Did you get the Swan M10's or whatever? Those look really nice. Do they come in black, though?
2. You have the same case as I, just a bit bigger. It'll fit. lol.
3. I have little faith in it. I want it to succeed and beat Intel, I really do. But I just don't think it'll happen. They've been very careful to only speak of how it competes against current gen/previous chips, not how it'll perform against newer stuff.


----------



## a pet rock

That was just using the AI Tweaker that ASUS BIOS automatically has. I'm pretty sure it's stock BIOS, too. Might look into that.

1. Yes. They look awesome and I figured I shouldn't copy your peripherals exactly







.
2. I know the archon will fit. Don't think Silver Arrow does, though. That and Thermalright's price-performance isn't great. I suppose that's what you get for top quality.
3. I really want it to win too, but you're right about their caution. It might just be that they can't compare it since SB is now unavailable







. Of course, AMD is known for their secrecy before launch, yes?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;12279488*
> That was just using the AI Tweaker that ASUS BIOS automatically has. I'm pretty sure it's stock BIOS, too. Might look into that.
> 
> 1. Yes. They look awesome and I figured I shouldn't copy your peripherals exactly
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .
> 2. I know the archon will fit. Don't think Silver Arrow does, though. That and Thermalright's price-performance isn't great. I suppose that's what you get for top quality.
> 3. I really want it to win too, but you're right about their caution. It might just be that they can't compare it since SB is now unavailable
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . Of course, AMD is known for their secrecy before launch, yes?


Yeah, setting things on auto is easy, but not always the best option.

1. What else do you have that I have? o.o
2. It probably will. That's true about their Priceerformance. I paid $90 after shipping for my Archon. I don't regret it, though. It's still beastly. Pretty quiet.
3. Lol. I dunno, man. I'm waiting to see what happens.

Why aren't you on my friends list on Steam yet?


----------



## pRenoM

Wow with my overclock I got a 5-10 fps boost in metro 2033 Maxed out..Even hitting 45+ in some tunnels


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12279517*
> Yeah, setting things on auto is easy, but not always the best option.
> 
> 1. What else do you have that I have? o.o
> 2. It probably will. That's true about their Priceerformance. I paid $90 after shipping for my Archon. I don't regret it, though. It's still beastly. Pretty quiet.
> 3. Lol. I dunno, man. I'm waiting to see what happens.
> 
> Why aren't you on my friends list on Steam yet?


Then add me.








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pRenoM;12279520*
> Wow with my overclock I got a 5-10 fps boost in metro 2033 Maxed out..Even hitting 45+ in some tunnels


So that's about a 25% increase? Very nice. Next time I run benches, I should compare stock runs to max OC. Can you not get your Mem clock higher? I got up to 1200MHz, and I haven't actually tried pushing it further. Could actually cap out higher:drink:.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pRenoM;12279520*
> Wow with my overclock I got a 5-10 fps boost in metro 2033 Maxed out..Even hitting 45+ in some tunnels


Yeah, these scale really well when you OC.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;12279544*
> Then add me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So that's about a 25% increase? Very nice. Next time I run benches, I should compare stock runs to max OC. Can you not get your Mem clock higher? I got up to 1200MHz, and I haven't actually tried pushing it further. Could actually cap out higher:drink:.


Done.
Push your mem higher. I want to see how far it can go.








My guess is probably ~1250 (which will make your memory at 5GHz, btw)


----------



## reflex99

quad pumped is cheating.....


----------



## pRenoM

I couldn't get pass 1150 in OCCT without seeing artifacts..Other people seem to be having better luck I guess...Then again Occt has been buggy for me lately. I'll try a different stability test.


----------



## xPwn

GPU Model HIS Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5


----------



## Qcgold

Gigabyte 6870 x2
add me to the club


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pRenoM;12279602*
> I couldn't get pass 1150 in OCCT without seeing artifacts..Other people seem to be having better luck I guess...Then again Occt has been buggy for me lately. I'll try a different stability test.


I can't get 1200, either. I can get 1175, but I do that for quick benching. I don't know how stable it actually is. lol.


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;12279544*
> Then add me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So that's about a 25% increase? Very nice. Next time I run benches, I should compare stock runs to max OC. Can you not get your Mem clock higher? I got up to 1200MHz, and I haven't actually tried pushing it further. Could actually cap out higher:drink:.


Yeah and that was going from the slight overclock I already had...Just tried 1200..Started getting artifacts after the 2 minute mark..For ****s and giggles I'll see what happens at 1250 ha


----------



## pRenoM

1250 Is definatly a no go haha..Started Furmark and 2 seconds later artifact galore..Even once it was off I had to race to my TRIXX to turn the memory down before it crashed..Artifacts where everywhere :O


----------



## D3TH.GRUNT

happy with my 6870, easily got 1000 core and 1200 mem stable, no issues after 1 hour of BC2 vietnam and running a max temp of 57C in furmark with 70% fanspeed,







i love my new rig Oh and OP add me to the 6870 owners list thx


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D3TH.GRUNT;12279752*
> Oh and OP add me to the 6870 owners list thx


haha goodluck with that..I've been here like a week and I'm still not added.


----------



## bulmung

Woot I just ordered 2 xfx 6870 black edition cards off of tigerdirect. I will be part of the club soon enough.


----------



## pRenoM

I'm thinking since my card is only a single 6 pin connector that's whats limiting me. I'm seeing 6x2 Pin 6850 hit 1000/1250 easily...Oooooweeellll.


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Zerkk*


Re-ran it, must have had my afterburner profiles jacked up.


Does that mean your 1125 beat your 1140? Or did I misread that? Thanks for the tests anyway.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pRenoM*


Yeah and that was going from the slight overclock I already had...Just tried 1200..Started getting artefacts after the 2 minute mark..For ****s and giggles I'll see what happens at 1250 ha


Remember - the 6850 comes with error correcting memory. What this means is as it approaches the point where artefacts would normally appear, it fixes them, but at a cost to memory speed (in effect). Basically, you shouldn't just be looking for artefacts at your memory overclock, you really need to test out frame-rates and check for the difference manually.


----------



## TwistedDane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pRenoM*









I'm wondering why my Catalyst driver is below yours when I have the most up to date driver..Weird


The newest Catalyst is 11.1. I took the display driver from 11.1 and the catalyst from 10.12

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pRenoM*


I'm thinking since my card is only a single 6 pin connector that's whats limiting me. I'm seeing 6x2 Pin 6850 hit 1000/1250 easily...Oooooweeellll.


My 6850-be is a single 6-pin only








Power comsumption: 91w and 79amp @ full load


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Korlus*


Does that mean your 1125 beat your 1140? Or did I misread that? Thanks for the tests anyway.

Remember - the 6850 comes with error correcting memory. What this means is as it approaches the point where artefacts would normally appear, it fixes them, but at a cost to memory speed (in effect).* Basically, you shouldn't just be looking for artefacts at your memory overclock, you really need to test out frame-rates and check for the difference manually*.


I did...Best for me was 1000/1150


----------



## pRenoM

I'm curious to see what you guys get with your 6850's on Unigine BenchMark..Run the same settings


----------



## TwistedDane

Just pushed my card a little more








Max temp after 10min 76c










Fan runs 100% @ 74c


----------



## TwistedDane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pRenoM*


I'm curious to see what you guys get with your 6850's on Unigine BenchMark..Run the same settings










Here is mine


----------



## Krusher33

I feel so included.









Usually when i buy a video card, it's some cheap one that no one else gets or VERY outdated. It's about time I got one that a lot of others are getting too.


----------



## eggs2see

I'm currently running OCCT on my 6850 and vreg temps are climbing up towards 100c, This is obviously much higher than I would like, but I'm wondering if the Voltage regulator can take that sort of heat? The actual GPU is reading 73-84c


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Qcgold*




















Gigabyte 6870 x2
add me to the club










That's my boy








Wellcome to the club, you're doing a nice job there. We just wanna see some more pics of the system when all done, and some oc bench's too


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TwistedDane*


Just pushed my card a little more








Max temp after 10min 76c










Fan runs 100% @ 74c










That's nuts :O..Well maybe since yours is a BE its binned better then mine. When I bought mine they didnt have a BE version -__-


----------



## pRenoM

I'm a bit confused now...I was using Sapphire trixx to adjust my voltage control and stuff. But now I get this when I try and open it..Hmm


----------



## leecH01

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pRenoM*


I'm a bit confused now...I was using Sapphire trixx to adjust my voltage control and stuff. But now I get this when I try and open it..Hmm


http://www.multiupload.com/HH7E811J58


----------



## Blue Destroyer

if trixx cant control voltage of my 6870's nothing can then?


----------



## kzone75

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pRenoM;12281278*
> I'm curious to see what you guys get with your 6850's on Unigine BenchMark..Run the same settings


Here's mine


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *leecH01;12286068*
> http://www.multiupload.com/HH7E811J58


I'll try it..any reason as to why this versions better?..just curious


----------



## Lostcase

I can only do core clock:970 and memory clock:1200 with mine.


----------



## Adana_Bandit

count me in







http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/7941/88049202.jpg

its a XFX card


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eggs2see;12282865*
> I'm currently running OCCT on my 6850 and vreg temps are climbing up towards 100c, This is obviously much higher than I would like, but I'm wondering if the Voltage regulator can take that sort of heat? The actual GPU is reading 73-84c


*Anyone got any experience with OC'ing 6850's that can help me with my above problem?*


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eggs2see;12287851*
> *Anyone got any experience with OC'ing 6850's that can help me with my above problem?*


I have 2 asus 6850's and the one that has the high VRM temps is the better card .it gets hotter with less voltage but it also overclocks better.so this may not be an issue.
i've seen 107c on the vrm and I would not say that is safe but the good thing is you may get high clocks without adding voltage.


----------



## Krusher33

I've been trying to find my own info on this but either I suck or it's just not apparent enough. Safe voltage is...? Safe temps on VRM/RAM is...?

I stopped at 1.18v because of fear from lack of knowledge. I find info on a lot of other cards, but since the 6800's are pretty new, not getting much.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Got a question for you guys. Im thinking of trading my 6870's for a card that will fit in my case. I have a scout that has 10.5 inches of gpu clearance and my cards are over 11. What single gpu would my catds be worth? Or would it be better to sell them and buy a new card?


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer*


Got a question for you guys. Im thinking of trading my 6870's for a card that will fit in my case. I have a scout that has 10.5 inches of gpu clearance and my cards are over 11. What single gpu would my catds be worth? Or would it be better to sell them and buy a new card?


If it were me, I'd sell the case and get one that would fit my cards. I'm pretty sure that most of the good cards are gonna be that long anyways.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *a pet rock*


If it were me, I'd sell the case and get one that would fit my cards. I'm pretty sure that most of the good cards are gonna be that long anyways.


PRoblem is these pos 6870's I bought cant oc higher then 940 from stock 915 and have no voltage control...


----------



## Cartman372

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cartman372*


I tried searching but didn't come up with anything, I am about to purchase two 6870s and I wanted to know if the dual monitor issues have been resolved yet.



Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cartman372*


Just bumping this up since it's managed to fall back two pages already.


Bumping again since it's now fallen back seven pages from first bump and 9 pages total....


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I have 2 asus 6850's and the one that has the high VRM temps is the better card .it gets hotter with less voltage but it also overclocks better.so this may not be an issue.
i've seen 107c on the vrm and I would not say that is safe but the good thing is you may get high clocks without adding voltage.


Thanks for the reply, I have noticed the card does respond well to OC'ing with stock (or even lowered) voltage, but once I start to increase the voltage to 1.2v or above the heat dramatically increases, and overclock is capped at 1000/1250 anyway, so I don't see the point when stock volts the card will reach 950/1150 easy.


----------



## Colt

Im afraid my entry missed.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cartman372*


Bumping again since it's now fallen back seven pages from first bump and 9 pages total...I tried searching but didn't come up with anything, I am about to purchase two 6870s and I wanted to know if the dual monitor issues have been resolved yet.


this would have been answered if you worded the question better.If your talking about higher idle temps because the memory is clocked higher on a dual monitor setup then yes.This is not going anyware this was done to avoid screen tearing and flicker.

Im not sure if you have the same issue if you connect the monitors to seperate cards (without crossfire)...i'll try it and let you know

EDIT:The idle clocks are fine if you use seperate cards for each monitor.but this kills any thought of eyefinity (to group monitors together they have to be connected to the same card).


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer*


PRoblem is these pos 6870's I bought cant oc higher then 940 from stock 915 and have no voltage control...


This helped me unlock voltage control:
http://www.overclock.net/12163779-post2609.html


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


This helped me unlock voltage control:
http://www.overclock.net/12163779-post2609.html


thanks but that still didnt work either. changed all to 1 that needed and downloaded the beta and still nothing. im going to contact gigabyte and talk to them to see if its even an option. if not im returning these cards.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer*


thanks but that still didnt work either. changed all to 1 that needed and downloaded the beta and still nothing. im going to contact gigabyte and talk to them to see if its even an option. if not im returning these cards.


Look my friend, I'm afraid your card doesn't support (yet?) the software voltage regulation since it lacks of the CHiL vr controller and uses some other one instead (like the 6850 OC, a vga card that seem to oc a bit better even at stock volt.).








If you want to, read some customer's reviews on Newegg, it seem that some guy managed to oc the card up to 975-980 (not sure they're rs however).
I was planning myself to buy it for a cfx config. and now gave up for this reason. I'll just wait to see the arrival on the market of the newest Gigabyte 6870 SOC (wich seems to have vr adjustment via Gigabyte's own utility OC Guru).
Hope I was helpfull somehow


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Look my friend, I'm afraid your card doesn't support (yet?) the software voltage regulation since it lacks of the CHiL vr controller and uses some other one instead (like the 6850 OC, a vga card that seem to oc a bit better even at stock volt.).








If you want to, read some customer's reviews on Newegg, it seem that some guy managed to oc the card up to 975-980 (not sure they're rs however).
I was planning myself to buy it for a cfx config. and now gave up for this reason. I'll just wait to see the arrival on the market of the newest Gigabyte 6870 SOC (wich seems to have vr adjustment via Gigabyte's own utility OC Guru).
Hope I was helpfull somehow










you were. i did look at the reviews(when i bought it there was none) and if he is at 980...im doubting it is fully stable unless he got a card binned with a higher stock voltage. i get artifacts on one card if it goes over 920...from the stock 915!!!...

yea what gets me, is all over the box and paperwork it touts being a overclocked card...yet does not support voltage control(from gigabyte now that they are opened and will answer there phones) so they are useless to me. i dont like paying $500 for 2 cards that cannt overclock lol.


----------



## Chuckclc

Asus directCU 6850, I hit 1000mhz core at 1.225v with no problem, but cant go anything past 1050mhz on memory! What can I do?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chuckclc;12305704*
> Asus directCU 6850, I hit 1000mhz core at 1.225v with no problem, but cant go anything past 1050mhz on memory! What can I do?


There's a pencil mod for the 6870's memory voltage amp, not sure if this fits on the 6850 too









http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-radeon-hd-6870-memory-voltage-modification--with-a-pencil/10160.html


----------



## arrow0309

*MSI R6870 Hawk (featuring MSI's Twin Frozr III)*




























"The R6870 Hawk looks almost nothing like the reference Radeon HD 6870 since it has a an 8+2 phase power design (4+1 on 'regular models) allowing for a higher power draw when overclocking, Military Class II components (Super Ferrite Chokes, Hi-c CAPs, Solid Capacitors) for a stable operation, APS (Active Phase Switching) for automatic phase control, voltage read points, and an OCP (Over Current Protection) unlocker which is useful for extreme overclocks."


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12308925*
> *MSI R6870 Hawk (featuring MSI's Twin Frozr III)*


"Triple overvoltage" and "8+2 phase design"... wow.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12308537*
> There's a pencil mod for the 6870's memory voltage amp, not sure if this fits on the 6850 too
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-radeon-hd-6870-memory-voltage-modification--with-a-pencil/10160.html


Quote:


> In the meantime, hold your breath, cross your fingers, and pray hard that your latest acquisition does not burst into a ball of flames.


What a way to scare me from trying this, lol.

When they say test with a DMM, they mean on the back side of the pcb right? I only ask because it almost doesn't look like it in the picture.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12309238*
> What a way to scare me from trying this, lol.
> 
> When they say test with a DMM, they mean on the back side of the pcb right? I only ask because it almost doesn't look like it in the picture.


Yeap, just on the upper side near the pci-e power connectors, however the pencil mod you'll have to do it on the front side.
I did think a lot of this practice since I'm in the same position (1140 rs for the mem clock) to get an 40 Mhz increment and reach 1180 lol


----------



## arrow0309

The measuring point should be on the upper side of the card, on the spot I pictured in red


----------



## Krusher33

That's a heck of a better picture. Me thinks you should've wrote the article.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


That's a heck of a better picture. Me thinks you should've wrote the article.


Might really wanna try that instead








I definitely need a DMM


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


"Triple overvoltage" and "8+2 phase design"... wow.


More phases than MSI's motherboards, nowadays. That's a bad sign, right?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12310396*
> Might really wanna try that instead
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I definitely need a DMM


Bought mine for $5 at a Freight tools store. I've been pretty happy with it. Had one crapped out on me but it was because of my stupidity. They exchanged it.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Korlus;12310444*
> More phases than MSI's motherboards, nowadays. That's a bad sign, right?


Yeah, so I've been hearing in MSIalex's threads. LOL I have a MSI board but it was one of the budget ones so I got no say. I think I bought it and a Sempron for just $50.


----------



## arrow0309

*MSI R6870 HAWK (Twin Frozr III Thermal Design) Review:*

Ready for you the review of this gorgeous 6870









Link: *@ KitGuru*


----------



## Krusher33

I almost posted one of these pictures but didn't want to go through the trouble.

Question: Is the memory chips still located above the GPU? Is that smooth black plate covering them?


----------



## Bassdoken

Those black square things surrounding the GPU (there should be eight of them) are the memory chips.


----------



## arrow0309

How do you guys handle Dead Space 2?
Here's a shot for you;










But I got to reenable MLAA from ccc


----------



## sadness10

i5 2500k,asus 6850 with I'm getting 100 frame per second average, graphic setting highest.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## ht_addict

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12311935*
> *MSI R6870 HAWK (Twin Frozr III Thermal Design) Review:*
> 
> Ready for you the review of this gorgeous 6870
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Link: *@ KitGuru*


Looks just like my Gigabyte 6850. Took it apart and reapplied the Thermal paste.


----------



## 1d10t

hi there..

i have a pair Sapphire HD6850 running CrossFireX.Is anyone here able to raise core voltage on HD6850 cards?MSI AB can't read core voltages and Trixx definitely no-go


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *1d10t*


hi there..

i have a pair Sapphire HD6850 running CrossFireX.Is anyone here able to raise core voltage on HD6850 cards?MSI AB can't read core voltages and Trixx definitely no-go










The exact model of your Sapphire's?


----------



## ht_addict

Decided to move my second Gigabyte 6850 into the PCI slot(x4) on my motherboard to give them some space and improved air flow. Temp's dropped 15-20oC and overclocking at 900/1100 without having to increase voltage.


----------



## smoke420

Im thinking of going eyefinity and was wondering whats the cheapest way.The plan is to get two more 21.5 1080p monitors but I dought I will be able to find the same model .

If I use a dp to dvi does it really need to be active?

If I use a dp to vga will it hurt performance?

Would it be cheaper to get a dp monitor?

my monitor is a Acer H213H


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

just installed my 2nd 6870
Attachment 194831
Attachment 194830


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


just installed my 2nd 6870
Attachment 194831
Attachment 194830


lol you are destroying my crossfire 6870 and single 6870 scores, are you overclocked at all?


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer*


lol you are destroying my crossfire 6870 and single 6870 scores, are you overclocked at all?


With the single card I was at 1000/1200. On the X-fire it's at stock for now. I honestly might not even OC these suckers. Dont really see a need too, yet atleast! lol What kind of scores were you getting with your AMD. I'll have to dig up see what I was getting on my 965 single 6870.


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


just installed my 2nd 6870
Attachment 194830


Was that OC'd? I get similar scores to your single card performance on my sig rig.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *eggs2see*


Was that OC'd? I get similar scores to your single card performance on my sig rig.


sure was, 1000/1250. I left everything default on heaven on both runs. Screen Resolution makes a big difference on scores as well.


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


sure was, 1000/1250. I left everything default on heaven on both runs. Screen Resolution makes a big difference on scores as well.


Yup I ran 1920x1080 everything on default. Got 908. I dunno how, but I'm gonna be really happy with that.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda*


With the single card I was at 1000/1200. On the X-fire it's at stock for now. I honestly might not even OC these suckers. Dont really see a need too, yet atleast! lol What kind of scores were you getting with your AMD. I'll have to dig up see what I was getting on my 965 single 6870.


I would have to agree.At this point overclocking is just for benchmarks. once I got crossfire the only game that needs overclocking is metro 2033 at settings so high you cant see the difference anyway.

I keep vsync on because ive noticed that my cards get hot trying to do stupid things like 1000+ fps in game menu's.lol and above 60 is just not needed.

Things will change with eyefinity and really, really high res. hope my system can handle it.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eggs2see;12326029*
> Yup I ran 1920x1080 everything on default. Got 908. I dunno how, but I'm gonna be really happy with that.


yeah man thats really impressive on a dual core!


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda;12326140*
> yeah man thats really impressive on a dual core!


Heaven doesn't seem to be very CPU intensive at all, I'm sure your 3Dmark scores would smash mine. Also I have this card overclocked as high as it will stably go.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eggs2see;12326395*
> *Heaven doesn't seem to be very CPU intensive at all,* I'm sure your 3Dmark scores would smash mine. Also I have this card overclocked as high as it will stably go.


Did not know this.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

here are my scores 1920x1200 everything auto


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Hay guys, just a quick question, is there any one here that can tell me what my expantion options are with the 6970 I have already. Can I use any 6xxx series cards together? Is a 650w power supply enough for crossfire? and if not, for the bigger cards what about a 6850?
Thanks


----------



## Blue Destroyer

650w nooooo. Im pushing it with the 750w I have. Best to buy a new psi and another 6970 and call it a day.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Single OC 1000/1200> Crossfire Stock > Crossfire OC 1000/2000
View attachment 194899


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer;12328190*
> 650w nooooo. Im pushing it with the 750w I have. Best to buy a new psi and another 6970 and call it a day.


650W would be pushing it. I wouldn't risk it unless it was a _very_ good 650W (like mine, or an XFX model). 700-750W is much better.


----------



## phreakboy

Hello, might add me to the list? temps included are idle ofcourse









Yeah I know.... the cables look like a scene out of the Crysis jungle, but I'll take care of that and do a little case reconstruction when I'll have some time for it


----------



## Fiwb587

Can I get in? Here's my GPU-Z validation







Oh and it's an XFX 6870
EDIT: Sorry forgot the screenshot so here it is:


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:



Originally Posted by *phreakboy*


Hello, might add me to the list? temps included are idle ofcourse









Yeah I know.... the cables look like a scene out of the Crysis jungle, but I'll take care of that and do a little case reconstruction when I'll have some time for it

*snip*


That's exactly how my 900 looked before I cut some holes in it for wire management







I know your pain!


----------



## 1d10t

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12320461*
> The exact model of your Sapphire's?


This model









but things start to change after i modified "EnableULPS" key in registry


----------



## kidrem

I'm getting pathetic 3DMark06 scores with my 6850... even OC'd! Can you guys see what I'm doing wrong?


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kidrem*


I'm getting pathetic 3DMark06 scores with my 6850... even OC'd! Can you guys see what I'm doing wrong?


Is that CPU stable with all four cores unlocked? That's something I can think of.
My 3dm06 score is ~22k with my rig @ 3.68Ghz / 950/1180


----------



## kidrem

Yeah, the CPU has been solid for about 6 months, originally tested w/ SuperPi X4 and SM2.0. Thanks for the idea though.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Im thinking of going eyefinity and was wondering whats the cheapest way.The plan is to get two more 21.5 1080p monitors but I dought I will be able to find the same model .

If I use a dp to dvi does it really need to be active?

If I use a dp to vga will it hurt performance?

Would it be cheaper to get a dp monitor?

my monitor is a Acer H213H


a little eyefinity help please.


----------



## Bassdoken

DP -> DVI must be active.
DP -> VGA will not hurt performance, but unless you have a high quality cable, the picture quality on that monitor will be very low compared to the other monitors.
Depends on what DP monitor. But for Eyefinity, it's best to have 3 of the same monitors. An active DP adapter is only like $30. Come on.


----------



## smoke420

+1
Thanks for the info.all the active dp to dvi adapters I see are $80+.Im not going to be able to find the same model monitor ive looked .I can find them but not at a place I trust enough to send my money.i'll get a similar model from the same company If thats not good enough i will replace my current monitor down the line.but were did you see the adapters for $30.

Edit:I found some thanks again


----------



## nubgen

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kidrem*


I'm getting pathetic 3DMark06 scores with my 6850... even OC'd! Can you guys see what I'm doing wrong?


Those scores seem about right to me. And hardly "pathetic"

Were you expecting 20-22k?


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kidrem*


I'm getting pathetic 3DMark06 scores with my 6850... even OC'd! Can you guys see what I'm doing wrong?


It's not that bad. You can probably OC your 6850 a little more if you want to get more out of it. I've not yet seen a 6850 that can't do 900 Mhz core clock on stock voltage. In fact, I think 950 still ought to be safe, if you don't feel like experimenting all that much. I can understand you not wanting to go higher with your memory overclock, but as I understand it, the core is the same one used in the 6970 (just with a few bits chopped out), and so should go as fast without problems (although they run at a slightly higher voltage).


----------



## kidrem

Yes, I was expecting 20-22k. All the reviews I've seen are in that range at stock clocks.

I'm still working on the OC and will definitely go higher as it allows. Still trying to 'unlock' Afterburner to get past 850.

Thanks for the responses.


----------



## pRenoM

I get 22k with my OC'd 6850...Your not going to get all that much higher then that dude


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Korlus;12344514*
> It's not that bad. You can probably OC your 6850 a little more if you want to get more out of it. I've not yet seen a 6850 that can't do 900 Mhz core clock on stock voltage. In fact, I think 950 still ought to be safe, if you don't feel like experimenting all that much. I can understand you not wanting to go higher with your memory overclock, but as I understand it, the core is the same one used in the 6970 (just with a few bits chopped out), and so should go as fast without problems (although they run at a slightly higher voltage).


Yeah I had mine 950 at stock voltage just fine. To get any higher then that most the time you need a voltage tweak and with that I only got to 1005 before I hit a bunch of problems. Memory is stuck at 1150 with stock voltage or tweaked for me.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kidrem;12345885*
> Yes, I was expecting 20-22k. All the reviews I've seen are in that range at stock clocks.
> 
> I'm still working on the OC and will definitely go higher as it allows. Still trying to 'unlock' Afterburner to get past 850.
> 
> Thanks for the responses.


Reviewers use i7's at 3.8-4ghz
Or some even use 980x @ 4ghz+
3D Mark 06 is very CPU based, so that's why they're getting higher scores.


----------



## kidrem

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12347520*
> Reviewers use i7's at 3.8-4ghz
> Or some even use 980x @ 4ghz+
> 3D Mark 06 is very CPU based, so that's why they're getting higher scores.


Awww! That's so not fair! That's probably it, good work.

... I'm still gonna try to get some more out of it


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kidrem;12349372*
> Awww! That's so not fair! That's probably it, good work.
> 
> ... I'm still gonna try to get some more out of it


It gives an "accurate" representation of what the "average" user will see.
The only thing it does is that it reduces a CPU bottleneck.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Ill be in tomorrow with a Sapphire 6850, just gotta grab parts tomorrow and build it. Will be buying a second one next month.


----------



## pRenoM

Is it just me or is the OP and owner of this club not doing a very good job..I've had my card for awhile now and I'm still not added..Mutiny!..In fact I think he no longer uses a 6800 series card.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pRenoM*


Is it just me or is the OP and owner of this club not doing a very good job..I've had my card for awhile now and I'm still not added..Mutiny!..In fact I think he no longer uses a 6800 series card.


You're right, he has a 6950 now.


----------



## Justswifty

Just built mine


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pRenoM*


Is it just me or is the OP and owner of this club not doing a very good job..I've had my card for awhile now and I'm still not added..Mutiny!..In fact I think he no longer uses a 6800 series card.


Le revolution!!!!!!


----------



## Silomatic

Hey, if Egypt can do it so can we =)


----------



## Razi3l

*Updated.* If you were missed lemme know.


----------



## smoke420

crysis was a pretty good bench but imo the game kind of sucked .Yes if you like it buy it but I would try it first .lol


----------



## Blue Destroyer

GOD i wish these 6870's had voltage control. These are awesome amazing cards besides that one little fact....which makes them horrible if you like to overclock like i do.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer*


GOD i wish these 6870's had voltage control. These are awesome amazing cards besides that one little fact....which makes them horrible if you like to overclock like i do.


I wonder if it is possible to overvolt this card at bios level, maybe future versions of RBE will implement Gigabyte 6870 OC's bios support as well


----------



## Razi3l

Yea its kind of stupid to give a card a huge cooler it does not need and then remove voltage control.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


I wonder if it is possible to overvolt this card at bios level, maybe future versions of RBE will implement Gigabyte 6870 OC's bios support as well










If gigabyte says there is no way to control voltage, is there still any hope?


----------



## FlowDee

Heya! 

IÂ´d like to join the club...

PowerColor 6870 PCS+ @980/1200Mhz
Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro


----------



## Reload_X

HERE IS MY XFX 6870 flashed to BE (@950/1150... will push it some more if i find a good game to play)


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12361174*
> I wonder if it is possible to overvolt this card at bios level, maybe future versions of RBE will implement Gigabyte 6870 OC's bios support as well


My understanding is the Gigabyte OC edition 6850's & 6870's do not come with the chip that allows voltage control, so no amount of bios updates will ever allow this.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eggs2see;12368238*
> My understanding is the Gigabyte OC edition 6850's & 6870's do not come with the chip that allows voltage control, so no amount of bios updates will ever allow this.


I was talkin' about the RBE (radeon bios editor) future vers. that will possibly unlock voltage modification via modified bios (not 100% sure however)


----------



## smoke420

whats the quickest way to test an overclock to see if I can push it more?

Whats the best way to know im 100% stable?

P.S. I know 100% stable takes longer and im ok with that but I am not willing to use OCCT for a extended period of time (the temps are not safe).Please suggest program and settings not just " furmark maxed ".should I use post fx ,Xtreme burning mode,displacement mapping .does it matter what resolution I use of what level MSAA.

P.S.S. 
Im ok if this sounds stupid. you dont know if you dont ask.And if you have the urge to call me a noob feel free as long as it comes with some useful information.lol


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


whats the quickest way to test an overclock to see if I can push it more?

Whats the best way to know im 100% stable?

P.S. I know 100% stable takes longer and im ok with that but I am not willing to use OCCT for a extended period of time (the temps are not safe).Please suggest program and settings not just " furmark maxed ".should I use post fx ,Xtreme burning mode,displacement mapping .does it matter what resolution I use of what level MSAA.

P.S.S. 
Im ok if this sounds stupid. you dont know if you dont ask.And if you have the urge to call me a noob feel free as long as it comes with some useful information.lol


Quickest way to test an overclock? Load up Crysis, and make a lot of explosions.

Best way to know if you're 100% stable is to stress the system for at least 12h, but 24-48h is preferred. To stress it, run either OCCT, FurMark max (every setting to as high as it can go. Post fx - yes, Xtreme burning mode - yes, displacement - yes, max resolution, max MSAA. You want a 100% load on the GPU, so you have to push it to the max.


----------



## smoke420

+1 
Thanks thats way more than Ive ever done .I thought only cpu stability testing took that long.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


+1 
Thanks thats way more than Ive ever done .I thought only cpu stability testing took that long.


Yup. I'm very strict with my definition of stability.
And I don't do the whole % stable.

Because lets face it, if you're stable, you're stable. You can do _anything_ from 24/7 folding to a gaming marathon to intensive 3d rendering without crashing. If you crash at all, then you're not stable. Simple as that.

Now there are varying degrees of instability, such as benchable and "omg why am I alive". Lol.


----------



## Razi3l

MSI 6870 Hawk review @ TPU.

Not a bad card, good temps and everything but the overclocking was disappointing. I expected these to be binned.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12384873*
> Quickest way to test an overclock? Load up Crysis, and make a lot of explosions.
> 
> Best way to know if you're 100% stable is to stress the system for at least 12h, but 24-48h is preferred. To stress it, run either OCCT, FurMark max (every setting to as high as it can go. Post fx - yes, Xtreme burning mode - yes, displacement - yes, max resolution, max MSAA. You want a 100% load on the GPU, so you have to push it to the max.


I dont think you need to be that excessive with furmark. You're likely to kill your card, and I wouldn't run it for more then 30 minutes.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956*


I dont think you need to be that excessive with furmark. You're likely to kill your card, and I wouldn't run it for more then 30 minutes.


If it can't handle that heat (which isn't really accurate, that's just stability testing), then it probably shouldn't be overclocked that high to begin with.


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


If it can't handle that heat (which isn't really accurate, that's just stability testing), then it probably shouldn't be overclocked that high to begin with.


I agree. Get it over and done with within the first week or so of having a card, and if it works then, it ought to work for a long time. If it would only last for 30mins-an hour at that temperature, liklihood is that it'll die pretty early on in its life anyway - so overclock less.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Korlus*


I agree. Get it over and done with within the first week or so of having a card, and if it works then, it ought to work for a long time. If it would only last for 30mins-an hour at that temperature, liklihood is that it'll die pretty early on in its life anyway - so overclock less.


No game/app will ever push your card that much. It's not the card itself, but the VRM you're likely to harm. If you want to do it, go ahead. It's unnecessary stress for no added benefit.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956*


No game/app will ever push your card that much. It's not the card itself, but the VRM you're likely to harm. If you want to do it, go ahead. It's unnecessary stress for no added benefit.


I agree, I've never stressed (with furmark or Occt) any of my vga's for more than 15'


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


MSI 6870 Hawk review @ TPU.

Not a bad card, good temps and everything but the overclocking was disappointing. I expected these to be binned.


Yeap, how about this other one:

MSI 6870 Hawk review @ TweakTown

There's a pretty nice oc here


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956*


No game/app will ever push your card that much. It's not the card itself, but the VRM you're likely to harm. If you want to do it, go ahead. It's unnecessary stress for no added benefit.



Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


I agree, I've never stressed (with furmark or Occt) any of my vga's for more than 15'










Yeah, that's true.

But if it can't handle an absolute load, who's to say it can't handle just a little game load?


----------



## Krusher33

My wife stresses me out. I don't mind. It's only a little here and a little there. But I think I'll have a complete meltdown and just blow up if she ever stress me out constantly for a long time.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


My wife stresses me out. I don't mind. It's only a little here and a little there. But I think I'll have a complete meltdown and just blow up if she ever stress me out constantly for a long time.


i would call that unstable, think you need to lower your overclock


----------



## nubgen

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer;12396057*
> i would call that unstable, think you need to lower your overclock


upgrade your wife.


----------



## Fiwb587

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nubgen;12399391*
> upgrade your wife.


Sometimes it's better to get new than upgrade. Alot of times it's a better bang for your buck.


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956*


No game/app will ever push your card that much. It's not the card itself, but the VRM you're likely to harm. If you want to do it, go ahead. It's unnecessary stress for no added benefit.


Perhaps 24 hours is a bit much, but you should still test for more than fifteen minutes. I found that my memory overclock (before I lowered it back to 1125) wasn't perfectly stable, but I didn't find it by running a stress test for 15 minutes. The ECC memory kept working fine, and they don't seem to test memory overclocks well enough (even OCCT doesn't). For some reason, being in a game that constantly had to update what was stored in the vRAM caused huge stuttering at times that I eventually put down to a vRAM problem after a half hour/hour's stress testing followed by benchmarking in the Heaven Benchmark at different overclocks.


----------



## prznar1

hey








i need your advise. could you tell me how to cool vrms and memory chips while using an universal gpu block?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *prznar1*


hey








i need your advise. could you tell me how to cool vrms and memory chips while using an universal gpu block?


The best all in one kit should be the AC VRM-001:









http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch...iteria=AA77249

For the memory you could also use a copper kit of heatsinks like this:










http://www.computerbase.de/preisvergleich/a340457.html


----------



## prznar1

THX!







also since the ac heatsinks set got the memory heatsinks so no need to buy extras


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nubgen;12399391*
> upgrade your wife.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *shuojinz;12400518*
> Sometimes it's better to get new than upgrade. Alot of times it's a better bang for your buck.


Epic!


----------



## nerdybeat

Hey all - I am headed into Crossfire town here soon with my 6870 (2 XFX). I have seen a good amount of people in this thread with nice 750W PSUs powering their 6870 CF rigs. Does anyone see an issue with my sig rig and running the 6870 CF? (no immediate plans for overclocking them)

Just waiting to see if they 6870s drop a LITTLE more in price before swooping the 2nd =P


----------



## prznar1

the price may not drop soon, cos it was dropped in last week or something like that.
your psu will handle that easly


----------



## nerdybeat

Thanks, yea you're right. I totally saw that price drop, and my hopes are high for another in the next few months. All I can do is hope hahaha.


----------



## prznar1

dont hope







buy it







price will not drop soon enough ;P 7k is getting closer.


----------



## Krakatau

Hi, just wondering if anyone else has a Gigabyte 6870 Windforcex3 (with the 3 fans), and has it overclocked?
Also would there be a good gain if i did get it up. Idle temp atm is about 32, Load goes up to 60 on 3dMark Vantage. Though Ambient temps are about 16-17 atm.

The limiting factor on my system I think are the Harddrives. Do they bottleneck performance in any way?


----------



## prznar1

hard drives can only delay the start of something. loading times, system start up. they dont have such big influense on computating itself.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Korlus;12404420*
> Perhaps 24 hours is a bit much, but you should still test for more than fifteen minutes. I found that my memory overclock (before I lowered it back to 1125) wasn't perfectly stable, but I didn't find it by running a stress test for 15 minutes. The ECC memory kept working fine, and they don't seem to test memory overclocks well enough (even OCCT doesn't). For some reason, being in a game that constantly had to update what was stored in the vRAM caused huge stuttering at times that I eventually put down to a vRAM problem after a half hour/hour's stress testing followed by benchmarking in the Heaven Benchmark at different overclocks.


I did say 30 minutes. And yeah for memory sometimes games are necessary for checking performance decreases with unstable clocks. Atleast it is easy to figure out what is happening when your being throttled.


----------



## Fiwb587

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nerdybeat*


Hey all - I am headed into Crossfire town here soon with my 6870 (2 XFX). I have seen a good amount of people in this thread with nice 750W PSUs powering their 6870 CF rigs. Does anyone see an issue with my sig rig and running the 6870 CF? (no immediate plans for overclocking them)

Just waiting to see if they 6870s drop a LITTLE more in price before swooping the 2nd =P


I have been told several times by reputable members that my 650w will be enough for 6870CF with my build and your 750w should be abundant.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Got a solid 70+ fps on sniper ghost warrior.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krakatau;12417924*
> Hi, just wondering if anyone else has a Gigabyte 6870 Windforcex3 (with the 3 fans), and has it overclocked?
> Also would there be a good gain if i did get it up. Idle temp atm is about 32, Load goes up to 60 on 3dMark Vantage. Though Ambient temps are about 16-17 atm.
> 
> The limiting factor on my system I think are the Harddrives. Do they bottleneck performance in any way?


no your hd will not bottleneck you at all. those are good temps too. like i have said, the windforce card is awesome...would just be sooo much better with voltage control.


----------



## MasterTB

Hello everyone:

I just bought a pair of this babies Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 And no matter what I do I cannot overclock the memories past the default 1050 Mhz.

I'm wondering if it is because there are certain speeds that the memory won't support and I have to go further or if it is because this card (not being a refference cooled car) just won't admit memory OC??

Or is it that you have to up the GPU voltage to overclock all the values GPU and Memory?

Any help will be appreciated.

Martin.-


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MasterTB*


Hello everyone:

I just bought a pair of this babies Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 And no matter what I do I cannot overclock the memories past the default 1050 Mhz.

I'm wondering if it is because there are certain speeds that the memory won't support and I have to go further or if it is because this card (not being a refference cooled car) just won't admit memory OC??

Or is it that you have to up the GPU voltage to overclock all the values GPU and Memory?

Any help will be appreciated.

Martin.-


Using BIOS or software to OC?


----------



## MasterTB

Right now trying trixx to see if I can find the limits of the card but, no matter what I do I cannot get it stable.

Any suggestions?


----------



## abu46

hello guys

i am a proud owner of asus eah 6850
i wana know does asus provide bios updates for its graphic cards as it does for its mobos??

can a owner of asus eah 6850 v2 upload his bios so that i can try it on my card

thnx


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *abu46*


hello guys

i am a proud owner of asus eah 6850
i wana know does asus provide bios updates for its graphic cards as it does for its mobos??

can a owner of asus eah 6850 v2 upload his bios so that i can try it on my card

thnx


Hi.

While some manufacturers (sometimes) do release BIOSes for graphics cards, they are generally to fix problems and thats rarely. As far as i know, there is no ASUS 6850 V2 and there is no alternative BIOS, aside from one that is possible clocked higher at stock. The V1 and V2 are similar and there is no point in updating the bios if your card is running fine already. And if you can provide a screenshot with your OCN name visible I can add you to the group.


----------



## Krusher33

I've only flashed a new bios on my graphic cards just one time. It was because there was an issue SLI'ing cards of different bios versions. Flashed them to the same bios and the issue went away. Never flashed for any other reason.

So when flashing bios on a graphic card, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".


----------



## Idra

I have an HD 5850 atm.

Would I see more of an upgrade if I crossfire two 6870s or if I get one HD 6950 (which I will then unlock)?

Or should I just get another 5850 to crossfire?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Idra*


I have an HD 5850 atm.

Would I see more of an upgrade if I crossfire two 6870s or if I get one HD 6950 (which I will then unlock)?

Or should I just get another 5850 to crossfire?


If you can get another 5850 for CF for a good price that would be the best option. 6850s dont unlock and 6870 CF is faster than 5870 CF. If you can sell off the 5850 for a good price then 2 6870s wouldnt be bad either (or a 6900 card).


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MasterTB;12444701*
> Right now trying trixx to see if I can find the limits of the card but, no matter what I do I cannot get it stable.
> 
> Any suggestions?


If I was you I'd experiment with using the bios to overclock..TriXX made my GPU unstable for some reason also. MSI Afterburner works great for me though.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;12445764*
> 6870 CF is faster than 5870 CF.


I remember an Anand article where this isn't true? They were pretty much considered trading blows with each other with 5870 being just a couple a framerates higher.

Remember: 6800's were geared towards mid-range market whereas the 5800's were geared towards high-end market.

Edit: Here is the article:http://www.anandtech.com/show/3987/amds-radeon-6870-6850-renewing-competition-in-the-midrange-market


----------



## Razi3l

Hmm. Well in some reviews the 6870s come out top. Depends on the games.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;12446331*
> Hmm. Well in some reviews the 6870s come out top. Depends on the games.


And the person doing the review.


----------



## Krusher33

Add me please?










Excuse the flowers in background.







New build and I haven't found a wallpaper I like yet.


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


I remember an Anand article where this isn't true? They were pretty much considered trading blows with each other with 5870 being just a couple a framerates higher.

Remember: 6800's were geared towards mid-range market whereas the 5800's were geared towards high-end market.

Edit: Here is the article:http://www.anandtech.com/show/3987/a...idrange-market



This is true, but since the 6870 is much cheaper now, if you're going crossfire, the 6870 is generally a better option due to scaling.

To answer the other guy's question - if you can sell your 5850 and buy two 6870's (or even 6850's) for the same price or cheaper than another 5850, then it's worth upgrading. If not, just go into crossfire with your 5850.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

I was hoping for a little advice on my overclocking as you can see in my image I have been able to get to 1200\\1040\\1.35v. During extreme stressing and the fan at 100% the card is just touching 90c but is perfectly stable, my question is: can the card suffer by the high voltage even if it is not going into dangerous temps?
Thanks.


----------



## abu46

*@Razi3l

thnx for the info








i myself am not able to find the diff. between the V1 and V2









kindly add me to the group







*


----------



## prznar1

V2 dont have radiator on mosfets and its not using DrMos but older kind of tech with three seperate semiconductors. also on V2 two 6pin pci-e plugs can be used, but to run card one is enough. V1 got only one pci-e 6pin jack.


----------



## armen16

Here I go again asking questions. I'm a student and I find it hard to stretch my budget easily. The best upgrade I can do is a new power supply and either a 6850/6870. The reason I'm getting a new power supply its because I really know mine isn't good. This build is like years ago and the power supply is degrading and besides newer power supplies have better efficiency. So is it alright if I go for a Gigabyte 6850 Windforce? Just wondering. If not I might just go for a 6870 Non Reference Sapphire. And a XFX 650W power supply.

Thank you.


----------



## prznar1

depends on where are you from. ive seen a 6870 powercolor with price very very close to 6850







best would be to look for such rebates and go with 6870.


----------



## armen16

Yeah I have seen PowerColor's have really low prices what I'm worried about is that if they are good. But if its really good as other other cards then I should consider it but I guess the Sapphire 6870 Non Reference is good since its good in cooling.


----------



## prznar1

powercolor is one of best AMD partners. earlier his was the one with lowest prices and his is also one of best. from both you should not get lower quality then sapphire. it just looks like the powercolor want some bigger sales numbers


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *armen16;12456589*
> Here I go again asking questions. I'm a student and I find it hard to stretch my budget easily. The best upgrade I can do is a new power supply and either a 6850/6870. The reason I'm getting a new power supply its because I really know mine isn't good. This build is like years ago and the power supply is degrading and besides newer power supplies have better efficiency. So is it alright if I go for a Gigabyte 6850 Windforce? Just wondering. If not I might just go for a 6870 Non Reference Sapphire. And a XFX 650W power supply.
> 
> Thank you.


The Gigabyte one isn't bad but the more recent versions dont have voltage tweaking support so it would be better to get a Sapphire or ASUS if you want that. Otherwise the Gigabyte one is a great card. If you really can't stretch to a 6870 then a 6850 will do fine. Most overclock really well and can match the 6870s performance pretty easily.


----------



## armen16

I'll see what I can do since its still at the end of the month. Price drops fast. So I think I'll be able to get the 6870. Thanks for the inputs. I'll decide when I have the money because my plans keep changing since its not easy.


----------



## prznar1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;12456703*
> The Gigabyte one isn't bad but the more recent versions dont have voltage tweaking support so it would be better to get a Sapphire or ASUS if you want that. Otherwise the Gigabyte one is a great card. If you really can't stretch to a 6870 then a 6850 will do fine. Most overclock really well and can match the 6870s performance pretty easily.


i dont like comapring the oced lower card to stock higher card. this is just stupid. the higher card can be oced to and it will be in front again. comparing should always be done at stock vs stock.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *prznar1;12457208*
> i dont like comapring the oced lower card to stock higher card. this is just stupid. the higher card can be oced to and it will be in front again. comparing should always be done at stock vs stock.


True. If you have the money, you should always buy the faster (stock) card but some people can't afford the more expensive ones.


----------



## prznar1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;12457307*
> True. If you have the money, you should always buy the faster (stock) card but some people can't afford the more expensive ones.


in that moment rebates come with help


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *prznar1;12457382*
> in that moment rebates come with help


No rebates here my friend.. (outside the US)


----------



## prznar1

well in poland we had a vertex 3d 6870 at price of cheapest 6850. now in germany i can see that powercolor got a 6870 with price very close to the cheapest 6850







search it and you will find it


----------



## Razi3l

Not like that here in the UK.


----------



## prznar1

zabz... get out from there to better world


----------



## ice_owl

Just found out last night how loud the fan on my Diamond HD 6870 is. Even at 60% Fan speed. Is fan setting on automatic reliable when overclocking? Cant find fan presets for temps on auto. How do I adjust auto settings in auto mode? I would rather only hear fan when it hits a certain temp.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *prznar1;12457208*
> i dont like comapring the oced lower card to stock higher card. this is just stupid. the higher card can be oced to and it will be in front again. comparing should always be done at stock vs stock.


That's because you fail to see the point in doing that.
Of course the higher, more expensive card will be more powerful.
But at the price point of the lower card, you can match the stock performance of the higher card *at no additional costs*.
So for example, you can overclock, lets say, a GTX 560 Ti for $250 plus shipping, and if you get lucky, be able to match a GTX 570~580 for only $250 instead of the $350 or $500.

It's not saying that the lower card can be more powerful always, just at that price point.


----------



## MasterTB

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pRenoM*


If I was you I'd experiment with using the bios to overclock..TriXX made my GPU unstable for some reason also. MSI Afterburner works great for me though.


Sorry for the late response.
I started using Afterburner and I can get the GPU to 970Mhz with max voltage but the memories are tricky, they just won't do any OC (stable) what are your settings on them?

I can't seem to find a sweet spot. My 5830 had the memories @1000 default and without any voltage at all I was able to take them to 1250!! why is it that this memories are so terribly slow?

Martin.-


----------



## prznar1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


That's because you fail to see the point in doing that.
Of course the higher, more expensive card will be more powerful.
But at the price point of the lower card, you can match the stock performance of the higher card *at no additional costs*.
So for example, you can overclock, lets say, a GTX 560 Ti for $250 plus shipping, and if you get lucky, be able to match a GTX 570~580 for only $250 instead of the $350 or $500.

It's not saying that the lower card can be more powerful always, just at that price point.


but ffs you can still get AWAY with performance from the oced lower card by OVERCKLOCKING the higher... over the past few years i was dealing with ppl like you. none of them didnt understand that its completely unfair to comapre oced vs stock.............
so lets just not continue this conversation cos i already know that it will just turn into another flame war or something. i will not even say that the pc portals are not comparing cards oced vs stock but stock vs stock.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *prznar1;12460589*
> but ffs you can still get AWAY with performance from the oced lower card by OVERCKLOCKING the higher... over the past few years i was dealing with ppl like you. none of them didnt understand that its completely unfair to comapre oced vs stock.............
> so lets just not continue this conversation cos i already know that it will just turn into another flame war or something. i will not even say that the pc portals are not comparing cards oced vs stock but stock vs stock.


Well no duh, man. Of course the higher card will be more powerful, *but at a higher price*.
People always come up with things that "aren't fair" to compare with computer parts. PhysX, DX11, HD 5970 vs 480/580 since 5970 is dual GPU...
I have no interest in a flame war. I just don't want people to be misinformed and spend more than they have to.


----------



## prznar1

sure that at higher price. that is what you paying for. for higher performance.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *prznar1*


sure that at higher price. that is what you paying for. for higher performance.


Exactly.
But for, let's use the 6800 series as an example,

you pay $175 or whatever the cheapest 6850 is at the egg, and you overclock it to 6870 speeds, then you have $225 performance at $175 pricing.
But, like you said, you can always overlclock the 6870, but it is the better product, no? So higher performance would be expected.


----------



## abu46

Quote:



Originally Posted by *prznar1*


V2 dont have radiator on mosfets and its not using DrMos but older kind of tech with three seperate semiconductors. also on V2 two 6pin pci-e plugs can be used, but to run card one is enough. V1 got only one pci-e 6pin jack.


the asus eah 6850 V22 is very similar to EAH6870 DC/2DI2S/1GD5
the pcb looks exactly the same








both have black colored caps and 2x6pin pcie power connectors as opposed to red ones on V1

and while the 6870 bosts of SUPER ALLOY POWER, does that been the V2 also employees those beeter quality chokes and caps









does having two 6pin power connectors advantageous as opposed to one on 6850, coz all other manufactures have a single pcie connect. on their 6850s

btw what are DrMos


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *abu46*


the asus eah 6850 V22 is very similar to EAH6870 DC/2DI2S/1GD5
the pcb looks exactly the same








both have black colored caps and 2x6pin pcie power connectors as opposed to red ones on V1

and while the 6870 bosts of SUPER ALLOY POWER, does that been the V2 also employees those beeter quality chokes and caps









does having two 6pin power connectors advantageous as opposed to one on 6850, coz all other manufactures have a single pcie connect. on their 6850s

btw what are DrMos










I'd assume V2 has a revision to some of the hardware. SAP (Super Alloy Power) would be on both.

With 2 x 6 pin connectors, you'll have more room for bigger OCs, if that is a limiting factor (probably won't be with this architecture).

DrMos are the VRMs (Voltage Regulation Modules) that MSI uses, and they're better than conventional VRMs. I'm not sure by how much, but something like 8 + 2 DrMos is equal to 12 + 2 regular VRMs. But thats going into motherboards. I'd have to look into it more for the GPUs.

Essentially, DrMos will give you better power delivery, and potentially let you overclock more. Potentially. Unless you get a horrbily binned chip. >.<


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


I'd assume V2 has a revision to some of the hardware. SAP (Super Alloy Power) would be on both.

With 2 x 6 pin connectors, you'll have more room for bigger OCs, if that is a limiting factor (probably won't be with this architecture).

DrMos are the VRMs (Voltage Regulation Modules) that MSI uses, and they're better than conventional VRMs. I'm not sure by how much, but something like 8 + 2 DrMos is equal to 12 + 2 regular VRMs. But thats going into motherboards. I'd have to look into it more for the GPUs.

Essentially, DrMos will give you better power delivery, and potentially let you overclock more. Potentially. Unless you get a horrbily binned chip. >.<


Except that in the last few years, there have been a lot of complaints over MSI's 4+1 power delivery system on motherboards - to the point that it's started to look like they might actually be worse than "regular" VRMs of other companies.


----------



## prznar1

Quote:


> DrMos are the VRMs (Voltage Regulation Modules) that MSI uses, and they're better than conventional VRMs. I'm not sure by how much, but something like 8 + 2 DrMos is equal to 12 + 2 regular VRMs. But thats going into motherboards. I'd have to look into it more for the GPUs.


there is no equal. DrMos are running cooler, they are faster in response, longer life, less space, and cheaper to produce. they are just better but there should be no comparing 8+2 DrMos vs 12+2 typical mosfets.. both of them could be done for delivering higher or lower amount of power. all depends on specific designs and quality of materials are used.


----------



## abu46

^^^

are you sure v2 isnt using DrMos
coz that would mean V2 is inferior to V1!!!


----------



## prznar1

see for yourself. it looks strange but that how its going. no DrMos for V2.


----------



## armen16

I'm sorry guys. I didn't mean to start a fight here.

But it is true. For example if you are someone who is 100% who will use a 6870 on stock clocks then you can get a decent affordable 6850 and clock it the same as a 6870. Therefore you pay less price at the same time probably you are picking the Gigabyte/Asus 6850 which has good cooling system. Some people find it hard to stretch the budget especially when we are not working still. So every worth remaining money can go to something like a power supply. But of course if you have money and you don't have to pay for anything else you can get a 6870 and clock it higher.








It all goes down to budget. So no need to fight. I understand some people come to a point they fight for their side because they own that product. I feel the same way sometimes.


----------



## abu46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *prznar1;12467646*
> see for yourself. it looks strange but that how its going. no DrMos for V2.


how can you identify whether a product uses DrMos or not
it isnt mentioned in the specs


----------



## prznar1

i dont fight for my product. all im telling that ocing factor is not something that should be taken for comparing.

1. it's unpredictable
2. depends on more then one factor
3. it's unpredictable (i think i already said that)

budget problem is simple to deal with it. you are buying what you can afford, or finding the rebate.
its stupid to say that you can oc lower card to match the stock performance of higher card. what if you will not be able to run it at such clocks? what if you could overclock the higher card? this is completely stupid thing, that should not be done anymore. if it was fair, and worth to say. why then pc portals are not doing such thing? why they dont compare video cards by max overclock performance, while they are doing that on stock.


----------



## prznar1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;12467899*
> how can you identify whether a product uses DrMos or not
> it isnt mentioned in the specs


digging the net. sometimes its not so hard to find information that you want


----------



## abu46

^^^^
hihihihi
you are sooooooooo right

but there must me some identifier for them, can you kindly tell


----------



## prznar1

np








http://event.msi.com/DrMOS/
on bottom click on DrMOS and look at picture. older design was the three seperate mosfets, DrMos is a 3 in 1


----------



## antuk15

Guys if anyone would be kind enough to run Heaven with these setting with 6850 cf and 6870 cf it would be appreciated









Just want to see were my 5850's stand











Ignore the min framerate, It was a loading spike caused by HDD's..


----------



## arrow0309

*TriXX OC Utility beta V3.0.4*

Link: http://www.sapphiretech.com/ssc/TriXX/

*1. Improved fan control to use less CPU resource.*
2. Improved text rendering quality, in settings dialog for example.
*3. When changing clock, AMD PowerTune setting is not reset to 0 as in previous versions.*
4. Add GPU overvolting support on SAPPHIRE HD6950 and HD6970. Please refer to TriXX product support table.
5. Add hardware monitor gadget.


----------



## antuk15

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12468130*
> *TriXX OC Utility beta V3.0.4*
> 
> Link: http://www.sapphiretech.com/ssc/TriXX/
> 
> *1. Improved fan control to use less CPU resource.*
> 2. Improved text rendering quality, in settings dialog for example.
> *3. When changing clock, AMD PowerTune setting is not reset to 0 as in previous versions.*
> 4. Add GPU overvolting support on SAPPHIRE HD6950 and HD6970. Please refer to TriXX product support table.
> 5. Add hardware monitor gadget.


Thats old I have V3.0.5 Beta...


----------



## Razi3l

OOh nice, powertune support and 6900 voltage support.


----------



## smoke420

Ive been looking for a better cooler and found these at a great price but dont know if there anygood.Im looking for a little bit better temps but a lot less noise.

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4974361&CatId=4027

Will this fit my 6850's ?

IS there a better cooler for around the same price?


----------



## arrow0309

DrMos is a digital driver level mosfet Vrm technology that improoves power efficiency and thermal performance whilst keeping the physical footprint to a minimum.
A DrMOS design includes both the driver transistors and the High-Low MOSFET pair in one tightly integrated package.










You can see the newer Texas Instruments 59901M DrMos(here on the Power Color's 6870 Pcs+ red board), a chip that is considerably smaller than previous parts (only 6mm x 5mm, where some earlier DrMOS chips were 8mm x 8mm).
Consider that a 4+1 DrMos vrm solution (Amd's 6870 reference) is even used by MSI on their 6950's Twin Frozr II


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *antuk15;12468259*
> Thats old I have V3.0.5 Beta...


Are you sure?

http://www.sapphiretech.com/ssc/TriXX/


----------



## antuk15

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12468441*
> Are you sure?
> 
> http://www.sapphiretech.com/ssc/TriXX/


Yep


----------



## FlowDee

Maybe some of you guys are interested in my worklog "Selfmade 6870 back cover"...

Check it out: http://www.overclock.net/ati/946824-...ack-cover.html


----------



## Razi3l

Apparently 3.0.3 shows as 3.0.5 beta. You may want to update yours. The latest download shows 3.0.6


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Apparently 3.0.3 shows as 3.0.5 beta. You may want to update yours. The latest download shows 3.0.6


Yeap, mine too


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Korlus*


Except that in the last few years, there have been a lot of complaints over MSI's 4+1 power delivery system on motherboards - to the point that it's started to look like they might actually be worse than "regular" VRMs of other companies.


4 + 1 on motherboards should be avoided like the plague.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *prznar1*


there is no equal. DrMos are running cooler, they are faster in response, longer life, less space, and cheaper to produce. they are just better but there should be no comparing 8+2 DrMos vs 12+2 typical mosfets.. both of them could be done for delivering higher or lower amount of power. all depends on specific designs and quality of materials are used.


I was just repeating what my friend (relfex99) said.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Ive been looking for a better cooler and found these at a great price but dont know if there anygood.Im looking for a little bit better temps but a lot less noise.

http://www.compusa.com/applications/...361&CatId=4027

Will this fit my 6850's ?

IS there a better cooler for around the same price?


Its a XIGMATEK Bifost with a different name and better price has anyone tried it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=35-233-058

EDIT:
went ahead and pulled the trigger got two coolers from compusa and droped temps by 10c .Also they are silent at 100% though its not needed .cant beat it for $35 each and picked them up from the store so didnt have to wait or pay for shiping


----------



## xX TraumaFan Xx

Just bought my first ATI card in 6 years! Was on the fence about the 460 or the 6850 and I am very confident I made the right choice. Can't wait to burn it in!


----------



## abu46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *prznar1;12468038*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> np
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://event.msi.com/DrMOS/
> on bottom click on DrMOS and look at picture. older design was the three seperate mosfets, DrMos is a 3 in 1


thnx for the info
i am glad that i have the superior model:drum:


----------



## smoke420

I have two v1's are they better?


----------



## prznar1

hard to tell what is better. the V1 had some issue with overclocking the memory. maybe that is a reason for V2 (fixing that issue).


----------



## smoke420

with my new coolers gpu temps are great but what is the max safe vrm temp?(I have the stock vrm heatsinc still)


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


with my new coolers gpu temps are great but what is the max safe vrm temp?(I have the stock vrm heatsinc still)


Why, are you still getting the same high vrm temps like before changing the coolers? Dunno for sure what's the limit for the 68xx vrm temps


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Why, are you still getting the same high vrm temps like before changing the coolers? Dunno for sure what's the limit for the 68xx vrm temps










no most of the time there fine but win I bench and raise the voltage over 1.3 they get pretty hot.lol

Im just looking for a cut-off point for when im acting stupid.I like to push things to the limit for no reason at all.But I do watch temps so I need to know when to panic and rapidly hit Esc.lol


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


4 + 1 on motherboards should be avoided like the plague.


Could not disagree more my board is great.check out the owners thread .link in my sig


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *xX TraumaFan Xx*


Just bought my first ATI card in 6 years! Was on the fence about the 460 or the 6850 and I am very confident I made the right choice. Can't wait to burn it in!


Exact same story here except that it has been nearly 10 years since I bought one.

Deciding factor for me was combination of benchmarks, price, and power consumption.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

well, down to 1 6870 now. with 2 in, im locking up at bios....guess its time to RMA.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer*


well, down to 1 6870 now. with 2 in, im locking up at bios....guess its time to RMA.










Are you able to get into BIOS or is it locking up during POST? Have you tried one card at a time? Tried BOTH slots one at time?

Sorry for questions if you've already tried those things. Just curious to know how it's most definitely the card.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*









Are you able to get into BIOS or is it locking up during POST? Have you tried one card at a time? Tried BOTH slots one at time?

Sorry for questions if you've already tried those things. Just curious to know how it's most definitely the card.


np at all, thanks for trying to help. sometimes its locking up while posting windows and sometimes its locking up while bios pre-load screens. i took out the 2nd 6870(one that wouldnt overclock past 930 or so(from stock oc of 915) and now 10-15 straight boots without locking up. I have not tried card #2 as main without #1 installed.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer*


I have not tried card #2 as main without #1 installed.


Try it before you end up paying shipping. I'd hate to see a case where they send it back to you saying nothing's wrong with it. If you find that it doesn't lock up, then try other slot.


----------



## Blue Destroyer

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


Try it before you end up paying shipping. I'd hate to see a case where they send it back to you saying nothing's wrong with it. If you find that it doesn't lock up, then try other slot.


my biggest problem with crossfire on this board is i dont have the long crossfire adapter. im using my 6870's 1 in top slot and 1 in 2nd slot(8X) and there suppose to be 1 in #1 slot and 1 in #3 slot. i think i need to order the correct adapter so everything is where its suppose to be.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Blue Destroyer*


my biggest problem with crossfire on this board is i dont have the long crossfire adapter. im using my 6870's 1 in top slot and 1 in 2nd slot(8X) and there suppose to be 1 in #1 slot and 1 in #3 slot. i think i need to order the correct adapter so everything is where its suppose to be.


I'm not sure if that's the issue or not. I'm not sure how much bandwidth the card is actually using. If it does use more than 8x bandwidth, then yeah, that's probably the issue. Maybe someone else can chime in about it?


----------



## massy086

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eggs2see;12326029*
> Yup I ran 1920x1080 everything on default. Got 908. I dunno how, but I'm gonna be really happy with that.


can ya tell me wat volts your running on the gpu o/c and is it sock cooler or water


----------



## arrow0309

*
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Graphics Performance Analysis* by W1zzard

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/M...ormance/1.html


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Bulletstorm with all settings on max and at 1920x1080 res is giving a solid 60 fps and is a kick ass game.

Thought you'd want to know.


----------



## arrow0309

*MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 Final version.*

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


----------



## Krusher33

Memory overvoltage? I don't see that on the picture? Was it in the beta version?


----------



## smoke420

can you adjust memory voltage seperately?
can all cards with voltage control control memory voltage?


----------



## prznar1

most of card dont have a voltage regulator for memory. looks like the msi is the only one that wants to change that a bit.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

My 6870 seems to drop GPU usage when I change maps in BC2. When it does this, it gets really choppy and low frames right when I begin the map. After that my frames shoot up and runs just fine. Not a big deal but kind of annoying. I was wondering if there is a power settings to prevent downlclocking in 2d or something like that.


----------



## MorbEIn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda;12508220*
> My 6870 seems to drop GPU usage when I change maps in BC2. When it does this, it gets really choppy and low frames right when I begin the map. After that my frames shoot up and runs just fine. Not a big deal but kind of annoying. I was wondering if there is a power settings to prevent downlclocking in 2d or something like that.


I would like to know the answer to this as well.. This happens to me too when I play bc2.. 5-8 seconds of chpppy video... Because of this, I always get left behind by the chpppers... >.>


----------



## Razi3l

Memory/PLL is only for the MSI custom cards. Not any others, even if they (may) use the same/similar voltage controllers to also allow for the option.


----------



## prznar1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MorbEIn;12508271*
> I would like to know the answer to this as well.. This happens to me too when I play bc2.. 5-8 seconds of chpppy video... Because of this, I always get left behind by the chpppers... >.>


maybe its not a card issue. i think, that we are at the beginning of the "8gb era". maybe game dont have enough ram to load all needed files, so it reads them directly from the hard drives. this is why you get frames drops, or at least could be the reason for that







.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;12508347*
> Memory/PLL is only for the MSI custom cards. Not any others, even if they (may) use the same/similar voltage controllers to also allow for the option.


The answer is right (obviously)!








About the Afterburner, remember that from this vers. on, for unlocking unofficial oc from the cfg. file you have to modify:

*1. "EnableUnofficialOverclockingMode" = 1

2. "EnableUnofficialOverclockingEULA" = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
*


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MorbEIn;12508271*
> I would like to know the answer to this as well.. This happens to me too when I play bc2.. 5-8 seconds of chpppy video... Because of this, I always get left behind by the chpppers... >.>


Good to know I'm not the only one. I didnt have this issue prior to crossfire. But Ive learn to live with it.


----------



## smoke420

I dont think its ram ive never seen 100% usage on 4gigs while gaming.There is no reason to load the entire game in ram so the game being 8gigs or even bigger shouldn't matter.Im no expert but I doubt ram is the problem.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12509278*
> I dont think its ram ive never seen 100% usage on 4gigs while gaming.There is no reason to load the entire game in ram so the game being 8gigs or even bigger shouldn't matter.Im no expert but I doubt ram is the problem.


I doubt it's memory too because this only started happening once I threw in my 2nd 6870. Like i said before, I got a huge performance boost with crossfire so this issue is really minor but it does effect jumping in the map early and getting a good rush, which kind of sucks.


----------



## smoke420

Its a driver issue if it started with xfire.nba2k11 performance drops with crossfire. update disables crossfire could be somthing like that.also with one driver heaven2.1 loads really fast in others it loads slow.I dont mean load times but when it first shows up the camera pans really fast or slow.could even be ulps not activating the second card fast enough.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12509866*
> its a driver issue if it started with xfire


Had the same issue on both 11.12 and 11.2


----------



## smoke420

I updated drivers and disbled ulps at the same time so dont know what made the difference time try disabling it and see if it helps.I would try but im not home.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I updated drivers and disbled ulps at the same time so dont know what made the difference time try disabling it and see if it helps.I would try but im not home.


Do you or did you have the similar issue with map changes in bfbc2?


----------



## smoke420

havent tried since I last upgraded video cards .truthfully my system couldn't play the game at 1920x1080 I was on a gtx260 so no not the same issue.But my point is your system didnt have trouble before xfire so it has to be software related.im not home so I cant test this but I would try disableing ulps and or ccc.


----------



## xtw1st3dxang3lx

powercolor 6870


----------



## Korlus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GsxR1000Ryda;12510359*
> Do you or did you have the similar issue with map changes in bfbc2?


Try downclocking your memory by about 25 Mhz?


----------



## calebkan

guys my ab freezing when i change ,

set UnofficialOverclockingMode 1 ,,

where is the problem?i set UnofficialOverclockingMode 1 ..and saving..its freezing after restart msı ab..

so i cant going over 1000mhz gpz atm!!









any idea?ty

(2x6870 crossfire)


----------



## PixelFreakz

is there a reason why people seem to not be buying the msi 6870 hawk that I am unaware of?

and would it be smart to x-fire that and a msi twin frozr II 6870 on a P55 board? Or should i sell the 6870 and get a single 580 or 6970 because of the architecture of my board?


----------



## Doom

Well I'm Checking in with 2X HIS HD 6870 in cross fire.
Still running 10.10 till the drivers are sorted.


----------



## prznar1

well. for the 8x/8x mode is better to not go in crossfire/sli with 580/6970. more and bigger frame drops in moments with big action. but still, you will not see that very often (or even if you will see that. drivers are getting better and better fot cf/sli, looks like they found a solution for lower bandwidth from 8x/8x mode)

you can crossfire hawk with twin frozr 6870.

why people dont buy it? its quite new model and many people already bought twin frozr


----------



## PixelFreakz

Lol thanks for the fast reply. I was just wondering about single card 580/6970 vs x-fire 6870's on 8x/8x. But if it works. then that will be my future upgrade path







Maybe I can even sell my twin frozr II for some $ and get a hawk... it is cheaper at the moment with the rebate lol.


----------



## smoke420

ive tried both 8x/8x and x16/x16 on xfire 6850 and there is a small difference in benchmark scores but its not anything you can see.the difference is so small its not worth talking about.At the time I had x4 gpus and after raising my nb/pci-e voltage the scores were in the margin of error.If your system is fast enough for x8/x8 to be a problem it wouldn't matter because you would be able to run any game at any setting.Now on the other hand if benchmark scores are what matter to you then it makes a difference, however small.


----------



## Masterwork

I just bought one and my pc kept shutting down after 5 min of playing WoW in Ultra.

So I Downloaded GPU-Z and...










What the hell is wrong? Is it my PC refrigeration?

My CPU temperatures seem fine...










Is my graphics card defective?


----------



## armen16

Please fill out your system specs so that people can help you out. You are even using a Q6600 like I do. Is it overclocked to?

I'm just a lurker here but even I can help you out if you have given your complete PC specs.


----------



## Masterwork

Sorry I'm totally stressed out first I thought it was the power supply so I bought a Corsair CX500 and now this still happens, jeez....

Actually I don't have anything overclocked in my computer, the specs are:

Processor: Q6600 Intel
Motherboard: Asus P5K
RAM: 3GB DDR2
Power Supply: Corsair CX500
Graphics Card: Radeon HD6850

One interesting thing... Right after my pc shut down because of the 105Âºc in the GPU I put my hand on it and it didn't seem that hot AT ALL. It was a little bit hot but I could keep my hand in there for as long as I'd want, and I don't think that would happen if it really was at 105Âºc...

One thing I'm thinking is maybe the sensor is not good. If my PC temp is more or less at 40Âºc why would the graphics card be at 105Âºc? It seems exagerate.

Thanks a lot for your help and sorry for my silly questions.


----------



## Bassdoken

What case are you in?
Is the case in an enclosure in the desk?
When is the last time you've dusted out the case?
What are ambient temps like?


----------



## reflex99

sounds like a bugged temp sensor.

Or maybe the Heatsink got unseated some how?


----------



## Masterwork

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


What case are you in?
Is the case in an enclosure in the desk?
When is the last time you've dusted out the case?
What are ambient temps like?


I have a crappy HP case and it's not in an enclosure.
I've dusted the case this morning actually.
The ambient temps are around 17Âºc.

I opened the side of the case and the idle temps went to 60Âºc but in load it goes to 105Âºc also...

If it is in fact a bugged temp sensor how can I know that for sure? And how can I fix it? Can I somehow turn off the temperature safety shut down?


----------



## reflex99

did you make sure the fan on the 6850 is working?

And that he heatsink is making good contact with the GPU?


----------



## Masterwork

Well I think I "solved" the problem.

As you can see from the screenshots the info from the RPM of the Fan isn't given. I think it was not working for some reason...

I unplugged the graphics card and connected again and now after 10 min of WoW in Ultra I get the following:










Is it normal or still too much?

Thanks,


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Masterwork*


I have a crappy HP case and it's not in an enclosure.
I've dusted the case this morning actually.
The ambient temps are around 17Âºc.

I opened the side of the case and the idle temps went to 60Âºc but in load it goes to 105Âºc also...

If it is in fact a bugged temp sensor how can I know that for sure? And how can I fix it? Can I somehow turn off the temperature safety shut down?


Your temps will be a little higher than normal because you have an HP case, but since your ambients are 17C, I think it balances out. lol.

Put your hand near the card, and if it doesn't feel really freakin' hot, then it's a bugged sensor.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Masterwork*


Well I think I "solved" the problem.

As you can see from the screenshots the info from the RPM of the Fan isn't given. I think it was not working for some reason...

I unplugged the graphics card and connected again and now after 10 min of WoW in Ultra I get the following:










Is it normal or still too much?

Thanks,


Perhaps you didn't push it in all the way?
Those temps are much better. A little below normal.


----------



## harvestry_of_ghosts

So I was about to order an XFX 6850 but when I look at Newegg there are 4 different revisions that appear to all be in stock. Is there one that is more recommended than the others? The one with dual fans perhaps? Or the Black Edition? I'm a bit new to this, the last upgrade I had was an Nvidia 8600GT.









http://tinyurl.com/newegg6850

Thanks in advance for any and all feedback.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Masterwork;12533868*
> Well I think I "solved" the problem.
> 
> As you can see from the screenshots the info from the RPM of the Fan isn't given. I think it was not working for some reason...
> 
> I unplugged the graphics card and connected again and now after 10 min of WoW in Ultra I get the following:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is it normal or still too much?
> 
> Thanks,


That's pretty decent for load temps actually. I get up to about 75 degrees overclocked and load.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *harvestry_of_ghosts;12535654*
> So I was about to order an XFX 6850 but when I look at Newegg there are 4 different revisions that appear to all be in stock. Is there one that is more recommended than the others? The one with dual fans perhaps? Or the Black Edition? I'm a bit new to this, the last upgrade I had was an Nvidia 8600GT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/newegg6850
> 
> Thanks in advance for any and all feedback.


I prefer dual fans for quietness. But Black Edition is pretty sweet. I think the voltage is unlocked?


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *harvestry_of_ghosts;12535654*
> So I was about to order an XFX 6850 but when I look at Newegg there are 4 different revisions that appear to all be in stock. Is there one that is more recommended than the others? The one with dual fans perhaps? Or the Black Edition? I'm a bit new to this, the last upgrade I had was an Nvidia 8600GT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/newegg6850
> 
> Thanks in advance for any and all feedback.


I have heard the Black Edition is specifically meant for better overclocking. All I know is it comes with higher stock clocks. Of course, my regular old XFX6850 OCs much higher than that anyways. I would get the cheap one and OC it myself, but that's just me.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;12537032*
> I have heard the Black Edition is specifically meant for better overclocking. All I know is it comes with higher stock clocks. Of course, my regular old XFX6850 OCs much higher than that anyways. I would get the cheap one and OC it myself, but that's just me.


I think I'll have to agree. Unless there's major differences in VRM's or something... they all probably will overclock just as well as another. I think there's a review somewhere but I'm too lazy to find. I can't remember who did the review.


----------



## harvestry_of_ghosts

Thanks so much for the replies. Between the dual-fan and single fan, it there much difference in cooling or is it just quieter with the dual?


----------



## Korlus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PixelFreakz;12519084*
> is there a reason why people seem to not be buying the msi 6870 hawk that I am unaware of?
> 
> and would it be smart to x-fire that and a msi twin frozr II 6870 on a P55 board? Or should i sell the 6870 and get a single 580 or 6970 because of the architecture of my board?


Price is a good reason not to buz the MSI 6870 Hawk? At least, it's a reason I didnät really consider it.

Which P55 board_ If it does x8/x8 speeds (a lot do, but I'm pretty sure I've seen a few that don't), it'll be fine. If one PCI-Express slot only does x4, then no. Donät use that board.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *harvestry_of_ghosts;12537626*
> Thanks so much for the replies. Between the dual-fan and single fan, it there much difference in cooling or is it just quieter with the dual?


The single fan is abnormally noisy even when not at load. I think its minimum cutoff is something like 40% from what I read when the 6850 came out.
They both cool well, but since the dual fan version gets rid of this issue, I'd suggest going with that. Dual fan Black Edition if it's near the price of the regular Dual Fan, and no Black Edition if not.


----------



## arrow0309

*MSI Radeon 6870 HAWK review* by guru3d

Link: http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-ra...0-hawk-review/


----------



## Greg0986

Just won a 6870







Should be a very good upgrade to my HD4350









I think next month I am going to get a beefier power supply and get another one for CrossfireX


----------



## sunnyFTW

won how :O :O ??????


----------



## WIGILOCO

Congrats for winning this beautiful card!


----------



## dejau

Hi, I would love to know temperatures of gpu temp #3 using gpu-z of other 6850 owners (I myself was early adopter of asus 6850 which had no vram heatsinks). I can OC to 995/1250 with no artifacts with 1.2V (lucky me), but if game is really intensive vram shots up to 100+C degrees (that is if gpu utilization is hovering around 98% all the time) and not long after that I get either system lock up or at best case - driver stopped responding. I think that is high vram temperature since it I can reproduce lock up - when VRAM temperature skyrockets towards more than 100 the magic happens







.

The most funny thing when running msi kombustor/occt even at stock clocks all temps are around 65 degrees max while gpu temp #3 (vram?) is reaching 95/96 degrees. That is NOT nice to see at all.

Any other fellow owners of not cooled vram can declassify their vram temps at stock and OC?

If that problem repeats what are solutions? using http://www.computerbase.de/preisvergleich/a340457.html or http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch...iteria=AA77249 ?
Since where I am living none of these are available ( eastern Europe) Ebay solutions would be preferable. I also have another option -Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro - it costs to me 50$ and it has vram cooling modules in the package, thing is I'm totally fine with other temps except vram (all are around 65 at max load with fan at 45%)

Thank you for your time









Some ebay'ing for generic stuff - http://cgi.ebay.com/Aluminum-RAM-VGA...item414aa1fd49 or http://cgi.ebay.com/Cooling-Cooler-F...item2c5ab5cc2e or http://cgi.ebay.com/DDR-DDR2-RAM-Coo...item3ca71f4ecf


----------



## smoke420

heat is the main issue when it comes to stability.your just not stable and if your ram is getting that hot your not going to be at those clocks.air cooling and heat sinks will help but yor talking about 100c + to cool that you need a waterblock.lol lots of people including myself have aftermarket coolers and its very rare to get 1250 game stable.with the coolers I just got (im still overclocking) im at 920 / 1120 both cards stock voltage so far.My temps were never that high on ram it was usually within 5c of my gpu your pushing way too hard or there is some thing wrong.
the card that gets hotter can also overclock better it can get to 1000 with just v1.21 and 85c after 15mins of furmark.the cooler card requires v1.31 to hit 1000 and only gets to 75c after 15 mins.
my coolers are not the best but I can run them 100% if I need and cant here it above my case fans .the best part was the price $35 each.
http://www.compusa.com/applications/...361&CatId=4027


----------



## dejau

Thank you. It's not like I play with that kind of temperatures, that was just for test runs. Thing is your vram temperature is within 5 degrees of your gpu temperature while mine at stock is solid 30+ degrees of difference







. There are no dust, airflow is above decent, I just dont get it - am I the only one getting that high vram temperatures?

And yet again - I am from Europe. Shipping from USA is just... You know... Will cost me as much as the product itself and then there are customs









Different OC profiles http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/02/28/hdm.png http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/02/28/4p6.png


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *dejau*


Thank you. It's not like I play with that kind of temperatures, that was just for test runs. Thing is your vram temperature is within 5 degrees of your gpu temperature while mine at stock is solid 30+ degrees of difference. There are no dust, airflow is above decent, I just dont get it - am I the only one getting that high vram temperatures?

And yet again - I am from Europe. Shipping from USA is just... You know... Will cost me as much as the product itself and then there are customs










get the Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro its a better cooler then mine but for me wasn't worth the extra money for you it might be cheaper considering shipping and the hassle.
What are your temps stock in furmark or kombustor?
EDIT:just saw the pic that seems way to high have you modded the card in anyway ?


----------



## PowerTrip

Proud owner here as of last Christmas.









Ditched my crossfired 4850s because of flickering in BC2. Awesome card and my frames went up a little bit. Maps load way faster too, I get 20 seconds of adjusting my load out before the round begins. With the 4850's, by the time the Map loaded, people were already spawned and playing and I still had to choose my squad and weapons.

-Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 ftw


----------



## dejau

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


get the Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro its a better cooler then mine but for me wasn't worth the extra money for you it might be cheaper considering shipping and the hassle.
What are your temps stock in furmark or kombustor?
EDIT:just saw the pic that seems way to high have you modded the card in anyway ?


I have not modded card in any way or form... airflow is good, I have temperature sensor probes and there are no heat pockets around video card (around 20 degrees ambient temperature). Any thoughts about a reason why I may RMA a card, with these temps I'm not sure how long it will last.


----------



## smoke420

If you can RMA do it .search this thread I dont remember anyone else having this problem.there was a issue of gpu #2 getting hot after changing to aftermarket coolers (I dont have this problem)and there is a problem with vrm's going 100c + on some cards in occt.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PowerTrip;12555088*
> Proud owner here as of last Christmas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ditched my crossfired 4850s because of flickering in BC2. Awesome card and my frames went up a little bit. Maps load way faster too, I get 20 seconds of adjusting my load out before the round begins. With the 4850's, by the time the Map loaded, people were already spawned and playing and I still had to choose my squad and weapons.
> 
> -Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 ftw


Wellcome! You can allways try to do some extra oc even at stock volt. Furthermore, simply use latest versions of either Afterburner or the Sapphire's Trixx playing with the voltage controll of your card.


----------



## smoke420

wow a good cooler makes all the difference.Im at 970/1130 on both my 6850's furmark stable 45 mins max temp 78c.one card requires 1.243v the other only 1.174..
The room is 29c.
How am I doing so far?


----------



## PixelFreakz

So... I was wondering. Has anyone tried to run a triple monitor setup (5760*1080) with x-fired 6870's? What kinda frame rates did you get? I'm considering it as a future upgrade when I get enough money... which may be a while from now lol.


----------



## ezveedub

Add me!
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/9e37w/


----------



## Behemoth777

It seems like forever ago that I had my asus 6870. Well, I just bought myself a pair of msi 6850 power editions to go in crossfire.









Add me!


----------



## TriplePlay

I don't know if you would want to count me in yet, but I have a 6850. It's just not in the system yet, since I'm still waiting on the Sandy Bridge mobos to return. And my only PC is a laptop, so I don't have anything to put it in yet.

I have a pic though:
http://www.overclock.net/album.php?a...ictureid=21700


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *PixelFreakz*


So... I was wondering. Has anyone tried to run a triple monitor setup (5760*1080) with x-fired 6870's? What kinda frame rates did you get? I'm considering it as a future upgrade when I get enough money... which may be a while from now lol.


http://www.widescreengamingforum.com..._Review_Page_4

Read that.


----------



## w00t

Add Please
XFX HD6950


----------



## PixelFreakz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Korlus*


http://www.widescreengamingforum.com..._Review_Page_4

Read that.


Thanks. +1


----------



## PlayedStation

Quote:



Originally Posted by *w00t*


Add Please
XFX HD6950










Read the thread title, wrong thread


----------



## jerronchua55

Hi guys, for some reason my HD6870 is loading at 97% instead of the usual 99% on MSI Kombustor. Is there anything wrong? Installed the newest Catalyst 11.2 drivers.

Also, my card's maximum temperature doesn't exceed 81 degrees celsius on stock speed now, but it used to peak at 86 degrees celsius on stock speed when I am running MSI Kombustor.

Using a MSI HD6870 reference card here. Help is greatly appreciated.


----------



## Krakatau

Hmm, does MSI Kombustor really stress the card much? I have mine OCed to 960/1170 and MSI Kombustor doesnt get it past 49c (Thats on 1080p and directx11). Yet when I game the temps go up to 60c.

I have no Idea what would cause the 97% readings, maybe its just faulty readings, do you get artifacts at all?

P.S (Add me http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/hh3sk/ )


----------



## Razi3l

Updated - Anyone got a 6870 Hawk? experiances?


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jerronchua55*


Hi guys, for some reason my HD6870 is loading at 97% instead of the usual 99% on MSI Kombustor. Is there anything wrong? Installed the newest Catalyst 11.2 drivers.

Also, my card's maximum temperature doesn't exceed 81 degrees celsius on stock speed now, but it used to peak at 86 degrees celsius on stock speed when I am running MSI Kombustor.

Using a MSI HD6870 reference card here. Help is greatly appreciated.


Using Burn mode?


----------



## Korlus

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jerronchua55*


Hi guys, for some reason my HD6870 is loading at 97% instead of the usual 99% on MSI Kombustor. Is there anything wrong? Installed the newest Catalyst 11.2 drivers.

Also, my card's maximum temperature doesn't exceed 81 degrees celsius on stock speed now, but it used to peak at 86 degrees celsius on stock speed when I am running MSI Kombustor.

Using a MSI HD6870 reference card here. Help is greatly appreciated.


Try using regular furmark instead? I've had similar problems with Kombustor.


----------



## Krusher33

I don't like Kombuster much either. Furmark or GPUTool is what I use.


----------



## Mr.FraG

On GPUTool stability test, catalyst is also reading a 97% usage for me.


----------



## TechRex

Hopefully I'll be joining you guys soon ^_^. I'm trying to switch over!


----------



## Greg0986

Hopefully get my 6870 tomorrow


----------



## Ra1dMaX

My Monster Rig Costed me about 2700 Euros



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Sapphire Radeon HD6870 CrossFireX Hell Yeah!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ra1dMaX;12603772*
> My Monster Rig Costed me about 2700 Euros
> 
> ...cut...
> Sapphire Radeon HD6870 CrossFireX Hell Yeah!


Man, that's pretty expensive all that stuff you've got:


----------



## Ra1dMaX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12605658*
> Man, that's pretty expensive all that stuff you've got:


thank you
the SSD disk alone costed me about 550 euros, but i've figured out that its better to choose the components carefully and getting the good stuff will last me longer than buying some cheap stuff...my old rig lasted me almost 4 years before i changed it out and it costed me about 1800 euros(IntelC2DE6750[email protected], ASUS P5K mobo, OCZ Gold XTC 4gb kit 800mhz GF 9800GTX, 1.5TB storage) old rig is only missing a screen and my nephews/Brother in law and my sis can use it as a gaming/PS3 media PC

only thing i cant figure out is that i get a 1 sec screen freeze now and then when playing games


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ra1dMaX;12606002*
> thank you
> the SSD disk alone costed me about 550 euros, but i've figured out that its better to choose the components carefully and getting the good stuff will last me longer than buying some cheap stuff...my old rig lasted me almost 4 years before i changed it out and it costed me about 1800 euros([email protected], ASUS P5K mobo, OCZ Gold XTC 4gb kit 800mhz GF 9800GTX, 1.5TB storage) old rig is only missing a screen and my nephews/Brother in law and my sis can use it as a gaming/PS3 media PC
> 
> only thing i cant figure out is that i get a 1 sec screen freeze now and then when playing games


You don't get any other freezing other than games? I haven't gotten my other 6870 to Crossfire yet, but will later on today. I ran my single 6870 just now and its super smooth so far in games.


----------



## Ra1dMaX

havent noticed any freezing outside of games but have done abit of changing in the last few hrs upped the pagefile size to double the real memory size....flashed bios on mobo to latest version from Asus and set powersettings to max in every instance windows powersettings CCC etc

gonna take a smoke now and then test out Crysis 2 demo and see if i can manage replicate the fragment of a sec the fps drops


----------



## Greg0986

My 6870 is here







Reference AMD edition







Looks awesome







Will get pics up later.


----------



## abu46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ra1dMaX;12603772*
> My Monster Rig Costed me about 2700 Euros
> 
> 
> 
> Uploaded with ImageShack.us
> 
> Sapphire Radeon HD6870 CrossFireX Hell Yeah!


hey man how did you gat the cpuz themed


----------



## kzone75

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;12607537*
> hey man how did you gat the cpuz themed


CPU-Z ROG Edition. http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?1494-New-CPU-Z-ROG-out.


----------



## abu46

^^

thnx a lot for the link


----------



## kzone75

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;12607727*
> ^^
> 
> thnx a lot for the link


You're so very welcome.


----------



## jwblitz

This seems to be the best place to ask. I currently have an Asus 6850 Direct CU and a Sapphire 6850. Is this an ok configuration for crossfire? I have read as long as the series is the same that there wouldn't be any issues but i am wondering if it is better to have same brands crossfired over mixed. Thanks in advance!


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jwblitz*


This seems to be the best place to ask. I currently have an Asus 6850 Direct CU and a Sapphire 6850. Is this an ok configuration for crossfire? I have read as long as the series is the same that there wouldn't be any issues but i am wondering if it is better to have same brands crossfired over mixed. Thanks in advance!


In general, they need to only be the same chipsets, if you use different brands, but they are basically the same cards, it should be fine. I prefer same identical brands and model numbers.


----------



## arrow0309

*SAPPHIRE Vapor-X HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review*










http://www.modders-inc.com/modules.p...Story&reid=343


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jwblitz*


This seems to be the best place to ask. I currently have an Asus 6850 Direct CU and a Sapphire 6850. Is this an ok configuration for crossfire? I have read as long as the series is the same that there wouldn't be any issues but i am wondering if it is better to have same brands crossfired over mixed. Thanks in advance!



Quote:



Originally Posted by *ezveedub*


In general, they need to only be the same chipsets, if you use different brands, but they are basically the same cards, it should be fine. I prefer same identical brands and model numbers.


Right. Some folks fear issues will arise when you crossfire mixed brands. But since you already own them, it won't hurt to try, benchmark, test in games, etc.

Edit: Darn it, I think I tried modders-inc.com once before and got blocked. Would love to see that review just for curiosity.


----------



## ACM

I have my Sapphire running 1000 core & 1150 Mem on stock voltage stressed it and runs fine.


----------



## Mr.FraG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ACM;12613137*
> I have my Sapphire running 1000 core & 1150 Mem on stock voltage stressed it and runs fine.


My card is only stable at 1125 mem







In furMark is easy to get stable, do u try unigine bench for example?


----------



## PixelFreakz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ACM;12613137*
> I have my Sapphire running 1000 core & 1150 Mem on stock voltage stressed it and runs fine.


What kind of temps are you getting in Furmark though? Just wondering, bc my Twin Frozr runs at those settings too. Ambient is 24C and Max temp was 70C after 25 min Furmark Stress test all settings on/maxed.

edit: Its unigine stable too. Gets a score of [email protected] everything but replication on, 4xAA, full screen, Anisotropy 4x's and tessellation on extreme - 20.3FPS avg.


----------



## oconoc

i cant seem to figure out why when i play a game called rift i am only getting 35 fps in game when a friend has the 5750 and is getting 90fps maxed settings...frustrating...could it be the drivers?


----------



## leecH01




----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mr.FraG*


My card is only stable at 1125 mem







In furMark is easy to get stable, do u try unigine bench for example?


Mine too, only 1125Mhz is 100% stable for memory, but I played some games with higher clock.

GPU goes to 1000Mhz with 1.230v...


----------



## Greg0986

Can I join please









Reference AMD HD6870


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TheBear*


Mine too, only 1125Mhz is 100% stable for memory, but I played some games with higher clock.

GPU goes to 1000Mhz with 1.230v...


I'm stable RS at 1140 mem (values in sig), used to clock at 1150 formerly but downclock to 1140 since after a while in some games I get my screen split in two.


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ezveedub*


Add me!
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/9e37w/


Forgot to add more info: Gigabyte 6870s in Crossfire.


----------



## hytek9

Built mine last night, just loaded Win7 x64 on it.
Still has the new car smell

VisionTek Radeon HD6870

Add me!









EDIT: (PIC)


----------



## ezveedub

Hey, I have a quick question. I have my two Gigabyte 6870 running in Crossfire with Catalyst 10.10 drivers. I know the fans are pretty quiet just sitting idle, but shouldn't the fans speed up under load? I was playing Dirt2 when all of sudden the colors changed and then Dirt2 stopped. I checked the temp on card 1 and it was 81C. Other than manual setting the fan (I can only control fan on card 1, second card seems to not respond), it there an auto setting for the fans???


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ezveedub;12627478*
> Hey, I have a quick question. I have my two Gigabyte 6870 running in Crossfire with Catalyst 10.10 drivers. I know the fans are pretty quiet just sitting idle, but shouldn't the fans speed up under load? I was playing Dirt2 when all of sudden the colors changed and then Dirt2 stopped. I checked the temp on card 1 and it was 81C. Other than manual setting the fan (I can only control fan on card 1, second card seems to not respond), it there an auto setting for the fans???


Perhaps you should update the drivers. We're on 11.2 (and still no Linux support, btw).


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12628446*
> Perhaps you should update the drivers. We're on 11.2 (and still no Linux support, btw).


I may try them again. I had that driver installed since they were first installed, but CF wouldn't enable or function properly. I think I still couldn't control the fan on card 2 either. I'm so getting ready to add waterblocks to them at this point, but I would prefer a second WC loop for that.


----------



## smoke420

Fan control works fine but if you dont disable ULPS the second cards fan speed wont change unless its under load.upls turns the card off when not in use.

Its a huge performance increase with the new drivers as they have tessellation control.

Use MSI afterburner to set a fan profile thats the best way to go.it really depends on the noise level at first I had it set to the highest inaudible level at idle and progressively rise to 100% at 80c.Now with my new coolers there is no noise and with the same profile in gaming they never past 52c.


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Fan control works fine but if you dont disable ULPS the second cards fan speed wont change unless its under load.upls turns the card off when not in use.

Its a huge performance increase with the new drivers as they have tessellation control.

Use MSI afterburner to set a fan profile thats the best way to go.it really depends on the noise level at first I had it set to the highest inaudible level at idle and progressively rise to 100% at 80c.Now with my new coolers there is no noise and with the same profile in gaming they never past 52c.


OK, I'll look into this. Thanks.


----------



## speedhunter

I want in









XFX 6850 Crossfire


----------



## TheBear

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


I'm stable RS at 1140 mem (values in sig), used to clock at 1150 formerly but downclock to 1140 since after a while in some games I get my screen split in two.










Same happened to me, or I got gray screen in CoD Black Ops for example only 1125-1130Mhz max. is stable.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TheBear*


Same happened to me, or I got gray screen in CoD Black Ops for example only 1125-1130Mhz max. is stable.


I'm going to test soon a new clock at 1050, at maybe more than 1.3v. lowering in the first session the memory clock at 1100. Not concerned about the temps.


----------



## Greg0986

Can someone help me with overclocking?

I have read the main "How To: Overclock Your ATi GPU" thread and managed to get my refernce 6870 to 940 core stable. I want to know how people are getting there 6870's up to 1000core.

Cheers


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Greg0986*


Can someone help me with overclocking?

I have read the main "How To: Overclock Your ATi GPU" thread and managed to get my refernce 6870 to 940 core stable. I want to know how people are getting there 6870's up to 1000core.

Cheers


Had to adjust my voltage up to 1.3 in order to achieve 1ghz on both my 6870s. Bump up your fan speed and try to keep it under 80c @ load.


----------



## Greg0986

How do I bump the voltage up in afterburner? It is greyed out for me. And also what is the highest safe voltage these cards can handle?


----------



## a pet rock

In order to change the voltage you have to both

A) Go to settings and check "Unlock Voltage Control" and "Unlock Voltage Monitoring"
B) Manually edit the .cfg/.ini file for both those options above to 1.

Safe voltage is determined by temperature. Find your highest stable overclock and then see if slowly bumping up the voltage helps. If in furmark it's running hotter than you'd like (for me 75C is max for 24/7) then turn it down. Raising voltage creates a lot more heat than increasing clock speed.


----------



## Greg0986

Cheers







Now I have done that, these are my current settings.

Core Clock is at 940
Memory Clock is at 1110

The voltage after I unlocked it is 1174

What voltage increments would you recommend? 5?


----------



## Greg0986

Should I increase it to 1.2v and then try and find the highest stable core clock?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Greg0986*


Cheers







Now I have done that, these are my current settings.

Core Clock is at 940
Memory Clock is at 1110

The voltage after I unlocked it is 1174

What voltage increments would you recommend? 5?


Try to overvolt starting with values between 1.23-1.27 controlling the temps (change the fan curve according to your needs) trying to stay as low as possible (max 74-82Â° on full load Furmark or Occt gpu tool). Don't raise the mem clock for now, try to get stable with the gpu clock first. And try a lot of various games (for more than an hour each) that will convalidate your stability.


----------



## Greg0986

Right, I am currently at 970 core clock with fan at 40% which is keeping the temps at 65~c

Going to run Crysis maxed out in a bit for about 30 mins to see what the temps reach.

Shall I keep going?


----------



## Greg0986

I have got 1000 core with 1.275v Now onto the memory speed


----------



## FLCLimax

mine are both at 950/1125 1.2v


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Greg0986*


I have got 1000 core with 1.275v Now onto the memory speed


----------



## Greg0986

Just have to get the voltage right because the driver restarted when I was playing Crysis


----------



## arrow0309

* HIS HD 6870 Turbo, HD 6850 IceQ X Turbo and HD 6850 @ Overclocker Cafe *
























*MSI R6870 Hawk Video Card Review* by Benchmark Reviews


----------



## arrow0309

*Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB Vapor-X @ Tweaktown*


----------



## Korlus

I like the 6870 Hawk, but here in Britain I don't know if I could justify spending more to get the cooler when in the review it doesn't seem to overclock all that well. In fact, it makes me look at my 6850 at 975/1125 and think that I got a much better deal.

What's the price difference between it and a 6950 in the US? Here, it's not that big. It places itself perfectly between the 6850 and the 6950.
(Â£140 for the 6850, Â£170 for the 6870 and Â£210 for the 6950).
Since the Hawk appears to be priced around the Â£190 mark, I think I'd much rather get a reference 6950 and unlock?

I just think that 6870's ought to be cheaper to be a good buy here in the UK.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Korlus*


I like the 6870 Hawk, but here in Britain I don't know if I could justify spending more to get the cooler when in the review it doesn't seem to overclock all that well. In fact, it makes me look at my 6850 at 975/1125 and think that I got a much better deal.

What's the price difference between it and a 6950 in the US? Here, it's not that big. It places itself perfectly between the 6850 and the 6950.
(Â£140 for the 6850, Â£170 for the 6870 and Â£210 for the 6950).
Since the Hawk appears to be priced around the Â£190 mark, I think I'd much rather get a reference 6950 and unlock?

I just think that 6870's ought to be cheaper to be a good buy here in the UK.


In Italy it starts from 187€ online when the 6950 2Gb reference (needed to unlock it to 6970) can not be found under 225-230€ right now. I'll consider myself a good card to set up a cfx. And however, it clocks enough for me, playing with 3 voltages in ab you'll get up to 1050/1205 under the 1.30v limit:









http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...design-review/

And soon you will find on the market the *6850 Hawk* as well.










A card that clocks up to 1050/1250 at 1.3v.








http://www.expreview.com/14117-1.html


----------



## arrow0309

Is still any of you guys that have a copy of the Afterburner beta 4 or 5 to upload? Or a valid link, please


----------



## arrow0309

Not needed anymore coz I've found it myself, & however it installs but wont start; therefore I can forget about voltage tweak over 1.3v.


----------



## Razi3l

Nice reviews, TweakTown suck, they never overclock the cards. :/


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Nice reviews, TweakTown suck, they never overclock the cards. :/


How about overclockin' my 6870, any suggestion to break the latest afterburner or trixx 1.3 volts limit?


----------



## Krusher33

RE: reviews - I never liked the looks of HIS's cards. Ya-ya, performance>looks.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12642490*
> How about overclockin' my 6870, any suggestion to break the latest afterburner or trixx 1.3 volts limit?


Try here, i got mine from somewhere though i'm not sure if it applies it or not on mine, since the 6950 just runs at stock voltage regardless.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12644173*
> RE: reviews - I never liked the looks of HIS's cards. Ya-ya, performance>looks.


Yea, but I think it doesn't look too bad.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Try here, i got mine from somewhere though i'm not sure if it applies it or not on mine, since the 6950 just runs at stock voltage regardless.


 Thanks man, already done (managed to get that stuff work with the latest AB 2.1), is that I have a creepy 6870 it just won't oc easy over 1000Mhz







. 
I wasn't able to get it stable (quick runs of Occt with error check) at 1020 overvolting up to 1.37v.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Thanks man, already done (managed to get that stuff work with the latest AB 2.1), is that I have a creepy 6870 it just won't oc easy over 1000Mhz







. 
I wasn't able to get it stable (quick runs of Occt with error check) at 1020 overvolting up to 1.37v.










Probably VRMs getting hot and holding you back. Sounds like that.


----------



## smoke420

My cards can both run stable at 970/1130 nevr going above 52c gaming.Considering they are 6850's that started at 790/1000 its an awsome overclock.One of my cards can easily get 1000 on the core im having troube getting the second there.

When running xfire is there a performance gain running the cards at different speeds?


----------



## arrow0309

Do you guys think that a 6870 cfx would be enough for 1 monitor? Let's compare it to the newest 6990 performance (in some of the best cases)


----------



## smoke420

^lol.enough more like overkill.im curious to see were my overclocked cards would be in those charts.I can max every game I play with my 6850's so the 6870's should be even better.One monitor is easy Im going eyefinity 3 soon that will be a test.right now with two monitor eyefinity the only game that really works with the bezel in the middle is nba 2k11.This game doesn't support xfire but I can still max it out on two monitors with one card over 100fps not very demanding but lots of fun.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12654103*
> My cards can both run stable at 970/1130 nevr going above 52c gaming.Considering they are 6850's that started at 790/1000 its an awsome overclock.One of my cards can easily get 1000 on the core im having troube getting the second there.
> 
> When running xfire is there a performance gain running the cards at different speeds?


I'd say yes, if the faster one is the first card (at least it was for me with my previous Gtx 260 Sli setup), however I'm not sure of that. On the other hand you have to look at the voltages too & running your cards synchronised I don't think will help you to get some extra performance.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12654249*
> I'd say yes, if the faster one is the first card (at least it was for me with my previous Gtx 260 Sli setup), however I'm not sure of that. On the other hand you have to look at the voltages too & running your cards synchronised I don't think will help you to get some extra performance.


What do you mean buy synchronised the option to run the card with the same settings in ab is not checked because of voltage .One card requires 1.174 to get 970 core the other requires 1.243.

With that big of a difference in voltage You would think the temps would different two but after 45mins of furmark msaa x8, xtreme burning mode, and post fx on. max temp of the card on top with the higher voltage was 78c bottom card less voltage is 81c


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12654367*
> What do you mean buy synchronised the option to run the card with the same settings in ab is not checked because of voltage .One card requires 1.174 to get 970 core the other requires 1.243.


And what is the max clock for the first card when set to 1.243 (the one you said it gets 970 at 1.174-is that your first card)?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12654410*
> And what is the max clock for the first card when set to 1.243 (the one you said it gets 970 at 1.174-is that your first card)?


With that big of a difference in voltage You would think the temps would different two but after 45mins of furmark msaa x8, xtreme burning mode, and post fx on. max temp of the card on top with the higher voltage was 78c bottom card less voltage is 81c.

When your talking about temps top and bottom dont matter at all in my case there is plenty of space between the cards both have aftermarket coolers and there are four 120mm 2k rpm door fans blowing directly on them.

my bottom card will do 1000 core at a low 1.221 the top card requires more than 1.3


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12654455*
> With that big of a difference in voltage You would think the temps would different two but after 45mins of furmark msaa x8, xtreme burning mode, and post fx on. max temp of the card on top with the higher voltage was 78c bottom card less voltage is 81c.
> 
> When your talking about temps top and bottom dont matter at all in my case there is plenty of space between the cards both have aftermarket coolers and there are four 120mm 2k rpm door fans blowing directly on them


I was meaning if it was possible to invert the cards getting so at 1.243v. a higer clock (than 970) for the first one (but maybe you'll have to use AB and trixx together).







Will (in this case) you get so some extra performance?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12654529*
> I was meaning if it was possible to invert the cards getting so at 1.243v. a higer clock (than 970) for the first one (but maybe you'll have to use AB and trixx together).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Will (in this case) you get so some extra performance?


I can do this with ab but I think this will only help if the game doesn't support xfire .this is why I asked the original question.I noticed that with the cards at different speeds the card with higher clocks doesn't get to 99% load anymore in heaven.running some benchmarks to see if there is any difference.heaven is the only one ive tried so far.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12654601*
> I can do this with ab but I think this will only help if the game doesn't support xfire .this is why I asked the original question.I noticed that with the cards at different speeds the card with higher clocks doesn't get to 99% load anymore in heaven.running some benchmarks to see if there is any difference.heaven is the only one ive tried so far.


I see, Why don't you try getting some numbers? (I mean bench results)


----------



## mltms

*hi
my card is msi 6870 clock it 900\1050

and i have the Sapphire HD6870 Toxic bios in its overcloked 970 \1150

but the issue is the volt it 1.150 and my msi card is staple it 1.218 volt clock 970/1150

i flash the toxic to my card and crash coz the volt is to low for it

can any body now who to move up the volt to 1.218 whit the RBE editor

her is the link for toxic bios

http://www.mediafire.com/?htcls1n1g3kavpm*


----------



## Raven.7

*How does 1.2v on an HD6850 sound for 960/1150? I can't get it stable at anything less. I can reach 920/1130 @ stock V.*


----------



## mltms

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Raven.7;12659058*
> *How does 1.2v on an HD6850 sound for 960/1150? I can't get it stable at anything less. I can reach 920/1130 @ stock V.*


its 6870 bios not 6850


----------



## Raven.7

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mltms*


its 6870 bios not 6850


What the hell are you talking about


----------



## ezveedub

LOL, I think you guys got confused. You both posted questions about your cards, but MLTMS thought the post by RAVEN.7 was an answer. Neither one of posted questions were answered yet. I don't know the answer to either of your questions though, so what it out a bit.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Raven.7*


*How does 1.2v on an HD6850 sound for 960/1150? I can't get it stable at anything less. I can reach 920/1130 @ stock V.*


Stable, mine is 920/1100 stock or 945/1180 @ 1.18v. I haven't tried to go higher on voltage yet.


----------



## Raven.7

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12660656*
> Stable, mine is 920/1100 stock or 945/1180 @ 1.18v. I haven't tried to go higher on voltage yet.


*
Seems to be stable @ 950/1150 1.18v for me*


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Raven.7;12660701*
> *
> Seems to be stable @ 950/1150 1.18v for me*


What are your temps in furmark at those settings?


----------



## Raven.7

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


what are your temps in furmark at those settings?


69c


----------



## OolerTheInventor

Count me IN!


----------



## Razi3l

Thinking of getting a Sapphire 6850 Toxic or ASUS DirectCU. Anyone who has these cards care to give some information on how the OC?


----------



## Lostcase

not sure if I should get another 6870 or sell it and get a better card..










OR! Keep 6870 and get another monitor... (currently only have one monitor)

ah... decisions...


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Thinking of getting a Sapphire 6850 Toxic or ASUS DirectCU. Anyone who has these cards care to give some information on how the OC?


Its luck of the draw I got both cards at the same time and one overclocks much better than the other.one card max stable so far is 970 the other will go over 1000 .to get these overclocks stable both cards needed aftermarket coolers.Before the coolers these clocks would only work for suicide benchmark runs with way too much voltage.I have benched these cards as high as 1020/1250 they made it threw a run of heaven and hit 99c.

this was before the coolers and I cheated heaven and got a score of 2000+.lol


----------



## gammite

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Thinking of getting a Sapphire 6850 Toxic or ASUS DirectCU. Anyone who has these cards care to give some information on how the OC?


i have the toxic, but i don't run it hard. i keep it at 900/1100 at stock volts with no issues.


----------



## arrow0309

The Sapphire 6850 Toxic looks cool to me.









http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,80...59348&vollbild


----------



## smoke420

The toxic is the better card for sure and worth the extra money .If the adapters ever come out they will be eyefinity 6 cards.


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12681666*
> The toxic is the better card for sure and worth the extra money .If the adapters ever come out they will be eyefinity 6 cards.


It's a better card only if you desperately need a radial fan to blow the heat instantly out of your case.
Take a look at this review. "Grafiikkapiirin lämpötila" = "GPU Temperatures" and "Melu" = "Noise".


----------



## smoke420

985/1150 stable both cards


----------



## Calexan

looks promising









http://www.rage3d.com/index.php?cat=75#newsid33974865

*Project Mjölnir - AMD's Focus on Improving AMD Catalyst Drivers*

Quote:


> Project Mjölnir is a multidimensional effort aimed at increasing performance and providing improved stability of the AMD Catalyst software.
> 
> The AMD Catalyst 11.4 early preview, code named Mjölnir I, already available to the public (link) with Mjölnir II and III to be available in the months to come. This driver encompasses major improvements for the entire AMD Radeon HD 6800 and 6900 Series. Users should see a boost, particularly with anti-aliasing and large resolutions in numerous titles:
> 
> * Up to 70% performance improvement in Civilization V
> * Up to 49% performance improvement in Call of Duty: Black Ops
> * Up to 23% performance improvement in F1 2010
> * Up to 21% performance improvement in Wolfenstein MP
> * Up to 15% performance improvement in Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X
> * Up to 17% performance improvement in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
> * Up to 28% performance improvement in Metro2033
> * Up to 33% performance improvement in Left 4 Dead 2
> * Up to 26% performance improvement in FarCry 2
> * Up to 15% performance improvement in Crysis Warhead
> * Up to 50% performance improvement in Unigine Heaven
> * Up to 22% performance improvement in Batman: Arkham Asylum
> * Up to 19% performance improvement in Aliens vs. Predator
> 
> But the goodness does not stop with this release. Mjölnir I is only the first in a series of drivers we intend to release this year, all of which should provide big performance boosts.


*Catalyst 11.4 early preview*
download linkhttp://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst114earlypreview.aspx *"Mjölnir I"*


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> * Up to 50% performance improvement in Unigine Heaven


----------



## arrow0309

Forget it!








I did yesterday run a Unigine bench at default vga & ccc settings and same cpu speed (4 Ghz) as I did before with the 10.10e release. Guess what did I get with the new 11.4 Early Praview? Only a poor 3.7% increment:

*Catalyst 10.10e* Fps:28.2 Scores: *709*



(http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum/showpost.php?p=33700620&postcount=3508)

*Catalyst 11.4 E.Preview* Fps:29.2 Scores: *735*



Looks like the "up to 50% increment in Unigine Heaven" refers maybe only to the tesselation factor (2x) or is just another Amd branded bull****









Quote: "Project Mjölnir is a multidimensional effort aimed at increasing performance and providing improved stability of the AMD Catalyst software.

The AMD Catalyst 11.4 early preview, code named Mjölnir I, already available to the public with Mjölnir II and III to be available in the months to come."

*WHAT?*
Have alook at the *Project Mjölnir* Origins.









http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=179112

*"Don't do this at home"* ... Project Mjölnir ...







wasn't it better be called Project Thor's Hammer?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12702717*
> Forget it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I did yesterday run a Unigine bench at default vga & ccc settings and same cpu speed (4 Ghz) as I did before with the 10.10e release. Guess what did I get with the new 11.4 Early Praview? Only a poor 3.7% increment


It did mention "users running high resolution or with anti-aliasing.". I would do it at 1080p If i could (if I were you), and max out the AA. Although this is for the 6900 cards, I did a comparison between 11.2 and 11.4p here, and most of these should apply to the 6800 cards too. I'll do a few quick ones when I get my 6850 in a few days.


----------



## sunnyFTW

@arrow0309

"Mjölnir I is only the first in a series of drivers we intend to release this year, all of which should provide big performance boosts. "


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;12702766*
> It did mention "users running high resolution or with anti-aliasing.". I would do it at 1080p If i could (if I were you), and max out the AA. Although this is for the 6900 cards, I did a comparison between 11.2 and 11.4p here, and most of these should apply to the 6800 cards too. I'll do a few quick ones when I get my 6850 in a few days.


My both tests were run at (my monitor's) max resolution (1680x1050) but with the AA 4x and Anisotropiy 16x


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW;12702775*
> @arrow0309
> 
> "Mjölnir I is only the first in a series of drivers we intend to release this year, all of which should provide big performance boosts. "


I know, but I only hope to get another 6870 for a cfx soon


----------



## drBlahMan

_Please add me to the list_


----------



## Razi3l

updated.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


My both tests were run at (my monitor's) max resolution (1680x1050) but with the AA 4x and Anisotropiy 16x










Probably a larger difference @ 1080 or higher with 8xAA.. I'll see what its like on the 6850.


----------



## sunnyFTW

on 10.12/11.1a ( i didnt notice any fps boost on 11.1a)









on 11.4 \\m/


----------



## arrow0309

*TechPowerUp Radeon BIOS Editor 1.28* by TechPowerUp:

http://www.techpowerup.com/141982/TechPowerUp-Radeon-BIOS-Editor-1.28-Released.html


----------



## Razi3l

That should go in the news section if not already posted. Saw that last night but i'm lazy.


----------



## smoke420

I get great performance and stability out of 11.1a hotfix.
Has anyone got these huge performance gains they are claiming from the 11.4?


----------



## sunnyFTW

11.4










11.1


----------



## smoke420

Thats a great bump in performance did you change anything else?
Is this with full tess?
Does 3dmark11 run in fullscreen?


----------



## sunnyFTW

yes it runs in full screen

change anything else ???


----------



## Marcusvb

i'm getting a 6850 in a week when my parents come from MIAMI!! =D


----------



## compudaze

Oops. Wrong thread.


----------



## drBlahMan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *compudaze;12705124*
> I have 2 Sapphire HD 6950's, can I be added?


I believe you would want to be added here... *AMD 69xx Owners Club*


----------



## compudaze

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *drBlahMan;12705158*
> I believe you would want to be added here... *AMD 69xx Owners Club*


LOL. Thanks. Always mixing up 6850/6870 and 6950/6970.


----------



## Catscratch

A little late but...


A Sapphire 6850 1gb enjoying a default run with Cat 11.2 (driver only on Windows 7 Ultimate SP1)


----------



## Krusher33

It does say "up to" but really... do GPU makers tweak their drivers all the time to increase benchmark performance? Or was that just icing on the cake?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW;12704536*
> 11.4
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 11.1


Your posting an older 3DMark at stock settings and a newer one with the card overclocked. You have to be more accurate in showing others the freq. details.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW;12704814*
> yes it runs in full screen
> 
> change anything else ???


Were your cpu and gpu running the same clocks?


----------



## sunnyFTW

@arrow0309 and @ smoke420 in both bench gpu was on 940/1150 mhz and cpu @ 3.6 ghz


----------



## TheStealthyOne

ASUS 6870 DirectCU










Add me!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW;12711534*
> @arrow0309 and @ smoke420 in both bench gpu was on 940/1150 mhz and cpu @ 3.6 ghz


Congratulations then for your (small oc yet new bloody drivers) system!








Even if it is hard to believe because the performance preset uses a low resolution (1280x720) and moderate settings. I personally have never seen such a high score for a 6870 at even higher oc freq.









However, here are mine results with the cpu at 4.2 Ghz and card at 1000/1140:

*Catalyst 10.12 - 4773 3DMarks*










*Catalyst 11.4 Prev. - 4881 3DMarks*


----------



## sunnyFTW

:O ur scores r very less









at 4ghz that to on 965 and 1000mhz on core i would get above 52xx

but on all mighty i7 @4.2 and 1000mhz u should get atleast 55xx scores









@ arrow0309 buddy try using default settings in CCC and close any background application in windows


----------



## grishkathefool

*Sapphire HD6850*

I tried searching this thread for an answer and came up with zippo.

When I ran Vantage, it locked up when it got to the Physx portion, so I had to disable that test to get a score. My question is this, how does one get an accurate Vantage score without running the Physx test?


----------



## aznx2high

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *grishkathefool;12730910*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Sapphire HD6850*
> 
> I tried searching this thread for an answer and came up with zippo.
> 
> When I ran Vantage, it locked up when it got to the Physx portion, so I had to disable that test to get a score. My question is this, how does one get an accurate Vantage score without running the Physx test?


ATI/ AMD doesnt suppport physX thats why it crashes.. unless your talking about post FX then thats a different story.

how does one get an accurate Vantage score without running the Physx test? well not totally quite sure but all i know most games and programs dont even have physX and its not really noticeable. ( that's just my opinion)


----------



## aznx2high

does anyone know of a list of max OC on the radeon HD 6870 crossfired and heres mine on stock cooler (note: its in the raven rv-02)

if image isnt clear my core clock is 951 MHz and my memory clock is at 1200 MHz


----------



## PixelFreakz

Cool Asus 6870 thermal images








http://www.bigbruin.com/content/hd6870thermals_1









I wanted one of the thermal imagers and thought it would be cool... Found out the name: Fluke Ti32 Industrial-Commercial Thermal Imager
and then I saw the price.. $8,995.00















Think I'll leave the thermal imaging to asus....


----------



## Razi3l

Got my MSI 6850..


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PixelFreakz;12737871*
> Cool Asus 6870 thermal images
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.bigbruin.com/content/hd6870thermals_1
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wanted one of the thermal imagers and thought it would be cool... Found out the name: Fluke Ti32 Industrial-Commercial Thermal Imager
> and then I saw the price.. $8,995.00
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Think I'll leave the thermal imaging to asus....


Ha ha ha, yikes. That's more than my car.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Got my MSI 6850..


















At last, ...nice cooler; I was thinking of getting one of these too but I ended up with the Zalman vf3000. I think it would be just perfect for your 6850








Now show us some serious OC!


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12740547*
> At last, ...nice cooler; I was thinking of getting one of these too but I ended up with the Zalman vf3000. I think it would be just perfect for your 6850
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now show us some serious OC!


Runs 50*c load at stock and 60*c at 1Ghz w/ 1.256v. Pretty awesome xD

Anyways, it doesn't do 1200 on the memory but does 1150, so I'm not sure if it'll do anything it between as I didn't try. As for core i've only tried 1Ghz and just gave 1.256v for the sake of it and it was fine. xD









http://www3.picturepush.com/photo/a/5259581/img/benchmarks/***head.png


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


Runs 50*c load at stock and 60*c at 1Ghz w/ 1.256v. Pretty awesome xD

Anyways, it doesn't do 1200 on the memory but does 1150, so I'm not sure if it'll do anything it between as I didn't try. As for core i've only tried 1Ghz and just gave 1.256v for the sake of it and it was fine. xD









http://www3.picturepush.com/photo/a/5259581/img/benchmarks/***head.png


You've got a nice overclock for a 6850 with great temps, however the Crysis Warhead results doesn't look excellent to me. What drivers did you use for that?
Here's mine at 1680x1050 (AAx4), why don't you give a shot with these settings?


----------



## Razi3l

What the hell.. are you sure you're not on CF? xD


----------



## sunnyFTW

:O single 6850 ???????

i get 45 fps on 1600x900 0AA


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


What the hell.. are you sure you're not on CF? xD










Nope, everything I have is in my sig.








I tried the bench several times (it looked strange to my friends either) and same results. I even got: Min: 53.31, Max: 85.61 and Avg: 70.07 with the same settings and AAx0. 
Could have been of the ccc 11.1a hotfix (beta vers.)? Maybe I should give the new 11.4 prev. a shot, who knows


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Nope, everything I have is in my sig.








I tried the bench several times (it looked strange to my friends either) and same results. I even got: Min: 53.31, Max: 85.61 and Avg: 70.07 with the same settings and AAx0. 
Could have been of the ccc 11.1a hotfix (beta vers.)? Maybe I should give the new 11.4 prev. a shot, who knows










You don't have any mods or anything applied, do you? Like performance mods, texture mods etc?.. Or ever used them? They may be the cause of this


----------



## arrow0309

*Sapphire HD6870 Flex Review* by LAN OC










Link:
http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/vid...re-hd6870-flex


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


You don't have any mods or anything applied, do you? Like performance mods, texture mods etc?.. Or ever used them? They may be the cause of this










I only have patched the game with the CrysisWarhead_Patch1,


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


I only have patched the game with the CrysisWarhead_Patch1,










Wth... Nobody else gets such scores.. 
Something must be off..









Are the FPS similar when you play the game? Maybe the bench tool is just weird. :u


----------



## grishkathefool

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *aznx2high;12737746*
> ATI/ AMD doesnt suppport physX thats why it crashes.. unless your talking about post FX then thats a different story.
> 
> how does one get an accurate Vantage score without running the Physx test? well not totally quite sure but all i know most games and programs dont even have physX and its not really noticeable. ( that's just my opinion)


I know that ATI doesn't support Physx, that is the nature of my question. I read a gazillion reviews about ATI GPUs and what their Vantage score is, but have never read about anyone having to De-Select the Physx test prior to running the bench. I am using the 11.2 Drivers, by the way, not sure if that matters.

Also, as for over-clocking the GPU, is the AMD Overdrive reliable for that, or is there a Best method that we should use?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *grishkathefool;12744510*
> I know that ATI doesn't support Physx, that is the nature of my question. I read a gazillion reviews about ATI GPUs and what their Vantage score is, but have never read about anyone having to De-Select the Physx test prior to running the bench. I am using the 11.2 Drivers, by the way, not sure if that matters.
> 
> Also, as for over-clocking the GPU, is the AMD Overdrive reliable for that, or is there a Best method that we should use?


I would use MSI Afterburner. It is very popular and easy to use, or you could use Sapphire TriXX (you have a Sapphire card







) which is much easier (you don't have to fiddle with the EULA to raise clock limits) and is almost as good as Afterburner.


----------



## grishkathefool

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;12744673*
> I would use MSI Afterburner. It is very popular and easy to use, or you could use Sapphire TriXX (you have a Sapphire card
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ) which is much easier (you don't have to fiddle with the EULA to raise clock limits) and is almost as good as Afterburner.


TY, I will try the Sapph App.

3dMark 11 runs well, although they haven't approved the 11.2 driver yet, lol.
I scored a 3384 at stock settings. Seriously thinking about Crossfire, ha!


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *grishkathefool;12744875*
> TY, I will try the Sapph App.
> 
> 3dMark 11 runs well, although they haven't approved the 11.2 driver yet, lol.
> I scored a 3384 at stock settings. Seriously thinking about Crossfire, ha!


Upgrade to Catalyst 11.4 preview. You should see a nice boost in performance. =)


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *grishkathefool;12744875*
> TY, I will try the Sapph App.
> 
> 3dMark 11 runs well, although they haven't approved the 11.2 driver yet, lol.
> I scored a 3384 at stock settings. Seriously thinking about Crossfire, ha!


I have overclocked mine easily with afterburner. 3DMark 11 result: http://www.overclock.net/12182668-post198.html


----------



## ezveedub

OK, I just ran 3DMark11 on my rig (No CPU OC, stock 2.8Ghz) with my 6870s in Crossfire with Cat 11.2 drivers. What are the approved drivers? Got a P7363 score. Is this good or can it be better? Not sure the Crossfire is working or not. Top card has some heat blowing out, but lower card is pretty much cool.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/836580


----------



## grishkathefool

Man, I did a little digging an found some posts around the interwebz about the Vantage crashes during Physx. They mostly said make sure the Software Physx Runtime is installed, which it is. Then I went to Futuremark's site and read their FAQ and it said to make sure that I had the latest version installed - I do.

Argh... I just don't understand what to do....


----------



## Lostcase

Up'd my voltage for the first time today on my XFX 6870:

at stock(900/1050/v1.174): *P4093 3DMARKS*
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/835187

at 1000/1200/v1.274: *P4482 3DMARKS*
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/837075

I had my fan at 75%, damn thats too loud for my taste.


----------



## TwiggLe

VisionTek HD 6850









http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2987448


----------



## Lostcase

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lostcase;12747787*
> Up'd my voltage for the first time today on my XFX 6870:
> 
> at stock(900/1050/v1.174): *P4093 3DMARKS*
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/835187
> 
> at 1000/1200/v1.274: *P4482 3DMARKS*
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/837075
> 
> I had my fan at 75%, damn thats too loud for my taste.


Damn, things were going all nice and dandy until I get this:

"*Display driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has successfully recovered*."

Happened to me twice as I was playing BFBC2, first time I was able to ALT+TAB out of the frozen screen (audio was still working). Second time, nothing worked, had to reset.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lostcase;12748658*
> Damn, things were going all nice and dandy until I get this:
> 
> "*Display driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has successfully recovered*."
> 
> Happened to me twice as I was playing BFBC2, first time I was able to ALT+TAB out of the frozen screen (audio was still working). Second time, nothing worked, had to reset.


Same here! Except I was on stock settings for GPU. Might've been my system OC unstable?


----------



## Lostcase

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12749260*
> Same here! Except I was on stock settings for GPU. Might've been my system OC unstable?


Yep, because BFBC2 is a crazy cpu hog.


----------



## cavallino

Does anyone else running crossfire have an issue with getting black screens at windows boot or after login. I had this problem a lot with 11.2 went back to 11.1 and it didn't do it but it started doing it again. It is definitely some kind of driver issue because it goes through post fine,all the bios screens, starting windows and then boom nothing. My logitech keyboard is lit up with the login message though, it's like windows booted fine but it's just not showing. Sometimes switching the hdmi cable back and forth between cards brings it back. Maybe I should disable crossfire so it doesn't start windows with it and just activate it when I need it?

I upgraded to 11.4 lets hope those are better we'll see. On the upside I did get a nearly 1000 point improvement with 11.4 over 11.1. In 3d mark http://3dmark.com/3dm11/837030;jsessionid=BDDB27C3921E4669957ECE31DCD052B2?show_ads=true&page=/3dm11/837030%3Fkey%3D5fkxn9a4uNAZZmCKSdKaUjzVhjZAdc

Makes you wonder how bad the drivers were before if they could just scrape that much performance out of it.


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cavallino;12749346*
> Does anyone else running crossfire have an issue with getting black screens at windows boot or after login. I had this problem a lot with 11.2 went back to 11.1 and it didn't do it but it started doing it again. It is definitely some kind of driver issue because it goes through post fine,all the bios screens, starting windows and then boom nothing. My logitech keyboard is lit up with the login message though, it's like windows booted fine but it's just not showing. Sometimes switching the hdmi cable back and forth between cards brings it back. Maybe I should disable crossfire so it doesn't start windows with it and just activate it when I need it?
> 
> I upgraded to 11.4 lets hope those are better we'll see. On the upside I did get a nearly 1000 point improvement with 11.4 over 11.1. In 3d mark http://3dmark.com/3dm11/837030;jsessionid=BDDB27C3921E4669957ECE31DCD052B2?show_ads=true&page=/3dm11/837030%3Fkey%3D5fkxn9a4uNAZZmCKSdKaUjzVhjZAdc
> 
> Makes you wonder how bad the drivers were before if they could just scrape that much performance out of it.


Are you clearing out the drivers and folders? I delete the AMD and ATI folders also so there is nothing left around from the old drivers. I'm running 11.2 in Crossfire and have had no issues. I'm also now running 11.4 with no issues too.

On 3Dmark, I only saw a 230 point increase from 11.2 to 11.4. Someone said they got 1000 also, but I have yet to see that.


----------



## cavallino

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ezveedub;12749596*
> Are you clearing out the drivers and folders? I delete the AMD and ATI folders also so there is nothing left around from the old drivers. I'm running 11.2 in Crossfire and have had no issues. I'm also now running 11.4 with no issues too.
> 
> On 3Dmark, I only saw a 230 point increase from 11.2 to 11.4. Someone said they got 1000 also, but I have yet to see that.


Yeah my process is 1. remove/uninstall everything with catalyst install manager 2. delete all folders 3. reboot 4. install new drivers 5. reboot.

My score seemed low with 11.1/2 now it's more in line with others I've seen.


----------



## smoke420

my graphics scores are pretty close but my cpu can't keep up with a I7.I wonder how close the graphic scores would be if I had the same cpu.

Are you guys overclocking your gpus?

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/836590


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12749848*
> my graphics scores are pretty close but my cpu can't keep up with a I7.I wonder how close the graphic scores would be if I had the same cpu.
> 
> Are you guys overclocking your gpus?
> 
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/836590


I have mine bumped from 900 -> 925 on GPU and 1050 -> 1075 on memory


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ezveedub;12749895*
> I have mine bumped from 900 -> 925 on GPU and 1050 -> 1075 on memory


Mine are clocked pretty high 790 -> 960 on GPU and 1000 -> 1210 on memory


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12749939*
> Mine are clocked pretty high 790 -> 960 on GPU and 1000 -> 1210 on memory


I just barely touched mine for now. I haven't really OC the GPUs, only my CPU. Planning on water cooling them soon though.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ezveedub;12749965*
> I just barely touched mine for now. I haven't really OC the GPUs, only my CPU. Planning on water cooling them soon though.


I was planning on water cooling but after getting aftermarket air coolers Its not worth it .Maybe its different with the 6870 's but my overclock is not limited by heat.


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I was planning on water cooling but after getting aftermarket air coolers Its not worth it .Maybe its different with the 6870 's but my overclock is not limited by heat.


I'm not planning on using air cooling since I have a water cooled system now. I could add the 6870s, but will be adding an additional loop soon just for them alone.


----------



## sunnyFTW

@Lostcase

u r 3d mark scores r less

i used to get 42xx @ stock on 11.1a and 49xx score @940/1150 on 11.4


----------



## Lostcase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW*


@Lostcase

u r 3d mark scores r less

i used to get 42xx @ stock on 11.1a and 49xx score @940/1150 on 11.4










You know what, you are correct, check out my scores from back in december:

http://www.overclock.net/benchmarkin...870-1090t.html

stupid drivers...


----------



## Lostcase

3DMark doesn't support those drivers yet:

"Your result has the following problem(s) and will not be shown for example on leaderboards: Graphics driver is not approved."


----------



## sunnyFTW

have u used 11.4 ???

if yes un-check "automatically view result in 3dmark.com"










see i got improved scores

actually i beat my frnd's gtx 570/i5 760 by 50 point

















prove


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lostcase;12752693*
> 3DMark doesn't support those drivers yet:
> 
> "Your result has the following problem(s) and will not be shown for example on leaderboards: Graphics driver is not approved."


I dont think the drivers will ever be supported because we can beat the test with them.


----------



## grishkathefool

Alrighty, I got Vantage to run with the Physx test. I am not sure what cured it but here is where I stand.

I set Windows to Basic Desktop Theme.
I ran DriveSweeper 3 more times with reboots in between.
I manually used Programs and Features to further uninstall even more nVidia Display drivers and Physx Runtimes.
I ran CCleaner's Registry Tool 3 times.

All that and I scored a paltry p12,271 / GPU10,860 / CPU 20,106. I re-read some reviews of different HD6850s at stock speed am an shocked to discover that my GPU Score is about 3500 to 5000 points lower than it should be - AT STOCK SETTINGS.


----------



## Bassdoken

Driver Sweeper isn't as good as it used to be. A normal uninstall will be "healthier" for the OS.


----------



## grishkathefool

UPDATE:

I found a thread at Tom's that pointed me in the right direction. I had to go into CCC and set things to Application Decide and Performance where applicable. Thus producing this:










That is a whole lot more like what it should be, methinks.... I wonder what it would be if I bought another???


----------



## Lostcase

Went back to 10.12 drivers.. got me these numbers..


----------



## PixelFreakz

Why is your voltage so high....?







I dont think you need them that high...

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Lostcase*


Went back to 10.12 drivers.. got me these numbers..


----------



## aznx2high

i got a problem.... i have cross fire on and on all my software monitors tell me that one of my graphics card isnt on max load when i run furmark or kumbustor, i was looking at gpu chark,cpu-z, and msi afterburner, also note that msi afterburner doesnt show gpu1 core clock on the graphs.

does this really mean that i burnt out one of my graphics cards? and if it does.. does the warranty cover that?


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *aznx2high;12763858*
> i got a problem.... i have cross fire on and on all my software monitors tell me that one of my graphics card isnt on max load when i run furmark or kumbustor, i was looking at gpu chark,cpu-z, and msi afterburner, also note that msi afterburner doesnt show gpu1 core clock on the graphs.
> 
> does this really mean that i burnt out one of my graphics cards? and if it does.. does the warranty cover that?


You are probably running the single version of furmark/kombuster. Run the multi-GPU version.


----------



## Armand

Can I join please?









6870 @ 940Mhz


----------



## Razi3l

What brand is yours?


----------



## Armand

PowerColor


----------



## calebkan

hi guys..

what about crossfire overclocking over 1000mhz gpus for 6870?still unstable in ab or another programs?

crossfire setup not stable when i go enable unoffical overclocking ..is it still same?

my cards now working 1000mhz gpu,1120 mem..

ty


----------



## arrow0309

@Razi3l, you were right with the Crysis Warhead Benchmark; I just reinstalled & did some benches & now I get more realistic results (oc in sig):


















And I think, this is how I'm going to play


----------



## arrow0309

*AMD Catalyst Application Profile - 11.2 CAP4*

Link: http://www.rage3d.com/cap/

New profiles added with this release:

* Crysis 2 - Improves CrossFire performance
* Dungeons - Improves CrossFire performance with forced on Anti-Aliasing
* Crasher - Forced on Anti-Aliasing through the Catalyst Control Center has been disabled
* Shogun 2 (DX9 version) - Improves CrossFire performance
* America's Army 3 - Improves CrossFire performance
* Flatout: Ultimate Carnage - Improves CrossFire performance


----------



## Bassdoken

Anyone have any overclocking software for a 6850? I've tried both TriXX beta v3.0.5 and MSI Afterburner versions 2.1.0 official and 2.1.0 Beta 7 with either no voltage control (TriXX) or unable to go past 850Mhz (AB), although I've edited the msiafterburner.cfg file. :/
Halp?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12771542*
> Anyone have any overclocking software for a 6850? I've tried both TriXX beta v3.0.5 and MSI Afterburner versions 2.1.0 official and 2.1.0 Beta 7 with either no voltage control (TriXX) or unable to go past 850Mhz (AB), although I've edited the msiafterburner.cfg file. :/
> Halp?


What is the exact version of your 6850, are you sure of having the vrm software controll (I2C interface) via the reference CHiL controller?


----------



## madmanmarz

I am in the same boat as above. I just bought an xfx 6850 and I cannot unlock the voltage. I noticed their black editions do. I tried trixx, afterburner, aftrburner beta, voltunlock mod, editing the cfg file, different overclocking modes and nothing so I am now trying different bios'. I used rbe to change the stock bios and only upped the vcore for 3d clocks and it will not get into windows. tried flashing to xfx 6850 black edition bios and trying software and still no voltage control. i have tried both rbe/winflash and ati flash through dos. i am now going to try a 6870 bios with a higher vcore that has worked for others...if this doesn't work i'm pretty sure this thing cannot be overclocked due to hardware and I will look into pencil/volt modding.

I was getting 1100/1200/1.4 on an MSI but it was getting the famed random black screen issues from day 1 (open box item) so I went to tiger and bought this not knowing it would not have any kind of voltage control. sosad.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12775784*
> What is the exact version of your 6850, are you sure of having the vrm software controll (I2C interface) via the reference CHiL controller?


I have an XFX 6850, and I bought it like 2 weeks after launch. I _had_ voltage control back before I reinstalled Windows, but now I don't. At least in TriXX. I get voltage control in AB, but I can only go up to 850MHz. :/


----------



## Nach0

Sorry, new here and I plan on purchasing the 6870 along with the X6 1090T within the next month. Is there anything I need to know about the 6870 before I buy it? There have been a lot of reviews saying the drivers suck for ATI which I've never used before. Is this something I should be worrying about? Unfortunately the X6 1090T doesn't really offer any bundle deals with Nvidia cards that meet my budget.
I'm coming from an 8600GT so this is going to be a huge game changer for me and I don't want to mess it up.


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nach0;12779122*
> Sorry, new here and I plan on purchasing the 6870 along with the X6 1090T within the next month. Is there anything I need to know about the 6870 before I buy it? There have been a lot of reviews saying the drivers suck for ATI which I've never used before. Is this something I should be worrying about? Unfortunately the X6 1090T doesn't really offer any bundle deals with Nvidia cards that meet my budget.
> I'm coming from an 8600GT so this is going to be a huge game changer for me and I don't want to mess it up.


The drivers dont suck. I'd say most of the driver related issues you see on this board is user created. I went from a 260gtx to my 6870 and the difference was very noticeable. I'm running two 6870's now and very very pleased. I do recommend reformatting once you get the 6870. I have read of problems with installing ATI drivers or Nvidia's or viceversa.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nach0;12779122*
> Sorry, new here and I plan on purchasing the 6870 along with the X6 1090T within the next month. Is there anything I need to know about the 6870 before I buy it? There have been a lot of reviews saying the drivers suck for ATI which I've never used before. Is this something I should be worrying about? Unfortunately the X6 1090T doesn't really offer any bundle deals with Nvidia cards that meet my budget.
> I'm coming from an 8600GT so this is going to be a huge game changer for me and I don't want to mess it up.


If you plan on ever tinkering with Linux, stay with Nvidia. If you're going to go multi-card in the future, stay with Nvidia. Else, the 6870 is perfect for you.


----------



## madmanmarz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *madmanmarz;12778944*
> I am in the same boat as above. I just bought an xfx 6850 and I cannot unlock the voltage. I noticed their black editions do. I tried trixx, afterburner, aftrburner beta, voltunlock mod, editing the cfg file, different overclocking modes and nothing so I am now trying different bios'. I used rbe to change the stock bios and only upped the vcore for 3d clocks and it will not get into windows. tried flashing to xfx 6850 black edition bios and trying software and still no voltage control. i have tried both rbe/winflash and ati flash through dos. i am now going to try a 6870 bios with a higher vcore that has worked for others...if this doesn't work i'm pretty sure this thing cannot be overclocked due to hardware and I will look into pencil/volt modding.
> 
> I was getting 1100/1200/1.4 on an MSI but it was getting the famed random black screen issues from day 1 (open box item) so I went to tiger and bought this not knowing it would not have any kind of voltage control. sosad.


okay yeah i tried everything nothing works. for some reason the 6870 bios was giving me issues with detecting both displays at the same time although it did bump the vcore to 1.75 from 1.5...

Still I would very much like 1.4v like before...so if you know what resistor would need to be shaded to increase the core voltage, that would be awesome.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12779038*
> I have an XFX 6850, and I bought it like 2 weeks after launch. I _had_ voltage control back before I reinstalled Windows, but now I don't. At least in TriXX. I get voltage control in AB, but I can only go up to 850MHz. :/


Strange for an oc utility like Trixx who needs to install only; about AB (latest 2.1.0) you have to modify the MSIAfterburner.cfg file.
It is necessary to:
- Set UnofficialOverclockingEULA field to the following text: I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
- Set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 to keep PowerPlay active (may not work on old ASICs), 2 to traditionally disable PowerPlay or to 0 to temporary disable unofficial overclocking path

I would (if necessary) even change to 1 the two values: UnlockVoltageControl and UnlockVoltageMonitoring.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12779437*
> Strange for an oc utility like Trixx who needs to install only; about AB (latest 2.1.0) you have to modify the MSIAfterburner.cfg file like this:
> 
> - Set UnofficialOverclockingEULA field to the following text: I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
> - Set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 to keep PowerPlay active (may not work on old ASICs), 2 to traditionally disable PowerPlay or to 0 to temporary disable unofficial overclocking path
> 
> I would (if necessary) even change to 1 the two values: UnlockVoltageControl and UnlockVoltageMonitoring.


Lol what the f? 'I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it'? Hahaha. I'll try that in a bit. I would never have guessed that.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bassdoken;12779457*
> lol what the f? 'i confirm that i am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that msi will not provide me any support on it'? Hahaha. I'll try that in a bit. I would never have guessed that.


:d


----------



## madmanmarz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12779437*
> Strange for an oc utility like Trixx who needs to install only; about AB (latest 2.1.0) you have to modify the MSIAfterburner.cfg file.
> It is necessary to:
> - Set UnofficialOverclockingEULA field to the following text: I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
> - Set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 to keep PowerPlay active (may not work on old ASICs), 2 to traditionally disable PowerPlay or to 0 to temporary disable unofficial overclocking path
> 
> I would (if necessary) even change to 1 the two values: UnlockVoltageControl and UnlockVoltageMonitoring.


I did all of that and it doesn't work. Worked fine on the MSI but doesn't work on the XFX. Also noticed that the layout on the XFX board is different than the MSI.

I am getting 1000/1200 so far with stock voltage on this board...PLEASE someone help me figure out how to add more voltage this thing might hit 1200 core!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *madmanmarz*


I did all of that and it doesn't work. Worked fine on the MSI but doesn't work on the XFX. Also noticed that the layout on the XFX board is different than the MSI.

I am getting 1000/1200 so far with stock voltage on this board...PLEASE someone help me figure out how to add more voltage this thing might hit 1200 core!


I have to repeat (since I don't know the exact model of your 6850) voltage software controll is only supported when the card's vrm chip support the I2C interface like the CHiL 4+1 vrm chip (reference) and maybe some other one (6870 Hawk e.g.).



















You won't have voltage controll if your board uses a vrm chip like this one:










e.g. Gigabyte 6850 OC, PowerColor Pcs+

Repeat, I don't know wich model of Xfx do you have


----------



## Razi3l

Voltage adjustment should be supported on the XFX models. It is on the early non-ref ones, at least.

Also, I ran through 11.2 and 11.4 for the 6850, so you 6800 owners may want to check it out here.


----------



## madmanmarz

yeah my xfx doesn't have a chil vrm...old msi did. still trying to figure out if there's a way to shade a resistor to increase voltage on it.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;12781442*
> Voltage adjustment should be supported on the XFX models. It is on the early non-ref ones, at least.
> 
> Also, I ran through 11.2 and 11.4 for the 6850, so you 6800 owners may want to check it out here.


Nice. I can't wait for those to be released for Linux









Mind if I ask what program you use to make the graphs? They're pretty awesome looking. lol.


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;12790303*
> Nice. I can't wait for those to be released for Linux
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mind if I ask what program you use to make the graphs? They're pretty awesome looking. lol.


MS Word 2010 XD


----------



## sunnyFTW

guys is cooler master gx 650 watt enough for 6870x2 ?????

reply ASASP


----------



## Razi3l

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW*


guys is cooler master gx 650 watt enough for 6870x2 ?????

reply ASASP


No mate. That's not really that good of a PSU. In fact it's pretty terrible.


----------



## sunnyFTW

crossair hx/tx 650 ???? will do that job ??


----------



## Alden

Can i join? My subvendor is Asus


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW*


crossair hx/tx 650 ???? will do that job ??


That's a different story! However I would go for the 750 hx/tx model.


----------



## madmanmarz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


I have to repeat (since I don't know the exact model of your 6850) voltage software controll is only supported when the card's vrm chip support the I2C interface like the CHiL 4+1 vrm chip (reference) and maybe some other one (6870 Hawk e.g.).



















You won't have voltage controll if your board uses a vrm chip like this one:










e.g. Gigabyte 6850 OC, PowerColor Pcs+

Repeat, I don't know wich model of Xfx do you have


if I post a pic of my the vrm chip area could you or anyone show me where to shade to increase vcore?

I hate to have the card on water with sinks and not push it.


----------



## Calexan

which is better for my 6870.. Gelid Icy Vision rev. 1 or Arctic Cool Twin Turbo pro?

running my clocks @ 1000/1250 @ 1225v reaches 77°c while playing Assassins Creed 2
& 85°c 7mins. furmark


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW;12792531*
> crossair hx/tx 650 ???? will do that job ??


I go to this thread for my PSU needs: http://www.overclock.net/power-supplies/183810-faq-recommended-power-supplies.html


----------



## mrhdream

Hey all, been loving the forums so far, great tips and really helped out.
Backround: Have a 2010 dell xps studio 8000, did not realize I had the upgrade bug until a while after, now I'm hooked. This is what I've done so far:
Overclocked FSB to 157mhz (on a i5-750), arctic cooler 7 rev 2, w/ mx-4 thermal paste, extra arctic f9-pwm 92mm fan for push/pull, arctic tri-cool 92 mm case fan, corsair hx650 modular psu, and of course the wonderful Sapphire HD6850.

I have done a lot of tweaking, and found that the new case fan did the most in dropping final cpu and gpu temps! Idle sitting around ambient 20C, with max load of cpu 61 on one of the cores.

GPU I have overclocked using TRIXX, to a core of 1005, mem of 1200, w/ voltage a modest 1.18v. Temps under 65 (I put fan temp to 70% when playing games, load testing).

Has anyone tried going over these overclock settings on gpu? I'm wondering if its worth it to try and push the clock up, as I know I'd require more voltage.
Also, is running fan at 70% safe, and/or necessary when under load? I seem to get 3 degree higher temps when on automatic, but am worried about life of fan.
thanks a ton!!

here is my system btw:
http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd488/mrhdream/IMG_0225.jpg


----------



## Alden

I use smart doctor 5.74 and my OC range it up to 1580mhz GPU! 8000mhz ram lol! my max vcore is 1.24v
I will post benches soon at max overclock with crysis


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrhdream;12800893*
> Hey all, been loving the forums so far, great tips and really helped out.
> Backround: Have a 2010 dell xps studio 8000, did not realize I had the upgrade bug until a while after, now I'm hooked. This is what I've done so far:
> Overclocked FSB to 157mhz (on a i5-750), arctic cooler 7 rev 2, w/ mx-4 thermal paste, extra arctic f9-pwm 92mm fan for push/pull, arctic tri-cool 92 mm case fan, corsair hx650 modular psu, and of course the wonderful Sapphire HD6850.
> 
> I have done a lot of tweaking, and found that the new case fan did the most in dropping final cpu and gpu temps! Idle sitting around ambient 20C, with max load of cpu 61 on one of the cores.
> 
> GPU I have overclocked using TRIXX, to a core of 1005, mem of 1200, w/ voltage a modest 1.18v. Temps under 65 (I put fan temp to 70% when playing games, load testing).
> 
> Has anyone tried going over these overclock settings on gpu? I'm wondering if its worth it to try and push the clock up, as I know I'd require more voltage.
> Also, is running fan at 70% safe, and/or necessary when under load? I seem to get 3 degree higher temps when on automatic, but am worried about life of fan.
> thanks a ton!!
> 
> here is my system btw:
> http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd488/mrhdream/IMG_0225.jpg


Nice job. As for safe voltages 1.18 or 1.19 is where I'm sitting at for gaming sessions. Some folks will go as high as 1.2 volts or higher but that's just preference.

Running fans at 70% and temps good is ok. Running fans at 100% will obviously shorten life a bit more. But the way I look at it, it's bound to happen if the fan can't handle it at 70%. If the fan starts getting noisier and noisier: time to oil it. (Search the fan threads, I saw a guide on it awhile back.)

My preference is to stay under 50% because of noise factor. As long as temps are ok and the game is playable, I'm happy.

Edit: By the way can't see intake fan in you picture. It is at the front of case? Modder in me would put one on floor of case blowing at GPU if floor of house is not dusty. Otherwise on panel.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrhdream;12800893*
> Hey all, been loving the forums so far, great tips and really helped out.
> Backround: Have a 2010 dell xps studio 8000, did not realize I had the upgrade bug until a while after, now I'm hooked. This is what I've done so far:
> Overclocked FSB to 157mhz (on a i5-750), arctic cooler 7 rev 2, w/ mx-4 thermal paste, extra arctic f9-pwm 92mm fan for push/pull, arctic tri-cool 92 mm case fan, corsair hx650 modular psu, and of course the wonderful Sapphire HD6850.
> 
> I have done a lot of tweaking, and found that the new case fan did the most in dropping final cpu and gpu temps! Idle sitting around ambient 20C, with max load of cpu 61 on one of the cores.
> 
> GPU I have overclocked using TRIXX, to a core of 1005, mem of 1200, w/ voltage a modest 1.18v. Temps under 65 (I put fan temp to 70% when playing games, load testing).
> 
> Has anyone tried going over these overclock settings on gpu? I'm wondering if its worth it to try and push the clock up, as I know I'd require more voltage.
> Also, is running fan at 70% safe, and/or necessary when under load? I seem to get 3 degree higher temps when on automatic, but am worried about life of fan.
> thanks a ton!!
> 
> here is my system btw:
> http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd488/mrhdream/IMG_0225.jpg


As Krusher33 said you can add some fans or mod your case but from the pic it looks like its time for a new case.If changing your case fan makes a big difference and you didn't put in like a crazy high rpm delta. case flow is an issue.These cards dump a lot of heat in your case so if you dont have good air-flow it keeps getting hotter inside.personally it was fun modding my old case and I don't want to rob you of that but your going to need a new case .no matter how much you mod that case its not going to cut it.If you got an aftermarket cooler for the gpu you would not have to worry about the fans as much but it would dump more heat in your case making your cpu hot.I started with a simple antec case with two fans modded the hell out of it cut holes added a bunch of led fans ended up with cooler better looking case.And still ended up buying my HAF(high air flow) 932 and adding to many fans to count.


----------



## Trooper1881

i enjoy my 9850 toxic stock voltage 900 1200


----------



## mrhdream

Hey all, would agree with above posters about case.
I think i've fully utilized all that I can out of this case, there are no intake fans.
http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd488/mrhdream/IMG_0227.jpg

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd488/mrhdream/IMG_0228.jpg

As you can see, intake is from below to the front, and I open the extra 5 1/2 bay door for noticebly better performance ( i can def. feel the negative pressure putting my hands over this open bay ). Only 1 side panel.

So question: with temps running as I have it (62ish on load), is a new case really necessary at this point? I'm trying to maximize what I have for the next 2 years, probably upgrade gpu when games become unplayable, but would lower temps with this current rig make a whole lot of impact.
Consider that there is absolutely no way I can overclock the cpu anymore, dell bios sucks


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mrhdream;12816794*
> Hey all, would agree with above posters about case.
> I think i've fully utilized all that I can out of this case, there are no intake fans.
> http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd488/mrhdream/IMG_0227.jpg
> 
> http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd488/mrhdream/IMG_0228.jpg
> 
> As you can see, intake is from below to the front, and I open the extra 5 1/2 bay door for noticebly better performance ( i can def. feel the negative pressure putting my hands over this open bay ). Only 1 side panel.
> 
> So question: with temps running as I have it (62ish on load), is a new case really necessary at this point? I'm trying to maximize what I have for the next 2 years, probably upgrade gpu when games become unplayable, but would lower temps with this current rig make a whole lot of impact.
> Consider that there is absolutely no way I can overclock the cpu anymore, dell bios sucks


No you dont need a new case right now but it would be a good idea.You wanted to lower your fan speed so it would last longer. With a new case you can do that but more importantly lower temps so everything last longer.In two years or whenever you decide to upgrade atleast you already have a good case.


----------



## ezveedub

Hey guys, what other software can I use other than MSI Afterburner to push my Crossfire 6870s? They both have EK full waterblocks and currently don't see past 49C thus far running 975/1125 with 1.187 volts.


----------



## madmanmarz

^ push the voltage. Afterburner works great..there is also an unofficial voltage unlocker for AB but you're gonna have to search for it. Otherwise try Trixx.

Also I am about 2 seconds from just lightly pencil shading random resistors around the VRM on my 6850 to push the voltage and then checking for changes with GPU-Z... any chance this will work?

Bout to try a BIOS with only 1.2v through RBE and see what happens because I have a feeling the chip just won't support 1.4v... I just know I can get 1100-1200 on the core and it's killing me to be stuck at 1.15v/975


----------



## ezveedub

OK, I gonna max it out right now and see what happens.


----------



## wickedout

Hi there. I'm replacing my XFX 5850 with a new XFX 6870 under warranty! Is this a nice upgrade for me? I read the 6870 in X-fire is awesome.


----------



## madmanmarz

6870 is a tiny bit better than 5850


----------



## Alden

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *madmanmarz;12820325*
> ^ push the voltage. Afterburner works great..there is also an unofficial voltage unlocker for AB but you're gonna have to search for it. Otherwise try Trixx.
> 
> Also I am about 2 seconds from just lightly pencil shading random resistors around the VRM on my 6850 to push the voltage and then checking for changes with GPU-Z... any chance this will work?
> 
> Bout to try a BIOS with only 1.2v through RBE and see what happens because I have a feeling the chip just won't support 1.4v... I just know I can get 1100-1200 on the core and it's killing me to be stuck at 1.15v/975


why would you run your card with 0.3v more vcore and risk degrading it for a measly 100-150mhz. will your voltage regulator circuitry handle that? mine does not have a heatsink so i wouldn't push it. although i have version 2 of the card with 2 6pin power connectors so i could differ


----------



## regal

New club member I just ordered a 6850, about $140 after MIR from New Egg. I needed a card without huge power requirements and I just run a $80 17" wide screen monitor, my HD4770 wasn't quite cutting it. But it has an S-video output.

Anyway, my television is an old tube without HDMI input. My plan is to use one DVI for the monitor and on the other DVI out I put a DVI to VGA adapter plus a VGA to S-Video adapter so I can watch movies and TV shows on my TV as an extended monitor.

No one has been able to tell me if this s-video out scheme will work, so I'm just going to give it a shot, if it doesn't work I guess I'll have to buy a new TV as no new video cards have s-video output anymore.

I also want to prove to myself that with a stock SandyBridge, one can run a nice card like the HD6950 without resorting to a huge power supply, I am confident that my 2005 500W Fortron is up to the task, I know I'm rolling the dice but it is in the name of saving the planet (actually my electric bill


----------



## Zerkk

Well so much for a stable card. Had my PC freeze up during a BC2 match yesterday, I'm guess that's showing an unstable OC on my 6850. It's at 950/1125 with stock volts so I'm going to knock the voltage up a tad and see if that' stabilizes it. I've never had a problem until now and it figures it would happen during a BC2 match where I lose all my points I earned during the game.... so lame.


----------



## PowerTrip

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Zerkk;12823239*
> Well so much for a stable card. Had my PC freeze up during a BC2 match yesterday, I'm guess that's showing an unstable OC on my 6850. It's at 950/1125 with stock volts so I'm going to knock the voltage up a tad and see if that' stabilizes it. I've never had a problem until now and it figures it would happen during a BC2 match where I lose all my points I earned during the game.... so lame.


That's actually quite interesting because just yesterday I had been running stock 900/1050 the whole time and I decided to just auto-tune it in CCC.
The last time I did was with a 4850 and I went from 630/993 to 650/1008 so I was only expecting moddest results with my 6870.

Turns out Auto-Tune OC'd it from stock to 985/1225. I was flabbergasted.
I played BC2 and after a couple of multiplayer minutes it froze on me. I toned it down to 950/1125 on stock volts and it ran for several hours just fine last night.


----------



## Zerkk

985/1225







I remember when I did that with my 4850, it raised it to a ridiculous clock speed, I tried playing TF2 after that and it did nothing but crash on me. If only auto tune would hold true









I might just have to drop my clocks down since my office is a little on the warm side, I guess I'll test tonight and hope for the best. Maybe heat's what caused it to crash. Last time I checked it didn't go above 71 with the fan on auto, might just make the fan 100% and see if that helps.


----------



## regal

For a guy like me who isn't overclocking and just running a 1440x900 monitor who prizes stability over all else, should I instal the beta 11.4 drivers or the official 11.2 drivers ?


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ezveedub;12820386*
> OK, I gonna max it out right now and see what happens.


OK, I got my card up last night to 1000/1215 @ 1.205v. Ran Furmark for 3 hours and saw only 54C so far. If I max out the memory, I getting choppy video in benching, so I brought it down a tad. Still playing around to see what other stuff it will do. Running 11.2 drivers right now so Furmark will run both GPUs in Crossfire.


----------



## flopper

11.4 ccc here no issues.
6850x2.
only issues is punkbuster and afterburner in BC2.
mesely 850mhz oc isnt cutting it








My cards do around 950mhz without issues when PB dosnt crash.
cards I have is bang for the buck especially for eyefinity.

BF3 and hopefully a 28nm upgrade is what I look forward.
new ssd, and the rest is as it is.
computer upgrade wont happen soon heh.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Zerkk;12823239*
> Well so much for a stable card. Had my PC freeze up during a BC2 match yesterday, I'm guess that's showing an unstable OC on my 6850. It's at 950/1125 with stock volts so I'm going to knock the voltage up a tad and see if that' stabilizes it. I've never had a problem until now and it figures it would happen during a BC2 match where I lose all my points I earned during the game.... so lame.


Could it be the system OC unstable though? BC2 has recently locked up on me when GPU's were at stock clocks. My system was proven stable by P95 but then BC2 seemed to be the real test for it.


----------



## Zerkk

That's might be it but I've been fine with my OC in the past with BC2 when I was running with my 4850. I'll set my clocks back to stock and keep my GPU OCed and see what I come up with. Looks like I have a bit of testing to do after work.


----------



## madmanmarz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alden;12822105*
> why would you run your card with 0.3v more vcore and risk degrading it for a measly 100-150mhz. will your voltage regulator circuitry handle that? mine does not have a heatsink so i wouldn't push it. although i have version 2 of the card with 2 6pin power connectors so i could differ


because maybe i want to push the crap out of it?

my previous card did like 875 on the stock voltage and 1100+ with 1.4v (+2.5v). 225mhz on a GPU is nothing to scoff at, and I'm willing to bet this card can do close to 1200 with that voltage. anyway i am not willing to settle for less than 1.3v.

i never really expect to keep a card beyond the next generation. lots of people doing 1.3v on air and when i have sinks on everything + the card is on water and never even hits 50c...why not?

maybe people shouldn't put cpu's on ln2 and push the **** out of them either???


----------



## Krusher33

"in pursuit of performance"


----------



## Zerkk

Well I ran OCCT again at 950/1125 and after 8 minutes the driver crashed. Dropped the core to 925 and it ran for 15 minutes without a hiccup. The card gets around 82 so I didn't want to leave it running for to long. I'll test with BC2 later but I'm betting that that's what my problem was.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *madmanmarz;12828492*
> because maybe i want to push the crap out of it?
> 
> my previous card did like 875 on the stock voltage and 1100+ with 1.4v (+2.5v). 225mhz on a GPU is nothing to scoff at, and I'm willing to bet this card can do close to 1200 with that voltage. anyway i am not willing to settle for less than 1.3v.
> 
> i never really expect to keep a card beyond the next generation. lots of people doing 1.3v on air and when i have sinks on everything + the card is on water and never even hits 50c...why not?
> 
> maybe people shouldn't put cpu's on ln2 and push the **** out of them either???


Completely agree one version of smartdoctor limits voltage at a high 1.35..with my asus cards you can monitor vrm temps and they are not bad in anything but OCCT.Imo 1.3 is perfectly safe as long as your ambient temps are too high.Water cooling these cards is overkill, with a good air cooler temps are not going to limit your overclock.I hope your using a full cover block because vrm temps are just as important as gpu if not more.


----------



## Tokkan

add me


















My Sapphire HD6850


----------



## mrhdream

Hey all. So you've seen my system before:
Sapphire HD6850
OC using Trixx to 1005 core, 1200mem, w/ 1.18v

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd488/mrhdream/IMG_0225.jpg

Thought I knew what load testing was, boy was I wrong...
Played mass effect 2 for hours (noticed it affected my cpu temp much higher than my gpu... max cpu 61-63), gpu never above 65
Played crysis sp demo as a test (not nearly the cpu temp increase, to max 57)

Decided to try Furmark, ran that badboy, cpu never above 57, but gpu temp stabilized at 78-80, never going above, with a max fan speed of 80% set to auto.
During both gameply and furmark, never any artifacts, no BSOD, worked fine.

Is this a reasonable temp? Never seems to hit that high on regular games, but figured I'd just stress my gpu some, I was def. nervous watching the temps rise on the gpu, but was happy the auto-fan control dialed up to the point where temps stabalized.

thoughts?
thanks!


----------



## madmanmarz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12829523*
> Completely agree one version of smartdoctor limits voltage at a high 1.35..with my asus cards you can monitor vrm temps and they are not bad in anything but OCCT.Imo 1.3 is perfectly safe as long as your ambient temps are too high.Water cooling these cards is overkill, with a good air cooler temps are not going to limit your overclock.I hope your using a full cover block because vrm temps are just as important as gpu if not more.


core is on water and the vrms/memory all have copper sinks with a fan right on them... ran a 2900 pro on a similar setup with 1.3 or 1.35v for a LONNGG time with no problems.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mrhdream*


but gpu temp stabilized at 78-80, never going above, with a max fan speed of 80% set to auto.

thoughts?
thanks!


I cringed.


----------



## Alden

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *madmanmarz;12828492*
> because maybe i want to push the crap out of it?
> 
> my previous card did like 875 on the stock voltage and 1100+ with 1.4v (+2.5v). 225mhz on a GPU is nothing to scoff at, and I'm willing to bet this card can do close to 1200 with that voltage. anyway i am not willing to settle for less than 1.3v.
> 
> i never really expect to keep a card beyond the next generation. lots of people doing 1.3v on air and when i have sinks on everything + the card is on water and never even hits 50c...why not?
> 
> maybe people shouldn't put cpu's on ln2 and push the **** out of them either???


WC on the 6800s is not needed lol i run 1.23v 1050/4500 and max load of about 55c. my voltage regulator needs a heatsink lol i think im going to rig one up lol


----------



## PixelFreakz

Good news everyone







Well, for everyone running crysis 2. My single 6870 is running it at max settings as of now. [1920x1080] Highest temp reached was somehow 91C[according to afterburner... second run max temp was 66C...]... which is higher than furmark ran my card at....







anyways... I wonder if we are seeing the new furmark...?







Highest temp I got for furmark was 75C after like 20 min.

Card Specs: my card is at 1GHz core/1150Mem clocks and is a twin frozr 2.







So Im really surprised at the temps...
Edit: oh yeah.. it doesnt have settings for AA or AF just yet. I'll let you know when that comes out. Its still a pretty good game so far though. And a lot less buggy than the leaked demo was.


----------



## Djmatrix32

add meh http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1726697


----------



## WillFi

Hello.

I've got 2 Asus EAH6850-V2's in Crossfire, so can I join the club?









anyways, I've noticed a weird thing about my cards, they Idle at different settings? - Even if I've only installed as a single card. Card 1 idles at 300/300, while the second card is at 250/1000!

Could anyone with this card please tell me what yours is idling at?


----------



## cavallino

Is that the reading in ccc?

I get 300/300 on the primary 100/300 on the second


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WillFi;12839400*
> Hello.
> 
> I've got 2 Asus EAH6850-V2's in Crossfire, so can I join the club?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> anyways, I've noticed a weird thing about my cards, they Idle at different settings? - Even if I've only installed as a single card. Card 1 idles at 300/300, while the second card is at 250/1000!
> 
> Could anyone with this card please tell me what yours is idling at?


are you using a second monitor?


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WillFi*


Hello.

I've got 2 Asus EAH6850-V2's in Crossfire, so can I join the club?









anyways, I've noticed a weird thing about my cards, they Idle at different settings? - Even if I've only installed as a single card. Card 1 idles at 300/300, while the second card is at 250/1000!

Could anyone with this card please tell me what yours is idling at?


That's because the second card is turned off to save power. It's called ULPS and it can be disabled. The second card is activated when you run full screen mode in Crossfire for Furmark or gaming. If you want to turn it on, you have to edit your registry to turn it on. Here is the link how to do it:

http://www.overclock.net/ati/667144-...ling-ulps.html

Also, if you change driver's, you will have to do this again. Thats what I noticed when swapping around drivers. It's been discussed elsewhere before also.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=307309


----------



## mrhdream

so 1 vote for "made me cringe" lol

Any other comments? 
78-80 load on futurmark, fan 80% on auto, 6850 1.18v, 1005core, 1200mem

Safe to run?
thanks


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mrhdream*


so 1 vote for "made me cringe" lol

Any other comments? 
78-80 load on futurmark, fan 80% on auto, 6850 1.18v, 1005core, 1200mem

Safe to run?
thanks


If your talking about furmark and stibility testing its fine but thats too hot for everyday gaming.also you may want to monitor vrm temps because some get hot quicker than others with added voltage.


----------



## skyline_king88

amd sapphire 6850......


----------



## madmanmarz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alden;12835392*
> WC on the 6800s is not needed lol i run 1.23v 1050/4500 and max load of about 55c. my voltage regulator needs a heatsink lol i think im going to rig one up lol


Thanks but no thanks. I'd rather have my **** run cooler and without a ton of fan noise. Plus with a universal block you can use it from card upgrade to card upgrade. i'm done with air cooling forever (water for gaming pc, passive for htpc)


----------



## WillFi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ezveedub;12840290*
> That's because the second card is turned off to save power. It's called ULPS and it can be disabled. The second card is activated when you run full screen mode in Crossfire for Furmark or gaming. If you want to turn it on, you have to edit your registry to turn it on. Here is the link how to do it:
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/ati/667144-crossfire-disabling-ulps.html
> 
> Also, if you change driver's, you will have to do this again. Thats what I noticed when swapping around drivers. It's been discussed elsewhere before also.
> 
> http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=307309


Thanks for the feedback, but my numbers are NOT from crossfire configuration, rather using only ONE card at a time. It goes like this:

Only install Card 1 - goes 300/300 at idle.
remove Card 1 completely out of the Case, Set back in packaging.
Install Card 2, goes 250/1000 at idle.

Same computer, same Catalyst, same settings, but different idle's!

The Video Cards are identical Part# and are only a couple weeks old apart.

I'm confused because I don't believe there's any settings I could change to fix this, nor is there any Bios files I can find


----------



## Zooby65

PowerColor Radeon 6850 1GB


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *madmanmarz;12842244*
> Thanks but no thanks. I'd rather have my **** run cooler and without a ton of fan noise. Plus with a universal block you can use it from card upgrade to card upgrade. i'm done with air cooling forever (water for gaming pc, passive for htpc)


Your both right water cooling is the best way to go although its overkill for 6850's.And I can say for sure that 55c load is not possible with crossfire as one card is being covered in this situation water cooling may be your only option.I have x4 pci-e(16x16or8x8x8x8) slots and with crossfire I can fit aftermarket coolers but thats not true for everybody.


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WillFi;12842287*
> Thanks for the feedback, but my numbers are NOT from crossfire configuration, rather using only ONE card at a time. It goes like this:
> 
> Only install Card 1 - goes 300/300 at idle.
> remove Card 1 completely out of the Case, Set back in packaging.
> Install Card 2, goes 250/1000 at idle.
> 
> Same computer, same Catalyst, same settings, but different idle's!
> 
> The Video Cards are identical Part# and are only a couple weeks old apart.
> 
> I'm confused because I don't believe there's any settings I could change to fix this, nor is there any Bios files I can find


I would check the system info in Catalyst software and see if there is a difference you can see of each card or something. Not sure why the heck you see 300/300. I only see that on my second card in crossfire when it's been turned off during regular PC use.


----------



## Alden

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *madmanmarz;12842244*
> Thanks but no thanks. I'd rather have my **** run cooler and without a ton of fan noise. Plus with a universal block you can use it from card upgrade to card upgrade. i'm done with air cooling forever (water for gaming pc, passive for htpc)


Dont mind me.... im just jealous


----------



## skyline_king88

hey guys i got the sapphire 6850 and the vore wont go higher then 850 and the memory wont go higher then 1200 but i see ppl higher i am useing msi afterburner...


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *skyline_king88;12846808*
> hey guys i got the sapphire 6850 and the vore wont go higher then 850 and the memory wont go higher then 1200 but i see ppl higher i am useing msi afterburner...


Read this post:









http://www.overclock.net/12779437-post3225.html


----------



## calebkan

hi guys..

over 1000mhz gpu ,is it unstable still for 6870s in crossfire setup?any innovation about this?

AB limits is ok for crossfire setup..like 1000mhz gpu for 6870..but over 1000gpu ab going to crazy and appears some problems..so is it still same;?

ty


----------



## WillFi

thanks everyone, it seems that my wierd idle numbers were related to multi-monitors, not the Video Cards.

Just ran 3Dmark11 (free edition) and scored P7610 with settings of 860/1050 on Crossfired 6850's at stock voltage. Is this about right?

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/890608

thanks again


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

I am getting between 45 - 60 fps with all settings maxed out and the res at native 1920x1080.
Awsome game too if I do say so myself.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Am getting a similar performance with Dragon Age 2 1030\1200\1.3v


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WillFi;12850893*
> thanks everyone, it seems that my wierd idle numbers were related to multi-monitors, not the Video Cards.
> 
> Just ran 3Dmark11 (free edition) and scored P7610 with settings of 860/1050 on Crossfired 6850's at stock voltage. Is this about right?
> 
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/890608
> 
> thanks again


thats why I asked to pages ago.I have the same setup.

why are your clocks so low im not home so I cant run it at these clocks but at 970/1120 my gpu score is 8200 and you know the i7 difference even overclocked my cpu is not going past 5200 physic


----------



## WillFi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12851173*
> thats why I asked to pages ago.I have the same setup.
> 
> why are your clocks so low im not home so I cant run it at these clocks but at 970/1120 my gpu score is 8200 and you know the i7 difference even overclocked my cpu is not going past 5200 physic


thanks, I actually read your reply but for what ever reason I didn't test it till last night









I'm only overclocking in Catalyst right now, no voltage adjustment available. I'll probably get Afterburner later to get faster clocks.

I've installed Catalyst 11.4 as well and now the second card goes to 000/000 during idle. I use the computer (in my bedroom) for surfing alot so Noise and Effeciency at low loads are quite important to me, not just pure speed!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WillFi;12851357*
> thanks, I actually read your reply but for what ever reason I didn't test it till last night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm only overclocking in Catalyst right now, no voltage adjustment available. I'll probably get Afterburner later to get faster clocks.
> 
> I've installed Catalyst 11.4 as well and now the second card goes to 000/000 during idle. I use the computer (in my bedroom) for surfing alot so Noise and Effeciency at low loads are quite important to me, not just pure speed!


If you look at my sig I have aftermarket coolers on both cards so noise is not an issue.If you have the room its a good idea unless your going underwater.The coolers are big but the fans have lower rpm and make almost no noise.


----------



## WillFi

Those coolers are PIMP! I was thinking about the Twin Turbo Pro's, but yours look cooler









I got the Asus specifically because the Cooler was "quiet", but once the fans start moving they aren't that silent anymore!

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12855242*
> If you look at my sig I have aftermarket coolers on both cards so noise is not an issue.If you have the room its a good idea unless your going underwater.The coolers are big but the fans have lower rpm and make almost no noise.


----------



## Greg0986

Is there a HD6850 that requires 2 PCI cables?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WillFi;12855455*
> Those coolers are PIMP! I was thinking about the Twin Turbo Pro's, but yours look cooler
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I got the Asus specifically because the Cooler was "quiet", but once the fans start moving they aren't that silent anymore!


all black they look great.I was going to get the twin turbo pro myself but these were cheaper and more importantly no wait time went to the store and picked them up.compusa $35 each at the time.direct heatpipe contact just like the original cooler but cools way better and no noise.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Greg0986;12856507*
> Is there a HD6850 that requires 2 PCI cables?


If your talking about 6-pin power connector yes.A couple of the newer factory oc ones do.the SAPPHIRE Toxic for one


----------



## WillFi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12857025*
> If your talking about 6-pin power connector yes.A couple of the newer factory oc ones do.the SAPPHIRE Toxic for one


the asus eah6850 v2's as well.


----------



## frannyvox

Hey people. I just got an ASUS HD6870 two days ago, and I did soem OCing last night, but I want to know what you guys think.

Using GPU Tool for the test, GPU-Z for the temperatures and Catalyst Control Center (AMD Overdrive function) for the OC.

Stock:
Core = 915
Memory = 1050
V = 1.05

What I got:
Core = 980
Memory = 1175
V = 1.20

I get 30 to 32 degrees on idle, and I max out at 66 degrees at 93% to 98% usage in GPU Tool. Fan is running at 55%.

I just wanted to know what you think? Should I go higher or leave it as it is?


----------



## Krusher33

That's A LOT like how mine came out to be. I just did benchmarks in different settings and found that I'm comfortable at the OC at stock voltage. Might be different for you though. Just test some benchmarks and play some games see where your comfort zone is.


----------



## frannyvox

Yeah no it's completely fine in games and benchmarks. Will be posting my screenies later tonight. I am quite happy with it as it is, but I want to know what it's capable of =P haha. But ag, I'm going to leave it like that. Thank anyway.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *frannyvox;12863129*
> Hey people. I just got an ASUS HD6870 two days ago, and I did soem OCing last night, but I want to know what you guys think.
> 
> Using GPU Tool for the test, GPU-Z for the temperatures and Catalyst Control Center (AMD Overdrive function) for the OC.
> 
> Stock:
> Core = 915
> Memory = 1050
> V = 1.05
> 
> What I got:
> Core = 980
> Memory = 1175
> V = 1.20
> 
> I get 30 to 32 degrees on idle, and I max out at 66 degrees at 93% to 98% usage in GPU Tool. Fan is running at 55%.
> 
> I just wanted to know what you think? Should I go higher or leave it as it is?


Being its a 6870 1000 on the core may be possible.1175 on memory game stable is awesome.game stable is what counts you can run those stability programs all day they tell you nothing but how good your cooling is.Some people say bc2 is great but I use metro 2033 maxed out and nfs shift maxed out.Ive found that if I can play these games maxed in a warm room for more than a hour and a half im stable.I do this while running fraps to make sure im not throttling.

Why bother with stability programs if you have to game to make sure your stable anyway? (needless stress imo)


----------



## Krusher33

For that I check out HWBOT and see what everyone else has put in. There's a lot of search filters you can use to get it as close to your system as possible.


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;12865161*
> Being its a 6870 1000 on the core may be possible.1175 on memory game stable is awesome.game stable is what counts you can run those stability programs all day they tell you nothing but how good your cooling is.Some people say bc2 is great but I use metro 2033 maxed out and nfs shift maxed out.Ive found that if I can play these games maxed in a warm room for more than a hour and a half im stable.I do this while running fraps to make sure im not throttling.
> 
> Why bother with stability programs if you have to game to make sure your stable anyway? (needless stress imo)


Most use the stability programs because they stress the card beyond what most games do and you can monitor what's going on. I do them to see how well the cooling performs at higher settings, but in gaming, I never see that high of a load and my cards run perfectly. NFS shift works flawlessly at highest settings as well as Dirt2. IMO, id it works fine for your apps, then it's good to go.


----------



## nerdybeat

Has anyone had any bad experiences with Crossfire and 2 different vendors for their 6850/6870?

I currently have a XFX, however I am in the market for a second. I am pretty much just looking for the best deal on the 2nd card, whether it is open box on the egg, here, or craigslist/ebay. Should I really try and find a matching XFX? (I have been looking at Sapphire and ASUS also)


----------



## jwblitz

=]

Sapphire 6850 in crossfire


----------



## wickedout

You can add me to the list of 6870's! Just got this card today as a replacement for my old 5850! So far, so good. Knock on wood!

I'm also using the preview drivers 11.4.


----------



## Buska103

I own a MSI 6850 Cyclone, overclocked to 1000 core 1175 memory @ 1.2V stable.










I'm going to sell this gorgeous card and get two reference 6870s. How well do they overclock? What are your speeds?


----------



## frannyvox

Hey people. Okay here's my screenie! Bhaaaaaaa


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Buska103;12872723*
> I own a MSI 6850 Cyclone, overclocked to 1000 core 1175 memory @ 1.2V stable.
> 
> I'm going to sell this gorgeous card and get two reference 6870s. How well do they overclock? What are your speeds?


I'm jelly, but running furmark doesn't mean it's stable tbh. I have had stable OC's in furmark and then loaded up a game and it has crashed within 2 minutes.

Not that I am denying your card's stability, just trying to highlight that furmark is not a good stability tester.


----------



## Buska103

Well, I've been playing games with it for almost a week now, and it seems stable for me


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Buska103;12876600*
> Well, I've been playing games with it for almost a week now, and it seems stable for me


Yeah gaming is the only true test of stability. If I ever CF my 6850 it's going to be with a Cyclone, they definitely seem like the best ones.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Right now I'm playing Dragon Age Origins, Black Ops and getting back into Starcraft 2 multi. Does 11.4 have atleast equal performance to 11.2 with those games? I also play Dirt2 but I know there is a boost, so that doesn't concern me.


----------



## Greg0986

What are the best drivers to use?

I am playing Crysis and the drivers just freeze. I am using 11.2 drivers.


----------



## Greg0986

Sorry for double post but:










Radeon 6870 1GB @ 940/1140

I can't understand why I got such a low minimum FPS???

I overclocked my card to the 940/1140 and I have the latest 11.2 drivers installed. I have no idea why?


----------



## ezveedub

The 4xAA will drop FPS from your score, but the minimum FPS is about the same for me. I think mine was 13fps. You should be able to run 1000/1200 no problem


----------



## twisted5446

background is pic of my 6870 in my HAF 932


----------



## Greg0986

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ezveedub;12879671*
> The 4xAA will drop FPS from your score, but the minimum FPS is about the same for me. I think mine was 13fps. You should be able to run 1000/1200 no problem


When I try and overclock, I get to 950 and then the drivers restart. The same happens when I increased the voltage to 1.2.

Should I increase the voltage some more?

[EDIT]
Also it is an engineering sample, will that effect it?


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Greg0986;12880025*
> When I try and overclock, I get to 950 and then the drivers restart. The same happens when I increased the voltage to 1.2.
> 
> Should I increase the voltage some more?
> 
> [EDIT]
> Also it is an engineering sample, will that effect it?


Well, I'm running 1000/1200 right now @ 1193 volts in Afterburner with 11.2 Cat drivers. You can have issues running the voltage too high. I raise the GPU up first and then the memory at stock volts. Once it starts having issues, I start adjusting the voltage up to stabilize it.

Engineering sample may be an issue too.


----------



## grishkathefool

I have been trying google for an answer to this, to no avail. Has anyone seen any results for a 6850 + 6870 Crossfire set up?

I ask because I have have a 6850 and know what to expect from a Crossfire with another one, but was curious what the results would be if I bought a 6870 to match with it, instead.


----------



## spitty13

Please dont be mad at me for asking this question but is there software out there or a guide to overclocking a 6850 other than using the CCC? I'm new to gpu overclocking. I tried to read trough this thread but was a little lost


----------



## MorbEIn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *grishkathefool;12889791*
> I have been trying google for an answer to this, to no avail. Has anyone seen any results for a 6850 + 6870 Crossfire set up?
> 
> I ask because I have have a 6850 and know what to expect from a Crossfire with another one, but was curious what the results would be if I bought a 6870 to match with it, instead.


as far as I know, the 6870 will tune itself down to 6850, meaning it'll be just how a 6850 in crossfire will perform. *this is how i understand crossifiring two different versions of cards on the same gen** Please somebody correct me if im wrong.

Edit :

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spitty13;12890786*
> Please dont be mad at me for asking this question but is there software out there or a guide to overclocking a 6850 other than using the CCC? I'm new to gpu overclocking. I tried to read trough this thread but was a little lost


Topic below seems like a good place to start ^_^ the posts are quite helpful, it might help you as well ^_^

http://www.overclock.net/ati-drivers-overclocking-software/892437-hd-6850-overclock-help.html


----------



## grishkathefool

Quote:



Originally Posted by *spitty13*


Please dont be mad at me for asking this question but is there software out there or a guide to overclocking a 6850 other than using the CCC? I'm new to gpu overclocking. I tried to read trough this thread but was a little lost


What brand do you have? I know that you can try Sapphire Trixx, for instance.


----------



## spitty13

Quote:



Originally Posted by *grishkathefool*


What brand do you have? I know that you can try Sapphire Trixx, for instance.


Just diamond. Kind of a rare

http://www.diamondmm.com/6850PE51GV2.php


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *spitty13*


Please dont be mad at me for asking this question but is there software out there or a guide to overclocking a 6850 other than using the CCC? I'm new to gpu overclocking. I tried to read trough this thread but was a little lost


I used this guide for my first GPU overclock and it was quite helpful to me:

http://www.overclock.net/ati/633816-...r-ati-gpu.html


----------



## arrow0309

*ASUS EAH6870 1GB Video Card Review*










Link


----------



## arrow0309

*MSI R6870 Hawk vs. PowerColor HD6870 PCS* by XbitLabs

Link: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...d6870-pcs.html


----------



## regal

With my new 6850 I am getting 22000 on 3dmark06, does this sound reasonable?

Good enough to play most games at average settings? (I am just getting back into computer games, haven't really gamed since Half-life was initially released and it became too expensive vs a console.)

With these new 6000 series cards you don't need a huge power supply, and they idle at less than 10watts so computer gaming is making a lot more economic sense than it used to.


----------



## ezveedub

Anybody interested in two very new Gigabyte 6870s with EK full nickel waterblocks? I'm moving up and may be selling these.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *regal;12898054*
> With my new 6850 I am getting 22000 on 3dmark06, does this sound reasonable?
> 
> Good enough to play most games at average settings? (I am just getting back into computer games, haven't really gamed since Half-life was initially released and it became too expensive vs a console.)
> 
> With these new 6000 series cards you don't need a huge power supply, and they idle at less than 10watts so computer gaming is making a lot more economic sense than it used to.


Not sure on 3DMark 06 scores. Try 3DMark11 and we'll compare with mine. Right now I'm playing Amnesia and Dragon Age at high settings with a 6850. I'm playing Bad Company 2 as well but I haven't checked out how high the setting is. I'll look at it tonight if I remember to.


----------



## gammite

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


Not sure on 3DMark 06 scores. Try 3DMark11 and we'll compare with mine. Right now I'm playing Amnesia and Dragon Age at high settings with a 6850. I'm playing Bad Company 2 as well but I haven't checked out how high the setting is. I'll look at it tonight if I remember to.


i max bc2 with my 6850 with no issues. 1920x1080.


----------



## Krusher33

Probably same with mine. I just let it detected and I just started playing. Couldn't wait! LOL I've had it close to a month now and still haven't fiddled with it.


----------



## nerdybeat

I am thinking about snaggin a Sapphire 6870 to CF with my XFX 6870

For a little background: I mainly play WoW, Deadspace 2, BF:BC2, Crysis, and possibly some Metro/Crysis2 on the horizon. My single 6870 isn't really holding me back, but for the long run (2-3 more years on this build) I think CF is the most cost-effective way to upgrade. I'm also moving my HDTV into my room, and I would like to use it as a 3rd display for movies etc without buying an active adapter.

Anyone have any quick tips on the best drivers for this setup right now?
Is it worth going to CF with the 68XX series right now?


----------



## SpeedNuggeT

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nerdybeat*


I am thinking about snaggin a Sapphire 6870 to CF with my XFX 6870

For a little background: I mainly play WoW, Deadspace 2, BF:BC2, Crysis, and possibly some Metro/Crysis2 on the horizon. My single 6870 isn't really holding me back, but for the long run (2-3 more years on this build) I think CF is the most cost-effective way to upgrade. I'm also moving my HDTV into my room, and I would like to use it as a 3rd display for movies etc without buying an active adapter.

Anyone have any quick tips on the best drivers for this setup right now?
Is it worth going to CF with the 68XX series right now?


You'll still need a active adapter.


----------



## nerdybeat

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SpeedNuggeT*


You'll still need a active adapter.



Doh I guess I should have looked into that a bit more.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nerdybeat;12913185*
> I am thinking about snaggin a Sapphire 6870 to CF with my XFX 6870
> 
> For a little background: I mainly play WoW, Deadspace 2, BF:BC2, Crysis, and possibly some Metro/Crysis2 on the horizon. My single 6870 isn't really holding me back, but for the long run (2-3 more years on this build) I think CF is the most cost-effective way to upgrade. I'm also moving my HDTV into my room, and I would like to use it as a 3rd display for movies etc without buying an active adapter.
> 
> Anyone have any quick tips on the best drivers for this setup right now?
> Is it worth going to CF with the 68XX series right now?


If it's not holding you back, then I would wait till you're really good-n-ready. The longer you wait the lower the price. Get it now when it's not really needed yet and you're going to regret it later because of it being $50.


----------



## Buska103

Anyone find any dirt cheap 6870 waterblocks? =D


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nerdybeat*


I am thinking about snaggin a Sapphire 6870 to CF with my XFX 6870

For a little background: I mainly play WoW, Deadspace 2, BF:BC2, Crysis, and possibly some Metro/Crysis2 on the horizon. My single 6870 isn't really holding me back, but for the long run (2-3 more years on this build) I think CF is the most cost-effective way to upgrade. I'm also moving my HDTV into my room, and I would like to use it as a 3rd display for movies etc without buying an active adapter.

Anyone have any quick tips on the best drivers for this setup right now?
Is it worth going to CF with the 68XX series right now?


I would agree that if your thank one cards is good enough for now its a good idea to just get the adapter BUT

you can do this without an adapter they are for eyefinity( all three at once).you will have to disable crossfire to use your second card for extra monitors.Its not too much of a hassle to turn it off through ccc.not home right now to test it but thats the way its supposed to work.


----------



## hokk

I'm stuck on 850mhz even though i've done the unoffical ocing thing in AB

so i'm confused now


----------



## nerdybeat

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I would agree that if your thank one cards is good enough for now its a good idea to just get the adapter BUT

you can do this without an adapter they are for eyefinity( all three at once).you will have to disable crossfire to use your second card for extra monitors.Its not too much of a hassle to turn it off through ccc.not home right now to test it but thats the way its supposed to work.



Hmmm ok. So one miscommunication I made is that I want to use the 3rd display (32" HDTV) just as a monitor for randomly watching movies/etc on it. Not an eyefinity setup.

You have to disable Crossfire to use the video-out ports on the 2nd GPU? I was not aware of this.

I am about to pull the trigger on a Sapphire 6870 for CF. If I need to buy an adapter for a 3rd display it isn't a dealbreaker, but I guess I just assumed the 2nd GPU could support video out along with the 1st.


----------



## Buska103

What are the expected 6870 overclocks?

Mine can't can't to 960mhz, even with 1.3V, Afterburner's max voltage. Is it a dud?


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Buska103;12936097*
> What are the expected 6870 overclocks?
> 
> Mine can't can't to 960mhz, even with 1.3V, Afterburner's max voltage. Is it a dud?


That voltage seems way too high. I never needed anything past 1.2v. Make sure you don't run the memory too high. I never went past 1200 on the memory.


----------



## Buska103

Memory around 1125...


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Buska103;12936730*
> Memory around 1125...


What exact brand/model card are you running?


----------



## Buska103

HIS reference. H687F1G2M


----------



## Buska103

It's probably a dud... either way, I'm going to have to sell either my 6850 or 6870 because CFXing two different performance cards isn't the best... probably being the 6870 because I could get higher bandwidth+high clocks with my 6850 overclocked.


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Buska103;12938955*
> It's probably a dud... either way, I'm going to have to sell either my 6850 or 6870 because CFXing two different performance cards isn't the best... probably being the 6870 because I could get higher bandwidth+high clocks with my 6850 overclocked.


You need to see which one performs the best first, not just OC's the best.


----------



## Buska103

My 6850 could reach 1000/1175 easy... sure it doesn't have as many shader clocks, but it's nearly silent and runs under 70C load.

I'll just go with "my 6870 is a dud". It happens :\\


----------



## calebkan

hi guys again.

we cant overclock gpus over 1000mhz (for 6870) in crossfire setup,still same?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Buska103;12943375*
> My 6850 could reach 1000/1175 easy... sure it doesn't have as many shader clocks, but it's nearly silent and runs under 70C load.
> 
> I'll just go with "my 6870 is a dud". It happens :\


Im in the same boat, one of my 6850's does 1000 on the core easy but the other only 960 is stable.I wonder would it be worth the trade my good 6850 for your bad 6870?lol


----------



## smoke420

Shift 2 piece of trash utter disappointment what a way to stab yourself in the foot.before anyone pays a dime I want you to know this game called shift cant be shifted.I loved and still play the first one so not a forza fanboy .I have to say im pretty good when it comes to racers but it is impossible to drift with an automatic .


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Shift 2 piece of trash utter disappointment what a way to stab yourself in the foot.before anyone pays a dime I want you to know this game called shift cant be shifted.I loved and still play the first one so not a forza fanboy .I have to say im pretty good when it comes to racers but it is impossible to drift with an automatic .


Feel better now that you've vented?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


Feel better now that you've vented?



as a matter of fact yes


----------



## XSCounter

Hey guys! New here and noob in overclocking too.

My card is ASUS EAH 6850.

Got 2 questions:

1. MSI Afterburner doesn't change the Voltage. Although I enter 1200, it still runs the benchmark at 1.150 (stock). Haven't tried SmartDoctor or TriXX. And CCC doesn't allow voltage tweak as far as I know. What to do? Even tried setting UnlockVoltageControl=1 manually in MSIAfterburner.cfg.. Still no go.

2. I managed to just increase the Core Clock to 980 at stock voltage and run Kombustor for about 10 mins with no problems. Shouldn't I get white dots at such high clocks or the gpu should crash at stock voltage? (it crashes at 1000 though). Didn't touch Memory just yet. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Little update. I randomly tried 950 / 1150 at stock voltage. And no artifacts, white dots - nothing! How can it be? Temperature is at about 75 degrees. No crashes either. I am puzzled. In all reviews I see people say "we had to increase voltage to reach 950" etc etc..


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *XSCounter;12953387*
> Hey guys! New here and noob in overclocking too.
> 
> My card is ASUS EAH 6850.
> 
> Got 2 questions:
> 
> 1. MSI Afterburner doesn't change the Voltage. Although I enter 1200, it still runs the benchmark at 1.150 (stock). Haven't tried SmartDoctor or TriXX. And CCC doesn't allow voltage tweak as far as I know. What to do? Even tried setting UnlockVoltageControl=1 manually in MSIAfterburner.cfg.. Still no go.
> 
> 2. I managed to just increase the Core Clock to 980 at stock voltage and run Kombustor for about 10 mins with no problems. Shouldn't I get white dots at such high clocks or the gpu should crash at stock voltage? (it crashes at 1000 though). Didn't touch Memory just yet. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> Edit: Little update. I randomly tried 950 / 1150 at stock voltage. And no artifacts, white dots - nothing! How can it be? Temperature is at about 75 degrees. No crashes either. I am puzzled. In all reviews I see people say "we had to increase voltage to reach 950" etc etc..


Are you pressing the Apply button at bottom after changing the values?


----------



## ezveedub

Changed video cards today guys, so I'm no longer a 68xx owner. The 68xx cards run great, so have fun OCing them!!!


----------



## XSCounter

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12954704*
> Are you pressing the Apply button at bottom after changing the values?


Yes, of course







I made a screenshot as proof coz it seems people think I am mad


















950
1150
1.15v







(although I set 1175 in Afterburner, it is still 1.15 in burn-in test)

And no crash or anything







I ran 3dMark11 and got very high scores compared to non-overclocked state before..

Edit: Tried SmartDoctor. Still VCore stays at 1.15 only..


----------



## Krusher33

Well my card is stable with 1180mv, 940 core, and 1150 memory IIRC. Fans stayed under 40%.

I only asked that silly question because I had actually gone up to 1000/1200 and realized I made that dumb mistake. Sure enough it artifact'd after about 5 min.


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12958180*
> Well my card is stable with 1180mv, 940 core, and 1150 memory IIRC. Fans stayed under 40%.
> 
> I only asked that silly question because I had actually gone up to 1000/1200 and realized I made that dumb mistake. Sure enough it artifact'd after about 5 min.


Did you enable automatic fan control properties in Afterburner in the settings tab? The stock ATI fan profiles let the card run too hot IMO.


----------



## arrow0309

Some fresh pics with my rig


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12958686*
> Some fresh pics with my rig


You need another 6870 for Crossfire


----------



## XSCounter

Looks very good


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ezveedub;12958872*
> You need another 6870 for Crossfire


I know, I'm thinking of that, let's just wait to see some new hot models like this one:









*ColorFire Readies Radeon HD 6870 Graphics Card for Extreme Overclocking*










http://www.techpowerup.com/143242/ColorFire-Readies-Radeon-HD-6870-Graphics-Card-for-Extreme-Overclocking.html


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ezveedub;12958456*
> Did you enable automatic fan control properties in Afterburner in the settings tab? The stock ATI fan profiles let the card run too hot IMO.


Temps stayed less than 65 during OCCT and Furmark. Again... IIRC.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;12958962*
> I know, I'm thinking of that, let's just wait to see some new hot models like this one:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *ColorFire Readies Radeon HD 6870 Graphics Card for Extreme Overclocking*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/143242/ColorFire-Readies-Radeon-HD-6870-Graphics-Card-for-Extreme-Overclocking.html


That looks low profile. You can put that in a HTPC.


----------



## Calexan

Hi guys.. did a 30min. furmark run on my Sapphire 6870 non-ref OC to 1000/1250 @ 1225v Stable..


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;12967318*
> Hi guys.. did a 30min. furmark run on my Sapphire 6870 non-ref OC to 1000/1250 @ 1225v Stable..


Nice oc for the memory, have you even tried checking the stability with BC2 or DS2 gaming some more?


----------



## arrow0309

http://www.geforce.com/#/News/articles/voodoo-revived


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> Nice oc for the memory, have you even tried checking the stability with BC2 or DS2 gaming some more?


thanks







.. played lots of games on that OC including DS2 (dunno what is BC2)
no artifacts or anything.. though i countered problems with Assassins Creed II
hangs up on me so have to lower it to 1000/4800 @ 1274v but after updating to
CCC 11.4 the problem disappeared then manage to get it stable @ 1225v









Currently playing Gears of War 1, Bulletstorm & AC Brotherhood

my temps before went as high as 89°c when running furmark but after replacing
the TIM with prolimatech PK-1 then removed the HSF cover temps drop drastically
specially on load..

edit: btw what does BC2 mean? i honestly dont know lol & finished DS2 3x on that OC setting
edit again: AC Brotherhood not AS Brotherhood lol


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;12970403*
> thanks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .. played lots of games on that OC including DS2 (dunno what is BC2)
> no artifacts or anything.. though i countered problems with Assassins Creed II
> hangs up on me so have to lower it to 1000/4800 @ 1274v but after updating to
> CCC 11.4 the problem disappeared then manage to get it stable @ 1225v
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Currently playing Gears of War 1, Bulletstorm & AS Brotherhood
> 
> my temps before went as high as 89°c when running furmark but after replacing
> the TIM with prolimatech PK-1 then removed the HSF cover temps drop drastically
> specially on load..
> 
> edit: btw what does BC2 mean? i honestly dont know lol & finished DS2 3x on that OC setting


Bad Company 2


----------



## Kevlo

I was wondering if anybody here upgraded from Dual 4890s, and if so what kind of performance were they getting compared to before. (6870/6850 doesnt matter which, nor does crossfire or single. I am expecting a slight drop in performance when i get the first card)


----------



## Calexan

BC2= bad company 2 thats what i thought XD it used to be BFBC2 hehe
played that game also.. 30min furmark run on 1000/1250 @ 1225v & no
problems whatsoever so i guess any game would do.. planning to try Crysis 2









max temps while playing ACII = 64°c, Bulletstorm, 64°c, GOW 1 64°c, DS2 65°c, BC 2 63°c
used HWmonitor to monitor max temp..

btw a friend of mine has his Asus ref 6870 @ 1000/1250 @ stock voltage (dunno if its true)
im just gonna borrow his screenie lol XD Asus 6870 ref flashed to XFX BE bios


----------



## arrow0309

*ASUS Radeon HD 6850 DirectCU V2* by ProClockers

Link: http://pro-clockers.com/videocards/1855-asus-radeon-hd-6850-directcu-v2.html


----------



## nerdybeat

Sapphire 6870 in route, and will arrive Monday! So excited to jump into my first Crossfire setup... especially because I just won a 40" Samsung 1080p LCD tv that I will now be using as my main monitor/tv in my room. Wooo!

Any software advice for setting up crossfire?

verify all drivers are up to date?
use catalyst to verify everything is running normally?


----------



## Heartl3ss

add me to the club plz..!!


----------



## arrow0309

*Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 Toxic Video Card Review* by Legit Reviews

Link: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1558/1/


----------



## Buska103

I wish the 68xx series would have 2 crossfire fingers... damn!


----------



## Buska103

OH, BTW, I noticed you only put me on the 6850 list. I also own a 6870.
I'm also going to order another 6850 tomorrow







these cards are great!


----------



## ezveedub

Just a little FYI guys, I have a pair of Gigabyte reference 6870 cards with EK nickel waterblocks for sale. LMK if anyone might be interested


----------



## ablearcher

Twin HD6870s with a 955BE - secondary setup for myself, awaiting Bulldozer


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ablearcher;13069501*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Twin HD6870s with a 955BE - secondary setup for myself, awaiting Bulldozer


I envy that system......i want two 6870s....I'll probably end up with just one, but hopefully Microcenter gets some of teh HAWKs in because i would much rather get those.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Buska103*


I wish the 68xx series would have 2 crossfire fingers... damn!


Why not


















The new *PowerColor HD 6870 PCS++* (a gorgeous 6870):










http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...us_Plus/1.html


----------



## Kevlo

It was only a matter of time


----------



## Heartl3ss

i posted a pic of me holding my Sapphire HD 6870 and a screenie from GPU-Z...why didnt u add me?


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kevlo*


I envy that system......i want two 6870s....I'll probably end up with just one, but hopefully Microcenter gets some of teh HAWKs in because i would much rather get those.


heh, Fry's didn't have teh Hawks







On the other hand, only Hawks I would get of this gen are HD6950s







(EDIT: well, the TWINFROZR3 types)


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ablearcher*


heh, Fry's didn't have teh Hawks







On the other hand, only Hawks I would get of this gen are HD6950s







(EDIT: well, the TWINFROZR3 types)










The 6950s are just a tad too expensive for me. I was just planning on getting 2 6870s as it would, with the improved crossfire scaling, almost be twice as fast as what i run now.


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kevlo*


The 6950s are just a tad too expensive for me. I was just planning on getting 2 6870s as it would, with the improved crossfire scaling, almost be twice as fast as what i run now.


 oh, I'm the crazy one with GTX570 SLI, too







the reason for the HD6950 is because I run at 2560x1440, and every bit of VRAM counts, but I'm also waiting on eVGA's GTX580 3GB pricing before I bite. My HD6870s are just for a development platform, and I might as well get CF/SLI working in my hobby games


----------



## Kevlo

I only run at 1680x1050 and at absolute most, i could go to 1920x1080 i dont really, truely need 2gb of VRAM. Though i dont need 12Gb of System RAM either but still


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kevlo*


I only run at 1680x1050 and at absolute most, i could go to 1920x1080 i dont really, truely need 2gb of VRAM. Though i dont need 12Gb of System RAM either but still


 you know you want it....


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ablearcher;13075529*
> you know you want it....


I know, i do really want it. But i also want to eat and occasionally take a shower. I dont know which should take priority...I could always go stand on the corner again....That was a decent paying life................


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kevlo;13076227*
> I know, i do really want it. But i also want to eat and occasionally take a shower. I dont know which should take priority...I could always go stand on the corner again....That was a decent paying life................


starve for a few weeks? Guess how I got my setups to begin with







Nah, you do have a lot more self control than I do, once I get money I didn't otherwise save away in my bank account (ie, rebates, bonuses... etc) normally goes to my computers, lol...


----------



## Badwrench

Count me in!
XFX6850-ZNFC
GPU-z validation

Out with the old -XFX GTS250-512mb and in with the new

















Installed.









Had to add the pci slot cooler as my temps were higher than I care to have them (46C idle, 76C stress test at stock clocks: 775/1000). New temps with slot cooler added: 37C idle, 69 stress test with 875/1120 OC.

Currently running 11.3 drivers.


----------



## Kevlo

Funny how the heatsink on the Second XFX 250 is exactly the same as the XFX 4850 1Gb


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kevlo*


Funny how the heatsink on the Second XFX 250 is exactly the same as the XFX 4850 1Gb


 yeah, except my XFX 4850 1GB didn't have the nice green lines


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ablearcher;13084453*
> yeah, except my XFX 4850 1GB didn't have the nice green lines


Im pretty sure mine did....  ..... i dont know...


----------



## nerdybeat

Weeee I just installed my 2nd 6870 the other day! Lovin it so far. Just started using RadeonPro as well, which is totally awesome. The setup pushes my case to the limit but I did what I could =P

Now for some pics!!


----------



## Bassdoken

Such a nice system. Why is it in that crappy case?


----------



## ablearcher

antec 902 is a decent case, for it's time


----------



## nerdybeat

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ablearcher*


antec 902 is a decent case, for it's time










Yea.. I ended up with it after decent experiences with my Antec 900 about 4.5 yrs ago. I really should have looked around more. Front loading HDD bays are the first thing that I would change. Obviously better cable management. I wish I could see my system build up in a sexy 800D or LianLi


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ablearcher*


antec 902 is a decent case, for it's time










For it's time, which was how long ago? lol. It's an old case. Compared to what you can get now for the same price, they're just downright terrible.


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


For it's time, which was how long ago? lol. It's an old case. Compared to what you can get now for the same price, they're just downright terrible.


 that's why I said, "for it's time."







There will always (well, I hope so







) be better cases every year









Well, maybe once AMD stops pushing length







then cases will settle a wee bit


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Such a nice system. Why is it in that crappy case?










The 900 and 902 are good cases, granted not the largest or best with cable manegment (but a easy mod with fix that) but they have fantastic airflow. Do a mod to make better cable manegment possible and there great cases.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kevlo;13095325*
> The 900 and 902 are good cases, granted not the largest or best with cable manegment (but a easy mod with fix that) but they have fantastic airflow. Do a mod to make better cable manegment possible and there great cases.


You shouldn't have to mod a case for it to be good.
And they're overpriced for what you get.


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;13097279*
> You shouldn't have to mod a case for it to be good.
> And they're overpriced for what you get.


today they are, not 4.5 years ago, however.

EDIT: you have been crapping on his case since the first reply. Let it go.


----------



## Bassdoken

Orly? I made a simple reply, in jest. And now a bunch of you are backing up your purchases. I think it's you who needs to "let it go".


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;13097381*
> Orly? I made a simple reply, in jest. And now a bunch of you are backing up your purchases. I think it's you who needs to "let it go".


haha, you haven't seen the GPU forums. And considering I don't even own an Antec case, much less a 902, it's kinda hard for me to "justify my purchase," lol....

Of course, the A05N is a piss horrible case without some cooling mods (don't take this simple jest too far







).


----------



## PowerTrip

I'm considering trading my 6870 for a 6950. Good idea or not?


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PowerTrip;13099728*
> I'm considering trading my 6870 for a 6950. Good idea or not?


I think it's a good idea, if you can get a HD6950 for less than 50usd ontop of your GPU


----------



## PowerTrip

I pm'd the guy, I haven't heard back from him. I'm kinda iffy though, I already get about 60-80fps in BC2 with everything on Max including 8xAA/16xAF and HBAO in multiplayer with explosions everywhere @1680x1050.

I'm just thinking ahead to BF3


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PowerTrip;13099825*
> I pm'd the guy, I haven't heard back from him. I'm kinda iffy though, I already get about 60-80fps in BC2 with everything on Max including 8xAA/16xAF and HBAO in multiplayer with explosions everywhere @1680x1050.
> 
> I'm just thinking ahead to BF3


That did it, im definetely gonna get a 6870 now. without a doubt, as i with everything maxed get anywhere from 50-60 in BFBC2 and i never even run it with AA and only 4x AF


----------



## PowerTrip

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kevlo;13099888*
> That did it, im definetely gonna get a 6870 now. without a doubt, as i with everything maxed get anywhere from 50-60 in BFBC2 and i never even run it with AA and only 4x AF


LOL yeah, I thought AA and HBAO was supoosed to kill your fps but i'll record some video with fraps fps if you want..


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kevlo;13099888*
> That did it, im definetely gonna get a 6870 now. without a doubt, as i with everything maxed get anywhere from 50-60 in BFBC2 and i never even run it with AA and only 4x AF


LOL... dude you still haven't?


----------



## PowerTrip

Actually I was wrong, I must have been playing with only 4AA and no HBAO for 60-80fps, I just played for a minute with MAX settings including 8xAA and HBAO and I was seeing around 40fps at the lowest with an average of about 50-60 fps. It was actually smooth gameplay, i guess i'll keep it maxxed from now on.


----------



## Kevlo

Either way thats still higher than me, and i was planning on getting two for crossfire. And No i havent gotten one yet because i can't afford it at the moment, i will try to pick up at least one of them this summer.


----------



## Krusher33

Yeah I understand that. I had decided I was going to get a 5770. By the time I was able to afford it, I got a 6850 instead.







Best GPU decision I ever made IMO.


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


Yeah I understand that. I had decided I was going to get a 5770. By the time I was able to afford it, I got a 6850 instead.







Best GPU decision I ever made IMO.


lol, nearly twice as fast so that works good.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *PowerTrip*


I'm considering trading my 6870 for a 6950. Good idea or not?


Go for it.
Although, unless you play Crysis, 1 of course, at max, then you won't see too much of an increase.


----------



## Soulniz

I'm game! Actually had my card since september or something.


----------



## potitoos

With the fan at default (im guessing 20% judging by the noise) it was at 39C, which i'm pretty impressed with, especially with the case i'm using.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *potitoos*


With the fan at default (im guessing 20% judging by the noise) it was at 39C, which i'm pretty impressed with, especially with the case i'm using.


Welcome to OCN. Please go to http://www.overclock.net/new-members...formation.html so that we can easily see what you're talking about.

And I was surprised by how well my card stayed cool as well under load. People always suggested getting an aftermarket cooler when you OC but with the 6850's and moderate OC, I still yet to use the one I bought for it.


----------



## Catscratch

And after sometime you really get used to the noise







Oh I remember my x1950xt. Darn, you think "6850 has a fan ? Hmmm strange." after that


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Catscratch*


And after sometime you really get used to the noise







Oh I remember my x1950xt. Darn, you think "6850 has a fan ? Hmmm strange." after that










Eh... fan noise doesn't concern me much because I'm hard-of-hearing. How I determine how much fan noise there is, is by how much noise my wife makes. And trust me... she doesn't get used it just like I can't get used to hearing her "noise".


----------



## Kevlo

LOL, my rig sounds like a vaccum sometimes, but ya know, i just turn the volume louder on my music or game to drown it out.


----------



## kromar

after a long time avoiding ati cards im "forced" to give them a try again. all the fermi cards are (probably deliberately) crippled in openGL 3d apps and so i have no choice but to go back to a amd product. 
im still traumatized from past experiences with ati and maya so im really skeptic if it will deliver what i hope for. at least there is no way that the performance can be worse than with the fermi cards









so i retunred the crappy fermi today and was able to order a Sapphire 6870 toxic in exchange (awesome retailer







) and i will probably get it by the end of the week


----------



## Kevlo

As long as you dont get freaked out by the smallest of issues then it should be fine for you. My cards have their occasional issue but nothing as bad as what some people are Claiming to be having.


----------



## Attackllama

add me








Asus 6850 DirectCU V2


----------



## kromar

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kevlo*


As long as you dont get freaked out by the smallest of issues then it should be fine for you. My cards have their occasional issue but nothing as bad as what some people are Claiming to be having.


i dont have a problem with "small" issues as long as the card provides a reasonable performance and can display things correctly in the softwares i use... well it probably depends on the issue:O

nvidia was superb until they released their fermis which have like 1/2 of the performance of my 9800gtx. thats an issue that freaks me out


----------



## Riou

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kromar*


i dont have a problem with "small" issues as long as the card provides a reasonable performance and can display things correctly in the softwares i use... well it probably depends on the issue:O

nvidia was superb until they released their fermis which have like 1/2 of the performance of my 9800gtx. thats an issue that freaks me out










Nvidia probably wants you to purchase a Quadro.







Which Fermi model did you have before?


----------



## Razi3l

*Updated.* please forgive the delays. If I missed anyone just PM me and I'll add you.

Still no word on if that PCS++ can 3/4 way CF. Come on PowerColor spill the beans.


----------



## kromar

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Riou*


Nvidia probably wants you to purchase a Quadro.







Which Fermi model did you have before?


had a 460 and a 470 and both were terrible. i would like to test one of these quadros and see how they would perform...


----------



## detonat3

Hi folks,
My first post here, can you add me to the group please?

A screen of my specs


----------



## detonat3

Sorry if my pic's a bit blurry :S


----------



## kromar

sweet, got the card today and im really really happy with it, it not only outperforms the fermi cards by far in the 3d apps (got about double the fps than with the 460







) i use but it also fits the color scheme of my other components

















oh boy lots of dust already on the tubes:O


----------



## regal

See my rig specs below, if I were to buy a 120HZ LCD TV would there be issues? I mean could I run the TV at 60hz till I one day get a better card then go up to 120hz? Or is paying extra for a 120hz TV not worth it?


----------



## Erper

hi guys...
i was wondering, would i get any bonus of paring 6850 with 5770??


----------



## ablearcher

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Erper*


hi guys...
i was wondering, would i get any bonus of paring 6850 with 5770??


 other than more monitors (outside of gaming), OpenCL work, or folding/crunching, there is no benefit.


----------



## Erper

cool, thx...
and 5770 with 8800gt


----------



## Kevlo

You'd get PhysX....thats about it


----------



## ht_addict

Any one water cooling their Gigabyte 6850? Using a full plate or just GPU universal? If so which brand. Thanks


----------



## kirb112

Are these the same cards, just with different heatsinks?

I have the first card, the one that has a more squarish heatsink. I want go go dual.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121401

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121418&Tpk=asus%206870


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kirb112*


Are these the same cards, just with different heatsinks?

I have the first card, the one that has a more squarish heatsink. I want go go dual.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121401

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=asus%206870


Yes, the later is just the ASUS non-reference heatsink. They are pretty much the same, (ASUS may have changed a few things but shouldnt be anything big)


----------



## kirb112

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kevlo*


Yes, the later is just the ASUS non-reference heatsink. They are pretty much the same, (ASUS may have changed a few things but shouldnt be anything big)


Thank you for your reply. What is an ASUS non-reference heatsink?

I have tried to research this on the web. From what I have seen, the non-reference cards have a better heatsink than the reference cards, thus running quieter.

Is this correct? Is this the only difference between reference and non-reference cards?


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kirb112*


Thank you for your reply. What is an ASUS non-reference heatsink?

I have tried to research this on the web. From what I have seen, the non-reference cards have a better heatsink than the reference cards, thus running quieter.

Is this correct? Is this the only difference between reference and non-reference cards?


Yes that is correct. No, occasionally they remove the abiliy to Overvolt the card, however ASUS has never done this and they include their own Overvolting software, so you have nothing to worry about.


----------



## kirb112

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kevlo*


Yes that is correct. No, occasionally they remove the abiliy to Overvolt the card, however ASUS has never done this and they include their own Overvolting software, so you have nothing to worry about.


Well that is good. However, I would love to have them match. Ugh. I bought this card wanting to run in crossfire after a few months, and not the card I have is not in production anymore.


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kirb112*


Well that is good. However, I would love to have them match. Ugh. I bought this card wanting to run in crossfire after a few months, and not the card I have is not in production anymore.


DOn't sweat it, all that will happen is that it will look a bit odd. Nothing More.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kirb112*


Well that is good. However, I would love to have them match. Ugh. I bought this card wanting to run in crossfire after a few months, and not the card I have is not in production anymore.


Thats a easy fix if you get aftermarket coolers for the cards they will match.I bought 2 asus 6850 when they came out.Thanking the direct heatpipe contact of the stock coolers would be enough I was wrong .I think they advertise 20% cooler than reference but its not good enough when overclocking so you end up upping the fan speed and making it to loud.

I would suggest getting the cheapest card you can find because from the reviews none of the special model have bined chips meaning your final overclock is luck of the draw.And adding aftermarket coolers for lower temps less noise and they will match.Check out my sig I got the coolers for $35 each and they look and perform great no noise at any fan speed.

Edit:just looked at your mb the coolers I have wont fit your top card


----------



## Soulniz

Hey guys.
I'm having some trouble with my XFX 6870.
Sometimes the screen splits into half, and I really don't know what's causing it.
It has been overclocked to 1000/1140 at 1.274v. I know it's not heat problems, since it doesn't go above 83c.
I have heard about it being the memory clock, but it should only be if it's above 1140.
So does anyone know what to do? I'm thinking about sending it back, but then I'd have be with it for a week or two.


----------



## Krusher33

Have you reset to stock clocks? That would eliminate that it's OC problem.

Is it only in a game or in several scenarios?

What driver?


----------



## Soulniz

I'm running 11.3.
It's in several games. I haven't tried to reset to stock clocks, but it's really hard to test since it's very random when it comes. Sometimes the interval can be up to several days, and sometimes it comes every day. But I actually haven't got it two times on one day yet.


----------



## Krusher33

Did you try messing with the VSync? Both in-game and in CCC?


----------



## Soulniz

I usually play with V-sync off, in CCC it's set to "Off, unless application specifies it."


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Soulniz*


Hey guys.
I'm having some trouble with my XFX 6870.
Sometimes the screen splits into half, and I really don't know what's causing it.
It has been overclocked to 1000/1140 at 1.274v. I know it's not heat problems, since it doesn't go above 83c.
I have heard about it being the memory clock, but it should only be if it's above 1140.
So does anyone know what to do? I'm thinking about sending it back, but then I'd have be with it for a week or two.










As for me, I think it's a memory controller oc error (unfortunately we can't raise the memory voltage unless you'd go for some vr-zone voltage modification stuff). I had to lower the memory freq. too for the same error (split2screen) from 1150 to 1140 (which is really 1138) and it seems it's ok but I don't really use to play lots of hours continuously. I think I'm stable right now at 1000/1140/1.266v with maximum temps at about 65Â° (with fans at min. speed) in full load; all this possible when you go for a better cooling solution, with the stock cooler I didn't manage to clock stable over 970/1120
















http://www.overclock.net/12958686-post3363.html


----------



## Soulniz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


As for me, I think it's a memory controller oc error (unfortunately we can't raise the memory voltage unless you'd go for some vr-zone voltage modification stuff). I had to lower the memory freq. too for the same error (split2screen) from 1150 to 1140 (which is really 1138) and it seems it's ok but I don't really use to play lots of hours continuously. I think I'm stable right now at 1000/1140/1.266v with maximum temps at about 65Â° (with fans at min. speed) in full load; all this possible when you go for a better cooling solution, with the stock cooler I didn't manage to clock stable over 970/1120
















http://www.overclock.net/12958686-post3363.html


Heh, yea, I think I'm gonna try lowering it to 970/1120 and see if it does better, until I get my Arctic cooling fan for my 6870. Should lower the temps, ALOT.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Soulniz*


Heh, yea, I think I'm gonna try lowering it to 970/1120 and see if it does better, until I get my Arctic cooling fan for my 6870. Should lower the temps, ALOT.










 You better get the Accelero Extreme model if it suits inside your case, not sure of the Twin Turbo Pro model (maybe more apropriate to a 6850) and achieve so a solid base for your 6870 overclock.








As for now, try to clock up to 980/1120 with the required voltage


----------



## alpsie

anyone have any idea what kind of geforce card would be viable for a deticated physX card ? and if it would provide anything benefitial.
IÂ´m running 2x XFX Radeon HD 6870 at stock.


----------



## Soulniz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


You better get the Accelero Extreme model if it suits inside your case, not sure of the Twin Turbo Pro model (maybe more apropriate to a 6850) and achieve so a solid base for your 6870 overclock.








As for now, try to clock up to 980/1120 with the required voltage


This is the one I'm thinking about buying: http://www.coolerkit.dk/arctic_cooli...us-p-1489.html


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *alpsie*


anyone have any idea what kind of geforce card would be viable for a deticated physX card ? and if it would provide anything benefitial.
IÂ´m running 2x XFX Radeon HD 6870 at stock.


My Father is using a GT 240 Severely Overclocked (He put a cooler that we had laying around on it, and made it have great temps) as his PhysX card with his GTX 460 and its a great little card. Other than that you could use a GT 250 or a 9800 GT


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *alpsie*


anyone have any idea what kind of geforce card would be viable for a deticated physX card ? and if it would provide anything benefitial.
IÂ´m running 2x XFX Radeon HD 6870 at stock.


With your actual mobo (Sabertooth that you have in sig) you only have 2 pci-ex 8x slots, I can't see where could you add an extra (almost worthles) nvidia videocard since you allready have two 6870's. And, furthermore even if possible with some other motherboards just consider the major power consumption (using a GTX460 or a GTX260 at least) and the driver mess (spending a lot of time to configure everything whenever you install new drivers) since is not an "whql" driver combo. All that for just a couple of games they're gonna use the Physics engine, stuff you'll never distinguish (not even at 10%) with your eye.








That's my opinion, and I do have a GTX 260 throwned away in a corner (on the top) of my wardrobe getting dust with some other hardware


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Soulniz*


This is the one I'm thinking about buying: http://www.coolerkit.dk/arctic_cooli...us-p-1489.html


That's my man, just get that cooler and you won't regret it


----------



## alpsie

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


With your actual mobo (Sabertooth that you have in sig) you only have 2 pci-ex 8x slots, I can't see where could you add an extra (almost worthles) nvidia videocard since you allready have two 6870's. And, furthermore even if possible with some other motherboards just consider the major power consumption (using a GTX460 or a GTX260 at least) and the driver mess (spending a lot of time to configure everything whenever you install new drivers) since is not an "whql" driver combo. All that for just a couple of games they're gonna use the Physics engine, stuff you'll never distinguish (not even at 10%) with your eye.








That's my opinion, and I do have a GTX 260 throwned away in a corner (on the top) of my wardrobe getting dust with some other hardware


















I had no idea the increase would be so small, so there is no point on going further with this xD TY


----------



## arrow0309

@ Soulniz
Don't underestimate the vrm & memory cooling, if necessary get the Arctic Cooling VR001 Heatsink kit as well (strongly recomended):

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/detail?sArticle=18.%3F

http://www.coolerkit.dk/arctic_cooli...ie-p-1492.html


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *alpsie*


anyone have any idea what kind of geforce card would be viable for a deticated physX card ? and if it would provide anything benefitial.
IÂ´m running 2x XFX Radeon HD 6870 at stock.


you dont buy a gpu for deticated physX if you using ati.If you have one laying around its fun to mess with for a little while but it gets old quick.In some games its a noticeable difference because physx is used heavily on one thing sometimes overused.you can see a difference if you blow something apart with your shootgun on metro 2033 but not having physx takes nothing away from the game.more than anything its somthing for nvidia to brag about.I removed both my nvidia cards to make room for my coolers.


----------



## Soulniz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


@ Soulniz
Don't underestimate the vrm & memory cooling, if necessary get the Arctic Cooling VR001 Heatsink kit as well (strongly recomended):

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/detail?sArticle=18.%3F

http://www.coolerkit.dk/arctic_cooli...ie-p-1492.html


Yea, I kinda have to get the Heatsink kit aswell, since there isn't included any with the cooler itself.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


@ Soulniz
Don't underestimate the vrm & memory cooling, if necessary get the Arctic Cooling VR001 Heatsink kit as well (strongly recomended):

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/detail?sArticle=18.%3F

http://www.coolerkit.dk/arctic_cooli...ie-p-1492.html


May I ask if you have actually tried applying these heatsinks yourself?
If if anyone else has used the VR001 heatsinks on a 6870.

Here is a link to the generic suggestion of where to place the heatsinks;
http://www.arctic.ac/index.php?eID=t...84daff550a60b6

However this is how I have applied mine;








If you compare the two you'll see I havent applied the three down the right hand side yet, this is because it looks almost impossible given the size of the blocks they apply the heatsinks to.
Has anyone managed it, or is it even necessary?
Thanks in advance


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob;13225694*
> May I ask if you have actually tried applying these heatsinks yourself?
> If if anyone else has used the VR001 heatsinks on a 6870.
> 
> Here is a link to the generic suggestion of where to place the heatsinks;
> http://www.arctic.ac/index.php?eID=tx_mm_bccmsbase_zip&id=1941551284daff550a60b6
> 
> However this is how I have applied mine;
> ... cut ...
> If you compare the two you'll see I havent applied the three down the right hand side yet, this is because it looks almost impossible given the size of the blocks they apply the heatsinks to.
> Has anyone managed it, or is it even necessary?
> Thanks in advance


I won't bother of the three small naked vrm's on the right since they're getting some air cooling from the fans (what cooler are you suppose to use?);
the essential vrm heatsink (4 phase power) is the orange one the left size (PowerColor 6870 Pcs+ stock part?) as for the others except the memory, just try to use the smallest pieces but only if your main cooler will permit that.
I didn't use the VR001kit since I manage to mantain my reference black alu backplate & only added some extra heatsinks from my Zalman VF3000a kit









http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/850691-official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-a-337.html#post12958686


----------



## ZeroG

Hopefully getting a Sapphire 6850 this Week


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13226269*
> I won't bother of the three small naked vrm's on the right since they're getting some air cooling from the fans (what cooler are you suppose to use?);
> the essential vrm heatsink (4 phase power) is the orange one the left size (PowerColor 6870 Pcs+ stock part?) as for the others except the memory, just try to use the smallest pieces but only if your main cooler will permit that.
> I didn't use the VR001kit since I manage to mantain my reference black alu backplate & only added some extra heatsinks from my Zalman VF3000a kit
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/850691-official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-a-337.html#post12958686


Cheers, installed and runs at 35C idle so pretty happy, just need a 4 pin extension cable to get it running super quiet cause it's currently plugged into 4 pin molex on the 7v so pressumably stuck at 100%


----------



## Tdawg2k10

Club 3D radeon 6850









http://www.club-3d.com/index.php/products/reader.en/product/radeon-hd-6850.html


----------



## ht_addict

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob;13225694*
> May I ask if you have actually tried applying these heatsinks yourself?
> If if anyone else has used the VR001 heatsinks on a 6870.
> 
> Here is a link to the generic suggestion of where to place the heatsinks;
> http://www.arctic.ac/index.php?eID=tx_mm_bccmsbase_zip&id=1941551284daff550a60b6
> 
> However this is how I have applied mine;
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you compare the two you'll see I havent applied the three down the right hand side yet, this is because it looks almost impossible given the size of the blocks they apply the heatsinks to.
> Has anyone managed it, or is it even necessary?
> Thanks in advance


I'll be putting my 6850's under water with a Rasa Universal GPU waterblock once my memory heatsinks arrive from Asia. Anyone have an better Idea than putting on these?


----------



## kromar

hm i was doing some benchmarks with crysis to find the best ccc options and when i switched to dx10 the fps drops almost by about 20fps and no matter of the resolution its always really low:/










any idea why i dont get better fps when i lower the resolution with dx10?


----------



## Krusher33

IIRC there are some other options to disable if you drop down to DX10. I can't remember what they are though and I'm a bit pressed for time to do a search for it.


----------



## Calexan

hi guys.. just wanna ask if you guys believe the reviews on newegg that Zalman VF3000A
brick cards? i know it sounds preposterous but alot of people are complaining about it..

im planning to buy my friends Zalman VF3000A btw.. he didnt get to use it since he
upgraded his 6870 to 6970 so he threw me a pretty sweet deal problem is after reading
those reviews on egg made me think twice..

hope somebody can give me an option about it.. thanks









newegg reviews http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=35-118-061&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=1#scrollFullInfo

should i try VF3000A & risk it!? definite + rep to those who can give input thanks


----------



## kromar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;13241511*
> IIRC there are some other options to disable if you drop down to DX10. I can't remember what they are though and I'm a bit pressed for time to do a search for it.


are these crysis or ccc options you talk about?
and what kind of option could cause the fps to be the same at a resolution of 1920x1200 and 800x600?
is it possible that the vidmem is at its limit at both resolutions causing that huge fps drop?

@Calexan: you should do some google search for reviews of the cooler before you blindly believe the reviews on newegg. its always a good idea to gather some independent information. however the performance will certainly be better than the stock cooler so if you get a good offer theres not much to lose;D
the only way the cooler can brick a card is by human error or incompatibility...


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> you should do some google search for reviews of the cooler before you blindly believe the reviews on newegg. its always a good idea to gather some independent information. however the performance will certainly be better than the stock cooler so if you get a good offer theres not much to lose;D
> the only way the cooler can brick a card is by human error or incompatibility...


thats the problem i did my research & all i have heard is that this cooler is outstanding
all the reviews have had nothing bad to say about this cooler well except when i bump
into eggs.. if it was 1 or 2 people who said that i wouldn't have mind but it's 12 people
who has the same problem..

even here in OCN http://www.overclock.net/air-cooling/876828-zalman-vf3000a-bricking-cards.html


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> the only way the cooler can brick a card is by human error or *incompatibility*...


theres another problem Zalman says this cooler is only compatible with
58xx series & not 68xx.. but i know 58xx & 68xx share the same mounting holes
so there wont be a problem mounting it..

the problem is when something happens to my card zalman wont hold liability
cause of the said compatibility









my friends Zalman VF3000A


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13246552*
> theres another problem Zalman says this cooler is only compatible with
> 58xx series & not 68xx.. but i know 58xx & 68xx share the same mounting holes
> so there wont be a problem mounting it..
> 
> the problem is when something happens to my card zalman wont hold liability
> cause of the said compatibility
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> my friends Zalman VF3000A


search this thread someone said they had to shave part off there zalman to make it fit others said they had no such problem.also take a look at this thread.

http://www.overclock.net/ati-cooling/850451-unofficial-6800-series-aftermarket-cooling-thread.html

I modded both my stock coolers to lower temps multiple times and have aftermarket coolers on both cards now.
1.Have a clean area to work in with enough space for everything.(you dont want to be running around)

2.Try to only touch the sides of the card when possible.

3.Follow the directions that came with the cooler if any.

4.looking at the old cooler make sure you have a heat sinc every where it was cooling.(vrm,ram,etc)

5.most importantly make sure your getting good contact with the core.(too tight and you could bend the card damage the core and yes brick the card)

I dont see how a cooler can brick a card it has to be user error and to those reviewers saying they done it a million times and the cooler did it but I dont know how.I'd say they got complacent.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13246552*
> theres another problem Zalman says this cooler is only compatible with
> 58xx series & not 68xx.. but i know 58xx & 68xx share the same mounting holes
> so there wont be a problem mounting it..
> 
> the problem is when something happens to my card zalman wont hold liability
> cause of the said compatibility
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> my friends Zalman VF3000A


Have a look at my rig:










http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/850691-official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-a-337.html#post12958686


----------



## Calexan

@ arrow0309

i knew i saw Zalman VF3000A here somewhere XD

btw no problems so far?

my card is a non-ref Sapphire i was surprised to find a VRM sink
when i first opened it way back when i first reapplied TIM..

guess this means i wont be having problems with VRM sinks..
unlike my friend who owns this VF3000A who has a ref cooler card &
has trouble finding VRM sink to use thats why he didnt get
to use his cooler till he upgraded to 6970 lol.. XD

i know the cooler could fit a 6870 it was the reviews on egg that worried me







..


----------



## toyz72

i was wondering whats the average overclock you guys are getting on the 6870. i've had mine for a while now and just started pushing on them. i'm thinking i'm going to have to go to trix or afterburner because i ran out of core clock on ccc. which one of theses programs do you guys like?


----------



## Calexan

here's mine i use it for gaming & i revert to stock clocks while idle..



















btw whichever you choose Trixx or Afterburn they are all good softwares

but i prefer to use Trixx since it is more easier to use


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13257079*
> my card is a non-ref Sapphire i was surprised to find a VRM sink
> when i first opened it way back when i first reapplied TIM..


I wasn't surprised mine had VRM sinks but was disappointed it didn't have RAM sinks.


----------



## BankaiKiller

Add me to the list please. I submitted my gpu z like... 100 pages ago.


----------



## abu46

heres a good article comparing latest gpus on crysis2
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid.../crysis-2.html

sad to read its a heavily optimized game of nvidia cards














and even more sad to read that my beloved 6850 comes last


----------



## arrow0309

*HD 6870 Roundup: Diamond, PowerColor, MSI, Sapphire & XFX* by Hardware Canucks:

Link: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/42796-hd-6870-roundup-diamond-powercolor-msi-sapphire-xfx.html


----------



## smoke420

So the msi hawk is the clear winner with the best price and cooler. It also had the best overclock not that it means much as all the cards weren't overvolted and the chips are luck of the draw.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


So the msi hawk is the clear winner with the best price and cooler. It also had the best overclock not that it means much as all the cards weren't overvolted and the chips are luck of the draw.


Yeap, I am going to sell my modded Gigabyte in order to get the Hawk


----------



## Kevlo

I was planning on trying to pick up the HAWKs when i get money, or when they come in stock at MicroCenter


----------



## Krusher33

I liked the Sapphire in the reviews. In each game I play and the Heaven benchmarks it was the lead. Granted they were all within 5 fps of each other but still.

Edit: Uh-oh... I think I'm becoming a Sapphire fanboy.


----------



## smoke420

your fine with any of them but I personnaly will never buy another xfx product double lifetime warrenty or not.I have a mother board with a horse shoe shaped burn in it and a video card with a fan that fell apart both in less than a year.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;13277200*
> I liked the Sapphire in the reviews. In each game I play and the Heaven benchmarks it was the lead. Granted they were all within 5 fps of each other but still.
> 
> Edit: Uh-oh... I think I'm becoming a Sapphire fanboy.


Whatever you do dont get the powercolor PCS+, they're loud despite what the review say. I'd go with something with 2 fans so you can have them on low rpm at idle. Or I'd advise more getting a refernce and buying an accelero extreme plus, that way you can have it quiet or overclock it to the max depending on your preference. I recently installed the xtreme plus on my 6870.


----------



## Kevlo

I've never worried about sound, just as long as it doesnt whine too loud or something like that. Any otehr thing and i just turn the volume on my game/music higher


----------



## Badwrench

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kevlo*


I've never worried about sound, just as long as it doesnt whine too loud or something like that. Any otehr thing and i just turn the volume on my game/music higher


This! My system sounds like an old vacuum cleaner with all 7 of my fans @ 100% (5 of them are 80mm which are already pretty loud). All gaming that I need to hear someone speaking must be done with my headset. My XFX 6850 which is supposedly one of the loudest 6xxx series cards doesn't even change the volume of my rig no matter the fan setting. Had to open up and see if it was running when I first fired it up.









I refuse to turn down my OCs for the sake of volume.


----------



## nerdybeat

Yea with my OC'd 6870's, I have to manually turn up the fan speed in CCC with some games. I just throw on my QC15 noise cancelled headphones and call it a day hahaha.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Badwrench;13284100*
> This! My system sounds like an old vacuum cleaner with all 7 of my fans @ 100% (5 of them are 80mm which are already pretty loud). All gaming that I need to hear someone speaking must be done with my headset. My XFX 6850 which is supposedly one of the loudest 6xxx series cards doesn't even change the volume of my rig no matter the fan setting. Had to open up and see if it was running when I first fired it up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I refuse to turn down my OCs for the sake of volume.


yeah 80mm fans was a bad idea.I have 9x 120mm and 3x 230mm fans and they all stay at max rpm and make no noise.Then came my 6850's I dont know if its because there so close(xfire) or just the fact that its two of them going but as soon as my msi gaming profile started it got way too loud.I never worried about sound because I have a blower fan in my room.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=stanley+blower+fan&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=UlG&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&channel=np&biw=832&bih=423&prmd=ivnso&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=6225880849020247525&sa=X&ei=5va5TYGdB4Hk0QGkw6zWDw&ved=0CGMQ8wIwAA#

But once my computer got louder than that I knew I had a problem and I got some aftermarket coolers.

By the way having 4x 120mm on your door lowers your gpu temps 3c within the first minute.


----------



## LuKrype

HIS AMD Radeon 6870 running at 960/1200










- LuKrype


----------



## kirb112

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kirb112;13164349*
> Well that is good. However, I would love to have them match. Ugh. I bought this card wanting to run in crossfire after a few months, and not the card I have is not in production anymore.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kevlo;13164356*
> DOn't sweat it, all that will happen is that it will look a bit odd. Nothing More.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13172837*
> Thats a easy fix if you get aftermarket coolers for the cards they will match.I bought 2 asus 6850 when they came out.Thanking the direct heatpipe contact of the stock coolers would be enough I was wrong .I think they advertise 20% cooler than reference but its not good enough when overclocking so you end up upping the fan speed and making it to loud.
> 
> I would suggest getting the cheapest card you can find because from the reviews none of the special model have bined chips meaning your final overclock is luck of the draw.And adding aftermarket coolers for lower temps less noise and they will match.Check out my sig I got the coolers for $35 each and they look and perform great no noise at any fan speed.
> 
> Edit:just looked at your mb the coolers I have wont fit your top card


Thanks guys. I acutally bought two of the non-reference cards from newegg. As it turns out, they will not fit my mobo's PICE slot spacing. I tried one reference card, and one non-reference card, but that does not work either.

I thought about getting some aftermarket coolers, but I am hesitant because I am concerned about the heat staying inside the case, affecting the temp of the air going through my radiator.

The stock coolers exhaust out the back of the case.

Can anyone offer any suggestions here?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kirb112;13299171*
> Thanks guys. I acutally bought two of the non-reference cards from newegg. As it turns out, they will not fit my mobo's PICE slot spacing. I tried one reference card, and one non-reference card, but that does not work either.
> 
> I thought about getting some aftermarket coolers, but I am hesitant because I am concerned about the heat staying inside the case, affecting the temp of the air going through my radiator.
> 
> The stock coolers exhaust out the back of the case.
> 
> Can anyone offer any suggestions here?


If they wont fit your only option is to watercool them .If water blocks dont fit you'll have to sell them and get a single card that gives you equal or better performance.


----------



## kirb112

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


If they wont fit your only option is to watercool them .If water blocks dont fit you'll have to sell them and get a single card that gives you equal or better performance.


That's out then, watercooling the cards is out of my budget ATM. Thank you.


----------



## Scrypt3r

Add me please!

XFX 6850

I'll add pictures and validation when i get home in a few hours



















First one that came was DoA, had to wait 6 days for the courier to get off their arse's and pick it up


----------



## zydrix

hey all. i own a xfx 6850 dual fan edition an i was wondering if 6850 cf is good or go with a gtx 570 or ati 6870. an what do you think of my current systems. thanks


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:



Originally Posted by *zydrix*


hey all. i own a xfx 6850 dual fan edition an i was wondering if 6850 cf is good or go with a gtx 570 or ati 6870. an what do you think of my current systems. thanks


Wow.. could be the greatest system I have ever seen









CF 6850 is awesome, and I plan to upgrade to this eventually, of course I will need a new MB first.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *zydrix*


hey all. i own a xfx 6850 dual fan edition an i was wondering if 6850 cf is good or go with a gtx 570 or ati 6870. an what do you think of my current systems. thanks


I would say buy the best single card and xfire later if needed.Im very happy with the performance of my xfire 6850's but dual cards is a pain some times.Waiting for xfire profiles for new games really sucks.With that said when bulldozer comes out im going with xfire 6970's.


----------



## fatmario

I just started to overclock my ASUS EAH6850 and I was able to reach 925/1175 with stock voltage with out any artifact,stable so far. should i push more with voltage bump?


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *zydrix;13304224*
> hey all. i own a xfx 6850 dual fan edition an i was wondering if 6850 cf is good or go with a gtx 570 or ati 6870. an what do you think of my current systems. thanks


I'm running crossfire 6850s right now and it is absolutely glorious. These things get >80% scaling. My only complaint is noise. Because there's all that heat, the tiny little fan has to work so hard even at idle. And there's even an open slot between them!

Still, crossfire 6850s is awesome.


----------



## Badwrench

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


yeah 80mm fans was a bad idea.I have 9x 120mm and 3x 230mm fans and they all stay at max rpm and make no noise.Then came my 6850's I dont know if its because there so close(xfire) or just the fact that its two of them going but as soon as my msi gaming profile started it got way too loud.I never worried about sound because I have a blower fan in my room.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/i...ductId=1747223

But once my computer got louder than that I knew I had a problem and I got some aftermarket coolers.

By the way having 4x 120mm on your door lowers your gpu temps 3c within the first minute.


Yeah, I know that now. The case was too good of a deal to pass up ($50), and was such a big upgrade from my old CM310. I am planning on stipping it down again to add 2 120mm intakes on the bottom and a 140mm exhaust up top (to replace the 80mm that is currently there). Then I can turn the remaining 80mm down a bit, but still have good flow.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Badwrench*


Yeah, I know that now. The case was too good of a deal to pass up ($50), and was such a big upgrade from my old CM310. I am planning on stipping it down again to add 2 120mm intakes on the bottom and a 140mm exhaust up top (to replace the 80mm that is currently there). Then I can turn the remaining 80mm down a bit, but still have good flow.


I dont suggest the 140mm. I have a cooler master r4 140mm as my back exhaust the same model as all my 120mm's and its the only fan I have that I can't feel any air moving.


----------



## pditty8811

I am maxing to 1010 and 1190 with 1.3v in Afterburner. But I want higher.

Can I somehow get a higher voltage with my Sapphire HD 6850 than the 1.3v MSI Afterburner max?

I tried editing the bios, but if I change anything in the bios, the drivers don't recognized the card.

Weird, I could oc the vbios of my HD4850 with no problems.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13311554*
> I dont suggest the 140mm. I have a cooler master r4 140mm as my back exhaust the same model as all my 120mm's and its the only fan I have that I can't feel any air moving.


That's more likely your air flow set up is bad. The larger the fan is the more air it can move with less noise (assuming it's a quality fan). That's why 80mm fans suck. If they're quiet, they don't move air. If they're moving air then they're jet engines.


----------



## eggs2see

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pditty8811;13312957*
> I am maxing to 1010 and 1190 with 1.3v in Afterburner. But I want higher.
> 
> Can I somehow get a higher voltage with my Sapphire HD 6850 than the 1.3v MSI Afterburner max?
> 
> I tried editing the bios, but if I change anything in the bios, the drivers don't recognized the card.
> 
> Weird, I could oc the vbios of my HD4850 with no problems.


That is a very good overclock, but 1.3v is too high for 24/7 use. Your temps are no doubt getting pretty high at that kind of level.

I don't think you should go past 1.25v.


----------



## pditty8811

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eggs2see;13315014*
> That is a very good overclock, but 1.3v is too high for 24/7 use. Your temps are no doubt getting pretty high at that kind of level.
> 
> I don't think you should go past 1.25v.


lol its not 24/7, I have my overclock with voltage in Afterburner and clock speed with Atitray using hotkeys. I only enable the oc when I game.

I want more, any ideas?

Oh, and my temps are great, I have a good neg pressure in my rig.

Hell, my HD 4850 ran hotter than this card does, by atleast 20 degrees C.

I don't even break 90 celcius on stress testing.

When I'm not gaming I'm running default speeds and voltage. Which varies to low optimal speed.

Any ideas? I'm really itching to break this 1.3v barrier.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;13313519*
> That's more likely your air flow set up is bad. The larger the fan is the more air it can move with less noise (assuming it's a quality fan). That's why 80mm fans suck. If they're quiet, they don't move air. If they're moving air then they're jet engines.


My fan setup is great the problem is 140mm fans in general suck.As you said the bigger the fan the more air it can move there also slower and quieter.In theory this is all true but I can tell you from personal experience the 140's just dont move any air.Right now I have 13 fans in my system and as I said the 140mm is by far the worst.My 230mm fans are much bigger and are low rpm fans but move way more air than the 140mm and my 120mm are by far the best .soon I will be replacing the 140 for another 120..O and about my setup lets see in the front of my full tower case the negative air flow will hold two full sheets of papper one on top of the other meaning the hole front of my case is sucking in a lot of air.My door has x4 2000rpm 120's blowing right on my video cards,the bottom of the case has another 2000 rpm 120 blowing up at the video cards,the top of my case has x2 2000 rpm 120 exhaust fans,the front has x3 230mm intakes,and one sorry 140mm exhaust out back.and there all cooler master r4's


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pditty8811;13315415*
> lol its not 24/7, I have my overclock with voltage in Afterburner and clock speed with Atitray using hotkeys. I only enable the oc when I game.
> 
> I want more, any ideas?
> 
> Oh, and my temps are great, I have a good neg pressure in my rig.
> 
> Hell, my HD 4850 ran hotter than this card does, by atleast 20 degrees C.
> 
> I don't even break 90 celcius on stress testing.
> 
> When I'm not gaming I'm running default speeds and voltage. Which varies to low optimal speed.
> 
> Any ideas? I'm really itching to break this 1.3v barrier.


why use hotkeys?just setup a two profiles in afterburner one with stock clocks and voltage and one with your overclock then set the stock profile to 2d and the overclock profile to 3d.now when you start a 3d app like a game it will overclock automaticly and the stock profile will downclock as normal.

If you really want to go over 1.3 you need the voltage unlocker here's a link. The mod was removed but posted again on page 5 and the directions are on the first page.make sure your vrm's dont get too hot. check gpu-z it shows vrm temps on some cards.
http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/861293-release-msi-afterburner-max-voltage-unlocker.html


----------



## pditty8811

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13315615*
> why use hotkeys?just setup a two profiles in afterburner one with stock clocks and voltage and one with your overclock then set the stock profile to 2d and the overclock profile to 3d.now when you start a 3d app like a game it will overclock automaticly and the stock profile will downclock as normal.
> 
> If you really want to go over 1.3 you need the voltage unlocker here's a link. The mod was removed but posted again on page 5 and the directions are on the first page.make sure your vrm's dont get too hot. check gpu-z it shows vrm temps on some cards.
> http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/861293-release-msi-afterburner-max-voltage-unlocker.html


THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I actually found that thread earlier, but thought the dl link was removed for good, I didn't bother looking at page 5.

Oh, and I just found out how to do the auto 3d settings in afterburner, but I can't find the same thing in ATITray Tools. I use ATT for my clocks. I guess Ill just google it, there got to be a way in that program, it has almost everything.


----------



## pditty8811

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13315615*
> why use hotkeys?just setup a two profiles in afterburner one with stock clocks and voltage and one with your overclock then set the stock profile to 2d and the overclock profile to 3d.now when you start a 3d app like a game it will overclock automaticly and the stock profile will downclock as normal.
> 
> If you really want to go over 1.3 you need the voltage unlocker here's a link. The mod was removed but posted again on page 5 and the directions are on the first page.make sure your vrm's dont get too hot. check gpu-z it shows vrm temps on some cards.
> http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/861293-release-msi-afterburner-max-voltage-unlocker.html


Actually I found out how to set the 2d/3d profiles with ATT and their working fine.

But my problem is that the 2d/3d profiles in afterburner dont kick in when their supposed to. Am I missing something? I have afterburner start with windows, and I set the clocks under the prfiles tab, to 2d and 3d, but their not auto clocking with such applications. Any ideas?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13315528*
> My fan setup is great the problem is 140mm fans in general suck.As you said the bigger the fan the more air it can move there also slower and quieter.In theory this is all true but I can tell you from personal experience the 140's just dont move any air.Right now I have 13 fans in my system and as I said the 140mm is by far the worst.My 230mm fans are much bigger and are low rpm fans but move way more air than the 140mm and my 120mm are by far the best .soon I will be replacing the 140 for another 120..O and about my setup lets see in the front of my full tower case the negative air flow will hold two full sheets of papper one on top of the other meaning the hole front of my case is sucking in a lot of air.My door has x4 2000rpm 120's blowing right on my video cards,the bottom of the case has another 2000 rpm 120 blowing up at the video cards,the top of my case has x2 2000 rpm 120 exhaust fans,the front has x3 230mm intakes,and one sorry 140mm exhaust out back.and there all cooler master r4's


I can only think that you need a different 140mm fan instead. What fan is it?

It's only logical that a 140 would move more at lower rpms than 120's but the big factor is how it's designed. Some 140's are way better than others, just like in the 120's category. I wouldn't discredit all 140's just because that one you have doesn't do much.


----------



## Greg0986

Hey guys









I am getting a 2nd 6870 next week







Specifically the MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC HAWK for £149.99. Can't wait









A quick question though, because that card has a 930MHz core overclock, will I have to overclock my current reference card? I am struggling reaching 930 on my card because after about 15 minutes in Battlefield Bad Company 2, it crashes the game and then I have to do a hard reset









Could the drivers be the problem? Would it help if I up the voltage a bit? I am running latest 11.4.


----------



## Krusher33

Bump voltage. You should be able to do 930.


----------



## Greg0986

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;13319273*
> Bump voltage. You should be able to do 930.


I have just bumped it up to 1.2 in afterburner. How can I find if it is stable? Just play Battlefield like before?


----------



## Krusher33

I like to use GPUTool for an 15 minutes. If passes, OC more, rinse-n-repeat. Once GPUTool shows artifacts, back down some and test for an hour. If passes, try out in BC2 for an hour or so. Use the Afterburner's display monitor thingy so you can watch temps and GPU usage while in the game.

Edit: Guide I use: http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/633816-how-overclock-your-ati-gpu.html


----------



## Greg0986

Cheers for the guide







I will see how far I can go


----------



## Krusher33

Let us know how you do!


----------



## Calexan




----------



## veritas-truth

I'm at my Mom's house away from my rig right now so I can't post a GPUZ screenshot, but I do have pics of it I took while making the build.

But here's the specs:
Sapphire HD 6870 Reference

Here's the card with all the parts before the build and the box of the card alone


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13326015*


Zalman fan eh? lol

The modder in me would:

Take the cover off the cpu cooler and paint it matching red
Take cover of gpu cooler and paint it matching blue
Take both off and paint them the same color.


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> Take the cover off the cpu cooler and paint it matching red


i was already thinking of doing this but i want it Anodized just like it's orignal cover
& the cover of the gpu cooler all nice & shiny like







so im still looking around for
someone near our area who does Anodizes.. haven't had look









btw i want it all red


----------



## pditty8811

No solution yet to the MSI Afterburner 2d/3d profile clocks not kicking in?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;13318036*
> I can only think that you need a different 140mm fan instead. What fan is it?
> 
> It's only logical that a 140 would move more at lower rpms than 120's but the big factor is how it's designed. Some 140's are way better than others, just like in the 120's category. I wouldn't discredit all 140's just because that one you have doesn't do much.


I know my post was long but did you read the hole thing.I didn't say all 140mm suck but most do.first my fans are all cooler master r4's name brand great all around fans (noise vs. airflow).now if you take a look at newegg you'll see there are not to many 140mm's to choose from 31 to be exact vs 158 120mm.

cooler master r4's

2000rpm 120mm=69cfm

1000rpm 140mm=60cfm

700rpm 200mm=110cfm

now lets check (arguably)the best 140mm fans on the market
scythe slipstream

1900rpm 120mm=110cfm

1700rpm 140mm=92cfm

Are we seeing a pattern here.

Of coarse how the fan is made is important but you cant argue with the numbers the companys themselves put out.If all things are equal the 140mm's are the worst.We were not talking about noise or rpm just air flow.The fact is with most brands the 140mm is not going to stand up to the 120mm of the same model.as I said air flow is what were talking about ,being that the 140mm is not much bigger than the 120's and dont move as much air I don't see the point.although I like my 230mm fans when you take in to acount the fact that you can put 3 or 4 120's in the same spot even they dont look all that great.


----------



## arrow0309

Enjoy folks









Win 7/Vista x86/x64
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/20307/1m/www2.ati.com/DRIVERS/hotfix/catalyst_11.4_hotfixes/amd_catalyst_11.4a_hotfix_8.84.9rc2_win7_vista_apr27.exe

Widows XP x86/x64
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/20307/1m/www2.ati.com/DRIVERS/hotfix/catalyst_11.4_hotfixes/amd_catalyst_11.4a_hotfix_8.84.9rc2_winxp_apr27.exe

AMD Catalyst™ Driver 11.4c Hotfix Feature:

Resolves intermittent flickering issues seen in the following applications in a system using an AMD Radeon™ HD 6600 series graphics card with DDR3 memory and running in DirectX® 9 mode:
Civilization 5
Dead Rising 2
Fallout 3
Mafia 2
NBA 2010
ShenGuiChuanQi
Starcraft 2
Warcraft III
World of Warcraft

Build Info:
DriverVer=04/27/2011, 8.840.9.0000
8.84.9-110427a-118103E


----------



## dan_ep82

Got some new pictures eventually.
Hopefully the next pictures will have a new mobo,another sapphire 6870 and although un-seen, a new processor.


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> Resolves intermittent flickering issues seen in the following applications in a system using an AMD Radeon™ *HD 6600 series graphics card with DDR3 memory* and running in DirectX® 9 mode:


will it still benefit the 6800 series users?

im using the officially released 11.4 Catalyst btw no problems so far








http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx

& i can't find 11.4c on the official AMD Catalyst Hotfixes.. :/
http://support.amd.com/us/Pages/Catalyst-Hotfixes.aspx


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pditty8811;13328288*
> No solution yet to the MSI Afterburner 2d/3d profile clocks not kicking in?


Doesn't look like anyone knows. If it were me, I'd just trying re-installing drivers and Afterburner just for giggles.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13328661*
> I know my post was long but did you read the hole thing.I didn't say all 140mm suck but most do.first my fans are all cooler master r4's name brand great all around fans (noise vs. airflow).now if you take a look at newegg you'll see there are not to many 140mm's to choose from 31 to be exact vs 158 120mm.
> 
> cooler master r4's
> 
> 2000rpm 120mm=69cfm
> 
> 1000rpm 140mm=60cfm
> 
> 700rpm 200mm=110cfm
> 
> now lets check (arguably)the best 140mm fans on the market
> scythe slipstream
> 
> 1900rpm 120mm=110cfm
> 
> 1700rpm 140mm=92cfm
> 
> Are we seeing a pattern here.
> 
> Of coarse how the fan is made is important but you cant argue with the numbers the companys themselves put out.If all things are equal the 140mm's are the worst.We were not talking about noise or rpm just air flow.The fact is with most brands the 140mm is not going to stand up to the 120mm of the same model.as I said air flow is what were talking about ,being that the 140mm is not much bigger than the 120's and dont move as much air I don't see the point.although I like my 230mm fans when you take in to acount the fact that you can put 3 or 4 120's in the same spot even they dont look all that great.


I did read the entire post but the entire post reeks of "140's sucks, go 120 only".

And actually you can argue the numbers the manufacturers puts out. They don't go by any standard testing method just like with noise. You'll want to go with some sort of site. And to forget that pressure is different between a 120 and 140.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


Doesn't look like anyone knows. If it were me, I'd just trying re-installing drivers and Afterburner just for giggles.

I did read the entire post but the entire post reeks of "140's sucks, go 120 only".

And actually you can argue the numbers the manufacturers puts out. They don't go by any standard testing method just like with noise. You'll want to go with some sort of site. And to forget that pressure is different between a 120 and 140.


If you read the post why did you ask me what kind of fan I was using, it was the last thing in the post.Thats why I asked if you read the whole thing.And yes you may be able to argue there numbers from manufacturer to manufacturer but why would the same company use different methods from one size to another.Now with static pressure yes different ,but better .120mm usually have much better static pressure.How many people you see using 140's on rads.your arguement just doesn't hold water.There are situations when the 140mm is perfered, but thats only when noise is a factor and even then I would just get a good 120mm because there not really that loud.(but thats me)


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pditty8811*


Actually I found out how to set the 2d/3d profiles with ATT and their working fine.

But my problem is that the 2d/3d profiles in afterburner dont kick in when their supposed to. Am I missing something? I have afterburner start with windows, and I set the clocks under the prfiles tab, to 2d and 3d, but their not auto clocking with such applications. Any ideas?


If your using both programs at the same time maybe thats your issue.


----------



## ContiQ8

hello, 
i have sapphire 6870 but its freezing for 2-3secs then screen back to normal

check this my problem if anyone can help please

http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/100...70-freeze.html


----------



## ContiQ8

hello, 
i have sapphire 6870 but its freezing for 2-3secs then screen back to normal

check this my problem if anyone can help please

http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/100...70-freeze.html


----------



## Greg0986

OK, this is ******ed now









I did have my 6870 overclocked to 930 core at 1.2v and played 1 singleplayer game of battlefield bad company 2 and it was fine. No hang or anything. Then I went on to multiplayer. Totally different story. After about 15 minutes of playing it hangs and I have to reboot the entire machine. I have no idea why.

Then I thought about the overclock. So I reset it back to default and played the same singleplayer level that I did before and it was fine. Then I went onto multiplayer. The same happened. It hard locked and I had to reset the machine to get it to work again.

I have no idea why, but I am edging towards the drivers. It probably isn't though









The card and CPU are both cooled properly so it wont be overheating that is the problem. Any help guys ?


----------



## fatmario

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Greg0986*


OK, this is ******ed now









I did have my 6870 overclocked to 930 core at 1.2v and played 1 singleplayer game of battlefield bad company 2 and it was fine. No hang or anything. Then I went on to multiplayer. Totally different story. After about 15 minutes of playing it hangs and I have to reboot the entire machine. I have no idea why.

Then I thought about the overclock. So I reset it back to default and played the same singleplayer level that I did before and it was fine. Then I went onto multiplayer. The same happened. It hard locked and I had to reset the machine to get it to work again.

I have no idea why, but I am edging towards the drivers. It probably isn't though









The card and CPU are both cooled properly so it wont be overheating that is the problem. Any help guys ?


thats issue with punkbuster if you have gpuz,frap,msi after burner it cause to bf2bc to crash, there is big thread about this problem on overclock.net and ea forum.


----------



## Greg0986

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fatmario;13334172*
> thats issue with punkbuster if you have gpuz,frap,msi after burner it cause to bf2bc to crash, there is big thread about this problem on overclock.net and ea forum.


Ohhhhh, I haven't heard that before! Do you have a link? Would be good to read









Cheers for the info!









[EDIT] nevermind found it


----------



## Freakn

Sold the 6870's so will need to be removed from the club please


----------



## toyz72

is there anyone else that can post a screen shot of heaven bench with crossfire 6870's. i would like to compare it to mine. just let me know the settings and i'll run the same.


----------



## pditty8811

Check this graph out, its voltage and clock graph for hd 6850 asus, should give people an idea of the max we can get with unlimited voltage possibilites. It appears the card bottlenecks at around 1.45v










found here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/301779-33-overclock-rate-utilities-afterburner-radeon-6850


----------



## fatmario

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pditty8811;13337734*
> Check this graph out, its voltage and clock graph for hd 6850 asus, should give people an idea of the max we can get with unlimited voltage possibilites. It appears the card bottlenecks at around 1.45v
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> found here:
> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/301779-33-overclock-rate-utilities-afterburner-radeon-6850


interestesting.


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13330189*
> why would the same company use different methods from one size to another


Just a simple marketing trick, if a fan succeeds in tests why not make a cheaper fan with better specs?
Quote:


> Now with static pressure yes different ,but better .120mm usually have much better static pressure.How many people you see using 140's on rads


That's just because 140mms are relatively new to the fan scene, most cases have only one place for a 140mm and 140mm supporting rads are afaik quite rare.
Just because most 140mms suck, it doesn't mean 120mm is a better "technology".


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13342427*
> Just a simple marketing trick, if a fan succeeds in tests why not make a cheaper fan with better specs?
> 
> That's just because 140mms are relatively new to the fan scene, most cases have only one place for a 140mm and 140mm supporting rads are afaik quite rare.
> Just because most 140mms suck, it doesn't mean 120mm is a better "technology".


The whole Idea of making the fan bigger is to move the same amount of air or more at slower speeds thus reducing noise.
Fact is there a failure.
Almost all the research done on the 120mm fan can be used for the 140mm the amount of time on scene doesn't matter.
The reason they dont perform as good is because there built on compromise.There not big enough to move more air at slow speeds ,and if you speed them up fast enough to move more air they get too loud.All im saying is your giving up airflow for less noise and thats a fact.
Now on the other hand look at the much bigger 200mm fan it can move more air and its silent, like I said time on scene is not the issue.

Static pressure has a lot to do with the design but more than anything you need high rpm.High rpm 140mm fans are rare because there loud and dont move enough air to be worth it.

Im not saying dont get a 140mm im just saying if you do your making a compromise but for some people noise is more important than air flow.If your such a person then a 200mm fan if you can fit it in your case is a much better choice imo.


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13343980*
> Almost all the research done on the 120mm fan can be used for the 140mm the amount of time on scene doesn't matter.


It does, in a way: fan manufacturers haven't made any good fans yet.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13343980*
> The reason they dont perform as good is because there built on compromise.There not big enough to move more air at slow speeds ,and if you speed them up fast enough to move more air they get too loud.


"Not big enough", what's that supposed to mean? BTW, ever heard of TY-140?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13343980*
> Static pressure has a lot to do with the design but more than anything you need high rpm.High rpm 140mm fans are rare because there loud and dont move enough air to be worth it.


I agree, but I have another theory: 140mms lose static pressure against 120mms because their thickness is not increased in the same ratio as their other dimensions. You have seen those "slim" 120mm fans: they suck too.
So, think about 38mm thick 140mm fans. They could be awesome.


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13364085*
> It does, in a way: fan manufacturers haven't made any good fans yet.
> 
> "Not big enough", what's that supposed to mean? BTW, ever heard of TY-140?
> 
> I agree, but I have another theory: 140mms lose static pressure against 120mms because their thickness is not increased in the same ratio as their other dimensions. *You have seen those "slim" 120mm fans: they suck too*.
> So, think about 38mm thick 140mm fans. They could be awesome.


I can vouch for that, i had to put one of the Scythe Slim 120mm fans in the side of my case since the Scythe Setsugens are so big and i couldnt put one of the normal ones in there. It definately doesnt move air as good as the full-size 120mm fans.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13364085*
> It does, in a way: fan manufacturers haven't made any good fans yet.
> 
> "Not big enough", what's that supposed to mean? BTW, ever heard of TY-140?
> 
> I agree, but I have another theory: 140mms lose static pressure against 120mms because their thickness is not increased in the same ratio as their other dimensions. You have seen those "slim" 120mm fans: they suck too.
> So, think about 38mm thick 140mm fans. They could be awesome.


NO I hadn't heard of the ty-140 but I looked it up and seems to be a nice fan. But the argument is the same that fan has a lot of small design tweeks that make it better than most 140mm but using the same methods on a 120mm fan would make a better fan(just as quiet at higher rpm moving more air).I cant say for shore its because of thickness but it seems that 140mm by 25mm is not the optimum size for air-flow.

Dont get me wrong there are going to be better and better fans on the market at any size but I think 120mm is the sweet spot.

And by not big enough I mean ,its not enough bigger than the 120mm to move more air at slower speeds and reduce noise.When using a 140mm you give up air-flow for less noise.

Now as I said im not shore its thickness because my 230mm fans are 25mm thick and move plenty of air.

All im saying is if you want more airflow above all you get a good 120mm,and if you want silence above all you get a good 200mm fans.

now if you want silence,dont mind loosing airflow,cant fit a 200mm fan,and dont want or cant afford a fan controller then a 140mm is for you.But most suck so go try to find the best one you can the TY-140 looks promising.lol


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13365842*
> Dont get me wrong there are going to be better and better fans on the market at any size but I think 120mm is the sweet spot.


At the moment, yes, but in the future, when fan manufacturers have converted the best 120mm fans into 140mm, it's not. Just like 80mm used to rule, but 120mm overran it. You gotta remember that a 140mm is too big for most places in most computer cases, where both 120mm and 80mm fit easily.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13365842*
> And by not big enough I mean ,its not enough bigger than the 120mm to move more air at slower speeds and reduce noise.When using a 140mm you give up air-flow for less noise.


That doesn't make any sense. Imagine a table with the average CFM/dB-ratio on y-axis, and the size of the fan on x-axis. If we include only for example 50mm, 80mm, 120mm and 200mm fans, the graph would look like this slash: /.
With your theory, including 140mm would make it look like a "lightning", where 140mm is below 120mm and 200mm. And why would that be true?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13365842*
> Now as I said im not shore its thickness because my 230mm fans are 25mm thick and move plenty of air.


I was talking about static pressure, and i don't think youre running your 230mm on a heatsink? Also, you probably used your hand to measure the airflow. I don't believe that's accurate at all, because my hand says that a GentleTyphoon 1150rpm moves less air than a Slip Stream @ 800rpm.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13366219*
> That doesn't make any sense. Imagine a table with the average CFM/dB-ratio on y-axis, and the size of the fan on x-axis. If we include only for example 50mm, 80mm, 120mm and 200mm fans, the graph would look like this slash: /.
> With your theory, including 140mm would make it look like a "lightning", where 140mm is below 120mm and 200mm. And why would that be true?


It makes perfect sense 50mm to 80mm more than a 50% bump in size,80mm to 120mm 50% bump in size,120mm to 140mm less than a 20% bump in size.Although they bump the size less than 20% the rpm drops more like 50% for reduced noise.

No im not saying lightning bolt im saying diminishing returns.Thats the reason most 120mm move more air than 140mm's.You can check for yourself if the two fans are of the same design the slower moving 140mm fan will move less air and make less noise.Put it like this if the fans are the same in every way but size and moving at the same speed the bigger fan will move more air and make more noise im sure we can agree on that.This is why I said the whole point of making the fan bigger is to slow it down to move more air with less noise.What im saying is if designed the same the fact that these sizes are so close you cant slow the 140mm down enough to move more air and effectively make less noise.I know you were talking about pressure but if the 140mm fan was thicker maybe it could accomplish this better.The problem is you have to spin a 140mm almost the same speed as a 120mm fan to move the same amount of air.fact is you have to slow the fans down so much to reduce sound it kills air flow.If you had a two similarly designed fans with different sizes 140mm vs 120mm and both had to put out the same amount of air the difference in rpm would be tiny as would the difference in sound.Now find one of those rare high rpm 140mm fans that move more air and there loud and dont move enough more air to be worth it.diminishing returns.Like I said if you want silent you need slow 1000rpm or less in most cases so you need bigger than 140mm to cool effectively.Now If you want all out air flow you get a delta 120mm and say the hell with noise.we are not talking about imaginary fans but yes im sure a 140mm 3500rpm fan would move more air but as I stated before we are making the fans bigger to reduce noise not improve airflow.Like I said built on compromise.

No im not measuring cfm with my hand im going by the manufacturer.And yes I know there is no standard test but we are talking about the same manufacturers numbers just from size to size.Dont try to tell me every manufacturer uses a different test to measure cfm from120mm to there 140's.


----------



## a pet rock

The reason 120s move more air is because they're at much higher RPMs. I saw a comparison earlier, I think the difference in R4s was 9cfm towards the 120 but the 140 was running at half the speed. Number of fins also makes a big difference in cfm.

EDIT

120mm R4
140mm R4

Two R4s (I know you like those) that are close to the same speed. The slower 140 is 20cfm higher (50% gain) while being 3dBA softer.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;13369072*
> The reason 120s move more air is because they're at much higher RPMs. I saw a comparison earlier, I think the difference in R4s was 9cfm towards the 120 but the 140 was running at half the speed. Number of fins also makes a big difference in cfm.


I know I posted the numbers but thats my point.rpm was cut in half in the name of reduced sound like most 140mm's.thats the problem.
If you + 100% rpm you get almost + 50% cfm,but you also get close to + 300% louder.Im not saying all things equal the 140mm is not going to move more air of coarse it will.Im saying that in the effort to make less noise you end up with less airflow.My point was if you get a good 120mm it wont be that loud and you wont have to make the compromise.Where as with the 140mm the compromise of less noise for less airflow is built-in with most fans.This is why I keep saying the bigger fans are made for less noise not more airflow.And once again I also stated that If you want silent its better to go bigger than 140mm if it fits.

EDIT

That link means less that nothing.If you take a closer look it says the 120mm fan at 1200rpm is 19.3dBA and at 2000rpm is only 19dBA.So reduce the rpm by 800 and it got louder right.here is a link (I know you like those)same site

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9303/fan-575/Cooler_Master_SickleFlow_120x25mm_Super_Silent_Fan_-_Blue_LED_-_R4-L2R-20AC-GP.html?tl=g36c331s518


----------



## Markeh

Soon to be joining you, my MSI HD6870 Hawk should be with me on Thursday.


----------



## Ironcobra

hey guys got a asus eah6850 dont have any pics yet will take care of it but wanted to ask a quick question, started to oc this bad boy currently running 940/1150/1.233 using trixx, no probs whatsoever, what is the safe voltage range for this card and also im at the max trixx will let me raise the volts on the slider any way around this, thanx


----------



## cavallino

Does anyone else have trouble cooling these things? I have the xfx 6870s and it seems to have a ridiculous fan profile. Left to it's own auto fan profile it ends up idling both cards at 55-57c. I have a ridiculous amount of airflow too.


----------



## ReeceMcMuffin

How would i go about joining the 6870 owners club ??


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ironcobra;13377330*
> hey guys got a asus eah6850 dont have any pics yet will take care of it but wanted to ask a quick question, started to oc this bad boy currently running 940/1150/1.233 using trixx, no probs whatsoever, what is the safe voltage range for this card and also im at the max trixx will let me raise the volts on the slider any way around this, thanx


I just OC'd mine to 980/1100 last night at 1.3v. Temps reached 73 max. But I wouldn't just jump to that.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cavallino;13377382*
> Does anyone else have trouble cooling these things? I have the xfx 6870s and it seems to have a ridiculous fan profile. Left to it's own auto fan profile it ends up idling both cards at 55-57c. I have a ridiculous amount of airflow too.


At first mine (even though it's a 6850) was idling kinda high as well. I was going to put a different cooler on and changed my mind once I did a test fit. I used a different TIM (OCZ Freeze) and temp dropped by a lot. Almost 10 degrees if I recall. I can't remember the specifics.


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13367753*
> What im saying is if designed the same the fact that these sizes are so close you cant slow the 140mm down enough to move more air and effectively make less noise.I know you were talking about pressure but if the 140mm fan was thicker maybe it could accomplish this better.The problem is you have to spin a 140mm almost the same speed as a 120mm fan to move the same amount of air.fact is you have to slow the fans down so much to reduce sound it kills air flow.


Give me a good reason for it to do that. A size difference too small is not one (the size difference between 12cm and 14cm is ~36%, btw), you still haven't given me a reason why the efficiency (CFM/dB) curve is not linear. You just keep repeating "140mm is not as effective".
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13367753*
> No im not measuring cfm with my hand im going by the manufacturer.And yes I know there is no standard test but we are talking about the same manufacturers numbers just from size to size.Dont try to tell me every manufacturer uses a different test to measure cfm from120mm to there 140's.


Looks like your fan manufacturers marketing department has succeeded, once again.
Your 2000rpm fan is not the same model as the 1200rpm: the weight, MFT and colors differ way too much. E: seems like you noticed that, too.
Same goes for pet rocks fans, where the CFM is 50% higher for the 140mm but the noise level is 100% lower.

On topic, my 6850 has run 950/1225 at 1.15v stably for ~three months now. Tops 85c in furmark with the fan indistinguishable from 1000rpm GTs - I'd like to give a voltage bump to see if I could break 1ghz, but im worried about temps. I don't want to turn the fan louder.
Instead, I've thought about removing the GPU case and using my own 120mm fan on the heatsink. The only way to do this is to remove the whole heatsink. Question is, are the guys at Sapphire able to see if I have removed the heatsink and reapplied the TIM?


----------



## Ironcobra

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13377949*
> Give me a good reason for it to do that. A size difference too small is not one (the size difference between 12cm and 14cm is ~36%, btw), you still haven't given me a reason why the efficiency (CFM/dB) curve is not linear. You just keep repeating "140mm is not as effective".
> Looks like your fan manufacturers marketing department has succeeded, once again.
> Your 2000rpm fan is not the same model as the 1200rpm: the weight, MFT and colors differ way too much. E: seems like you noticed that, too.
> Same goes for pet rocks fans, where the CFM is 50% higher for the 140mm but the noise level is 100% lower.
> 
> On topic, my 6850 has run 950/1225 at 1.15v stably for ~three months now. Tops 85c in furmark with the fan indistinguishable from 1000rpm GTs - I'd like to give a voltage bump to see if I could break 1ghz, but im worried about temps. I don't want to turn the fan louder.
> Instead, I've thought about removing the GPU case and using my own 120mm fan on the heatsink. The only way to do this is to remove the whole heatsink. Question is, are the guys at Sapphire able to see if I have removed the heatsink and reapplied the TIM?


1.15v? are u sure


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13377949*
> On topic, my 6850 has run 950/1225 at 1.15v stably for ~three months now. Tops 85c in furmark with the fan indistinguishable from 1000rpm GTs - I'd like to give a voltage bump to see if I could break 1ghz, but im worried about temps. I don't want to turn the fan louder.


1.15v is insane! Are you sure that's right? I got my 980/1100 oc using 1.3v at the moment.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13377949*
> Instead, I've thought about removing the GPU case and using my own 120mm fan on the heatsink. The only way to do this is to remove the whole heatsink. Question is, are the guys at Sapphire able to see if I have removed the heatsink and reapplied the TIM?


I reapplied TIM on mine. Pretty sure it's ok as long as you don't do any modifications.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13377949*
> Give me a good reason for it to do that. A size difference too small is not one (the size difference between 12cm and 14cm is ~36%, btw), you still haven't given me a reason why the efficiency (CFM/dB) curve is not linear. You just keep repeating "140mm is not as effective".
> Looks like your fan manufacturers marketing department has succeeded, once again.


The reason the chart would not be linear is simple, because the fans are designed on compromise (noise before airflow).It would be linear if the amount of the size bump was in direct correlation with the amount the rpm is lowered but thats not the case.
The smaller difference is the point.The bigger the difference between the two fans the more you can reduce rpm and keep airflow up.With the size difference so small you cant reduce rpm by 80+% and keep air flow up.once again of coarse you can reduce rpm and move the same amount of air but it has to be in correlation with size.IM saying with almost all 140mm they reduce rpm too much in the name of sound to keep up with the 120's.built on compromise.Let me try to explain Diminishing returns.The bigger the fan gets the less your going to get out of a 20mm bump in size.
Think about it going from 200mm to a 220mm do you really think you can reduce the rpm by 80% and still keep the same airflow?

I cant think of a easier way to put it.lets use your numbers lets say the 140mm fan can run 36% slower and move the same amount of air the problem is that 36% reduction in rpm is not enough to make the fan much quieter than a 120mm so they lower the rpm even more to reduce sound and compromise airflow in the process.If they made 140mm fans for airflow alone (some companies are starting to now)shore they would move more air but thats not what im saying.Im saying right now if your getting a exhaust fan and airflow is your prime concern gat a good 120mm,and if silence is your prime concern and you can fit one a 200mm fan would be best.Noise dosn't matter you get a crazy 5500rpm 120mm 252cfm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835706015
Noise is a factor but you still want great airflow if you can fit it you get a 700rpm 200mm 110cfm 19dba
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103073
the highest airflow 140mm at newegg(easily found)
1800rpm 103cfm 36dba
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835132023
now considering I can get a 1900rpm 120mm 110cfm at 37dba the 140mm is not looking too good.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185060


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ironcobra;13378006*
> 1.15v? are u sure


Yes, and I've seen many similar clocks.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13378821*
> The reason the chart would not be linear is simple, because the fans are designed on compromise (noise before airflow).


Why would they do this when you can always lower the rpm of the fan yourself?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13378821*
> IM saying with almost all 140mm they reduce rpm too much in the name of sound to keep up with the 120's.built on compromise.Let me try to explain Diminishing returns.The bigger the fan gets the less your going to get out of a 20mm bump in size.


Are you talking about pure CFM or efficiency (CFM/dB ratio)? You're just saying you can't lower the rpm as much, but it has nothing to do with the efficiency I'm talking about.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13378821*
> Think about it going from 200mm to a 220mm do you really think you can reduce the rpm by 80% and still keep the same airflow?


I'm not saying that, and that's not the point.


----------



## Ironcobra

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13379071*
> Yes, and I've seen many similar clocks.


no offense but pics please, i really find it hard to believe ur running that high on stock volts, i cant get higher then 920 on stock


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;13378664*
> 1.15v is insane! Are you sure that's right? I got my 980/1100 oc using 1.3v at the moment.


That voltage seems high to me. I got my single card to 995/1200 at 1.225. Did you just mash the voltage to max or run separate tests for each bump?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ironcobra;13379209*
> no offense but pics please, i really find it hard to believe ur running that high on stock volts, i cant get higher then 920 on stock


I can't remember what my max at stock volts was (haven't OC'd since I went CF), but my last saved profile on stock volts is only 860/1100. Probably should've tried pushing that I guess.


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ironcobra;13379209*
> no offense but pics please, i really find it hard to believe ur running that high on stock volts, i cant get higher then 920 on stock


Sure, should I run 3Dmark06, Heaven 2.1, GTV IV or maybe Furmark or something else for the screencap?


----------



## Ironcobra

no its ok im just like woa, i just got new ram in to replace my faulty and was able to goto 940 on stock 1.157, its probaly just different cards but what an oc on stock if tru, trixx only lets me goto 1.233 and i cant get over 960 with that


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;13379351*
> That voltage seems high to me. I got my single card to 995/1200 at 1.225. Did you just mash the voltage to max or run separate tests for each bump?


Yeah, I probably could lower it back down a bit. I kept bumping it up to that point and finally decided to come down on the memory and then it became stable. This only happened last night so tonight I'll do more tweaking.


----------



## Damn_Smooth

I want in this club. My overclock isn't too high because I can't touch the voltage.

Broken image, hold on.

Fixed.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Damn_Smooth;13380101*
> I want in this club. My overclock isn't too high because I can't touch the voltage.


Just curious, can't or don't want to? I didn't know there were 68xxs that didn't allow voltage control.


----------



## smoke420

Why would they do this when you can always lower the rpm of the fan yourself?

Because when they bumped the size from 120 to 140 they were doing it for a quieter fan not for more airflow.This is why I keep talking about the 200mm fans if they were doing it for airflow they would be much higher rpm and cfm just like the 140mm.

Are you talking about pure CFM or efficiency (CFM/dB ratio)? You're just saying you can't lower the rpm as much, but it has nothing to do with the efficiency I'm talking about.

In a way both, meaning efficiency (CFM/dB ratio) yes the 140mm would be better but because there so close in size that point were the 140mm is moving more air at lower noise levels is smaller compared to say the jump from 80mm to 120mm.
Now for pure cfm.Same speed the bigger fan is going to move more air.but because the sizes are so close you only have so much you can lower the rpm before your moving less air than the smaller fan.

Im not saying on a efficiency (CFM/dB ratio)chart that the 140mm wouldn't be between the 120 and the 200.Im saying that 120 and 140 would be so close that if you lowered the rpm enough to make it quiet (most manufacturers are doing this)it will move less air then a 120.and if you want to move more air than a 120 the rpm of the 140 would have to be so close it wouldn't be quiet.

As to why the manufacturers do this,its the same reason they make low rpm super quiet 120mm fans.Most people go bigger for less noise sure you could get a fan controller and lower the speed yourself but not everyone wants to, and they like to advertise how quiet there fans are.

Im not saying a 140mm fan cant be more efficient than a 120mm.

What im saying is most 140mm fans are so biased towards being quiet that they move less air than a good 120mm 2000rpm fan, and they aren't that loud to begin with.


----------



## Krusher33

I think you're speaking of the ones that brag about being under 10dB? Where humans can't hear that low anyways? Yeah, they're on my ignore list.

Anyhow, this debate has gone on long enough for a thread about video cards. If you wish to keep it going, start a thread in the Air Cooling section and link here.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;13379351*
> That voltage seems high to me. I got my single card to 995/1200 at 1.225. Did you just mash the voltage to max or run separate tests for each bump?


Dropped down to 1200... failed in less than a minute. 5mv bumps till 1280. 1280 passes for 20 minutes.

Not a decent card but, meh. I'll probably be running it at 950 gaming/folding sessions anyways where it's good at 1200.

I am proud of the cooler though. Even at that high of voltage and clocking, temps never reached above 74. Made me nervous because 80 is the limit I go by.


----------



## abu46

hey guys

i own an asus eah 6850, on which i want to reapply the TIM
i have some questions as i have read many of you have reaaplied TIM on your cards and achieved better temps

1.how easy is to remove the cooler from the pcb
2. will removing the cooler and reapplying TIM void warranty
3.what should be the best method to apply the TIM, whether it should be rice grain method or should i apply the TIM on the 2 Cu pipes first??


----------



## Krusher33

1. Mine was just 4 screws and pull apart. Sticky from TIM.
2. I don't think so.
3. Most have solid copper. It's rice grain if that's the case. If direct heatpipes, then lines in between the pipes.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;13389712*
> 1. Mine was just 4 screws and pull apart. Sticky from TIM.
> 2. I don't think so.
> 3. Most have solid copper. It's rice grain if that's the case. If direct heatpipes, then lines in between the pipes.


1.yup just like the sapphire only 4 screws. run furmark or something similar before removal to heat up the tim a little and the cooler will come right off.

2.Also coudn't find this info but truthfully I dont see how they could tell anyway.

3.I got best results by using both methods.a razor thin layer on the heatsink to fill all the voids.and a rice grain on the gpu incase the heatsink wasn't flat.

I have herd that you can get a bubble doing it like this but haven't had any problems.I have sense replaced both coolers with aftermarket one's also direct heatpipe using the same method.


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13383360*
> Im not saying on a efficiency (CFM/dB ratio)chart that the 140mm wouldn't be between the 120 and the 200.Im saying that 120 and 140 would be so close that if you lowered the rpm enough to make it quiet (most manufacturers are doing this)it will move less air then a 120.and if you want to move more air than a 120 the rpm of the 140 would have to be so close it wouldn't be quiet.


What do you mean with quiet, quieter than 120mm or? If that's the case, then you are saying it's not between the 120mm and the 200mm. Otherwise im pretty confus.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13383360*
> What im saying is most 140mm fans are so biased towards being quiet that they move less air than a good 120mm 2000rpm fan, and they aren't that loud to begin with.


What's your point, of course silent 140mms move less air than an ear raping 120mm?

On topic, I asked Sapphire about replacing/reapplying the TIM and they said it would ruin the warranty. The only way for them to check if the heatsink's been removed would be some kind of a warranty sticker (or analysing the ingredients of the paste in case it looks similar), so you have to be careful during the operation.


----------



## abu46

thnx guys

as you can see in this pic that the eah6850 dosent have a solid cu base but 2 pipes
so i guess line method would work better, right?
also in th pic you can see a lot of TIM as spreaded outside the cu pipes, is it correct or a case of too much TIM being applied?








[/URL] Uploaded with http://imageshack.us


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13390630*
> On topic, I asked Sapphire about replacing/reapplying the TIM and they said it would ruin the warranty. The only way for them to check if the heatsink's been removed would be some kind of a warranty sticker (or analysing the ingredients of the paste in case it looks similar), so you have to be careful during the operation.


Didn't see a sticker on mine.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;13390981*
> thnx guys
> 
> as you can see in this pic that the eah6850 dosent have a solid cu base but 2 pipes
> so i guess line method would work better, right?
> also in th pic you can see a lot of TIM as spreaded outside the cu pipes, is it correct or a case of too much TIM being applied?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [/URL] Uploaded with http://imageshack.us


Id say its a little too much but thats normal for most manufacturers besides if no tim comes out the side its probably not enough(unless you lap the cooler) .The reason I applied a little to the heatsink is there was a small gap between the base and the heat pipes I wanted to make sure some tim got in there.If this is the same for you, use a credit card and smear a little tim across the point of contact and make sure the voids are full whatever method you use.

And there was no such sticker on my cards not that I care.I voided my warranty a long time ago.lol


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


And there was no such sticker on my cards not that I care.I voided my warranty a long time ago.lol


Mod Men must be proud of OCN for voiding a heck of a lot of warranties. But then again... it's their business so in a sense we're taking their business???


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


Mod Men must be proud of OCN for voiding a heck of a lot of warranties. But then again... it's their business so in a sense we're taking their business???


We're not taking too much business from them im sure they have more work then they can handle anyway.Don't get me wrong they do great work much better than mine.But I like saying mine was built by smoke.lol

Its no were near the best but it still feels great knowing you did it all yourself


----------



## a pet rock

If it voids the warranty, then they probably have a hidden sticker. I know Powercolor uses a sticker on the inside of the card so that you don't see it until it's too late.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


Dropped down to 1200... failed in less than a minute. 5mv bumps till 1280. 1280 passes for 20 minutes.

Not a decent card but, meh. I'll probably be running it at 950 gaming/folding sessions anyways where it's good at 1200.

I am proud of the cooler though. Even at that high of voltage and clocking, temps never reached above 74. Made me nervous because 80 is the limit I go by.


Hmm... I guess my card is better at OCing than I thought.







I'll have to check my second card and see how well it does.


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:



Originally Posted by *a pet rock*


If it voids the warranty, then they probably have a hidden sticker. I know Powercolor uses a sticker on the inside of the card so that you don't see it until it's too late.


Exactly, "I didn't see any sticker on my card" means usually nothing.

Do VReg temps matter at all? Mine stay on 27c all the time.

I discovered that my cards memory is probably bad, it gives strange artifacts that usually pop up when scrolling on Opera (or any browser), no matter what clocks I'm running. First I thought it was my PSU that had gone bad because my computer simply shuts down every now and then, but trying my brothers 430w Seasonic made no difference. 
The only thing I'm afraid of in RMA'ing is that my mobo could be the reason too, considering those freezes and shutdowns. If my local seller discovers no artifacts, it would cost me something like 50€ for a faulty RMA.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *a pet rock*


If it voids the warranty, then they probably have a hidden sticker. I know Powercolor uses a sticker on the inside of the card so that you don't see it until it's too late.

Hmm... I guess my card is better at OCing than I thought.







I'll have to check my second card and see how well it does.


Well I think I remember comparing to others who have submitted on HWBot and most of them are over 1.2v to go over 950mhz as well. I could be mixed up about it though. My memory is crap.


----------



## smoke420

Exactly, "I didn't see any sticker on my card" means usually nothing.

The asus eha6850 v1 he asked about have no sticker.

Do VReg temps matter at all? Mine stay on 27c all the time.

yes the vreg temps are very important if you overvolt your cards.Not all 6850's have vreg temps that can be monitored with gpu-z.if yours is one of them gpu-z will show vreg temp 1 and vreg temp 2.one of them stays the same temp no matter what. mine stay between 24 and 26c.the other is the one that matters.









I discovered that my cards memory is probably bad, it gives strange artifacts that usually pop up when scrolling on Opera (or any browser), no matter what clocks I'm running. First I thought it was my PSU that had gone bad because my computer simply shuts down every now and then, but trying my brothers 430w Seasonic made no difference. 
The only thing I'm afraid of in RMA'ing is that my mobo could be the reason too, considering those freezes and shutdowns. If my local seller discovers no artifacts, it would cost me something like 50€ for a faulty RMA.

I also had issues with browsing not artifacts but screen tearing.And I was getting restarts when at full load with high voltage.At first I thought it was my psu so I removed a couple of hdd's and lowered the voltage on my cpu this added some stablity but the problem was still there.Instead of restarting it blue screened normally this would suck but the blue screen gave me my fix.All of my problems came from video drivers.The message was something like your display driver failed and timed out.after uninstalling the drivers and removing the cards from the device manager ran driver sweeper reinstalled the drivers and problem solved.I had x4 gpu's x2 ati and x2 nvidia so it may not be the same problem but it wont hurt to try.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


Well I think I remember comparing to others who have submitted on HWBot and most of them are over 1.2v to go over 950mhz as well. I could be mixed up about it though. My memory is crap.


your right in the ballpark.One of my cards will do 1000mhz with 1.21 the other needs 1.3+ to get 950(and its still not stable).Luck of the draw sucks when your unlucky.lol


----------



## XiZeL

im in with a 6950 powercolor unlocked


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *XiZeL*


im in with a 6950 powercolor unlocked


















Wrong club.


----------



## Davitz

Asus HD6850 Directcu x2


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davitz;13395465*
> Asus HD6850 Directcu x2


What are your temps?

my temps aren't bad at all but I read a review saying 27c idle and 50c load.Of coarse crossfire will raise temps but I don't see how it could go up that much.


----------



## abu46

in eah 6850 its the 2 cu pipes that do all the work of carrying the heat, right?
so i need to apply TIM on those pipes only?

@smoke420
what are your ambient temps?
my 6850 idles around 46C with 33-34 ambients and touches 80C with crysis(non oced)


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;13399243*
> in eah 6850 its the 2 cu pipes that do all the work of carrying the heat, right?
> so i need to apply TIM on those pipes only?
> 
> @smoke420
> what are your ambient temps?
> my 6850 idles around 46C with 33-34 ambients and touches 80C with crysis(non oced)


1.No not just the pipes the whole area it was before .Put a rice grain size drop in the middle of the gpu and it will spread when you put the two pieces together.for an extra messure of security you could smear some on the heatsink to fill the voids .If your not sure find a video on youtube.

2.my ambient is 26-27 and my cards idle 35 and 45 .one idles at 45c because im running dual monitors.63c furmark (non oced)


----------



## abu46

would you rate my temps. abnormal considering the ambients??

which sw is davitz using in the lower left corner of the scrshot
is it exclusive to rog mobo only??


----------



## ReeceMcMuffin

I would like to join but im new to this site and dont know how to add my screenshot








can someone help me please?? 
thanks


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *abu46*


would you rate my temps. abnormal considering the ambients??

which sw is davitz using in the lower left corner of the scrshot
is it exclusive to rog mobo only??


with your ambient temps that high Id say your doing fine,but for a good overclock and overvolt you need a new cooler or ac.lol


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


The asus eha6850 v1 he asked about have no sticker.


The point is, how can you know for sure? It's not made to be seen because you could easily use steam or something to remove it intact.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I also had issues with browsing not artifacts but screen tearing.All of my problems came from video drivers.The message was something like your display driver failed and timed out.after uninstalling the drivers and removing the cards from the device manager ran driver sweeper reinstalled the drivers and problem solved.I had x4 gpu's x2 ati and x2 nvidia so it may not be the same problem but it wont hurt to try.


I've already tried different drivers with no luck, and I'm getting these things on idle too


----------



## Davitz

@*Smoke*- With the GPU's under 100% load in Furmark they never pass 54C

@*Abu*- The heatpipes make direct contact but are flush with the alu heatsink so the heatsink makes a little contact too. Make sure when applying TIM to get some in the crack between the pipes and the sink. The Monitor on the lower left is called AISuite, it comes naturally like that on the Crosshair IV Extreme. The formula has a different skin. The volts are dead on perfect as it goes through Probe-It, pretty much reads the volts and temps from the bios and displays them there. Its really really awesome. Also if there's any notable fluctuation, it lets you know immediately.

If you go to the Asus site you may be able to DL AISuite.

@*Reece* Welcome! Just bring up GPU-Z and press the pr sc or print screen button on your keyboard. Open paint or another program of the sort, press ctrl+v and save the resulting image. Then when making your post, make sure you hit go advanced at the bottom of this page and click on manage attachments. There will be a select file button where you can go into where you saved the file and upload it in a thumbnail view which others will be able to see once you submit your post.

Hope that helps!

And yes, those are D&D "minis" in the 3rd picture.


----------



## pditty8811

My current overclock on my Sapphire HD 6850 is 1045 core and 1187 mem with 1.359 vcore. I am inching it up but I was curious the max temp for this card. I used to run my hd 4850 up to 100 celcius.

I am also having graphical issues with the last 2 tests on 3dmark06, I think it is a new driver issue. I have the latest drivers.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderbro;13403079*
> The point is, how can you know for sure? It's not made to be seen because you could easily use steam or something to remove it intact.
> 
> I've already tried different drivers with no luck, and I'm getting these things on idle too


NO the point is it has no sticker.

I know for sure because I own 2 of them and have modded them countless times.And after I got to the point I couldn't mod the coolers anymore I replaced them.Check my sig.

only way to be sure before a RMA is to try the video card in another system.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davitz;13406666*
> @*Smoke*- With the GPU's under 100% load in Furmark they never pass 54C
> 
> @*Abu*- The heatpipes make direct contact but are flush with the alu heatsink so the heatsink makes a little contact too. Make sure when applying TIM to get some in the crack between the pipes and the sink. The Monitor on the lower left is called AISuite, it comes naturally like that on the Crosshair IV Extreme. The formula has a different skin. The volts are dead on perfect as it goes through Probe-It, pretty much reads the volts and temps from the bios and displays them there. Its really really awesome. Also if there's any notable fluctuation, it lets you know immediately.
> 
> If you go to the Asus site you may be able to DL AISuite.
> 
> @*Reece* Welcome! Just bring up GPU-Z and press the pr sc or print screen button on your keyboard. Open paint or another program of the sort, press ctrl+v and save the resulting image. Then when making your post, make sure you hit go advanced at the bottom of this page and click on manage attachments. There will be a select file button where you can go into where you saved the file and upload it in a thumbnail view which others will be able to see once you submit your post.
> 
> Hope that helps!
> 
> And yes, those are D&D "minis" in the 3rd picture.


wow you have awesome temps any mods done to the cards ?

what is your ambient temp ?

What settings are you running furmark?
I run with post fx on, extreme burning mode enabled,and in fullscreen at my monitors max res.


----------



## Davitz

Stability+MaxRes I dont do max burn as im just copying what Legit Reviews do for their temp benchmarks. Ambient is about 20-25C. Of course those temps are with fans at 100% not 45-50 for low sound.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davitz;13409342*
> Stability+MaxRes I dont do max burn as im just copying what Legit Reviews do for their temp benchmarks. Ambient is about 20-25C. Of course those temps are with fans at 100% not 45-50 for low sound.


still great temps.Im using a custom fan profile but I also have aftermarket coolers and you still got me beat.But 20c is a little too cool for me, I already keep the room too cool just for the pc.lol


----------



## Davitz

Canada = Cold as hell


----------



## otaku_ex

These are my cards in CFX
Gigabyte 6850 OC 1GB
Sapphire 6850 1GB


----------



## abu46

@Davitz

thanks dear
if mu guess is right you have the v2 of eah6850

BTW you cabby looks great in blue !!


----------



## spiderbro

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I know for sure because I own 2 of them and have modded them countless times.And after I got to the point I couldn't mod the coolers anymore I replaced them.Check my sig.


Did you even read my message? How can you be sure there are no stickers? They are meant to be invisible to the customer.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


only way to be sure before a RMA is to try the video card in another system.


Yeah, i just remembered I have a friend living not too far who has a HD4870. It's worth trying.


----------



## Davitz

@*Abu*- Yep both cards are V2 because of the 2 6pin connectors. And thanks, she's a NZXT Phantom with the 2m blue strand lighting kit.


----------



## Ecks9T

I have two sapphire 6870 xfire (Top: card 1 Bottom: card 2)


----------



## Calexan

AMD Catalyst 11.5 released

11.5 release notes http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles...easeNotes.aspx

11.5 http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloa...downloads.aspx<-- choose your OS

11.5a hotfix http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles...15ahotfix.aspx


----------



## Kevlo

cool beans


----------



## gmopinillosv

Hello Masterwork

I have the same problem with my HD 6850. When I am watching tv on my computer after 5 min my computer shut down suddendly but into any game it work perfectly.

Somebody have a idea what is happening? I need help. Thanks.

My email is [email protected] (I need that help as soon as possible)


----------



## arrow0309

*Gigabyte Radeon HD 6870 1GB SOC.*

Link: http://aphnetworks.com/reviews/gigabyte_radeon_hd_6870_1gb_soc

Core Clock: 950 MHz
Memory Clock: 4400 MHz


----------



## arrow0309

Could some of you guys post some screenshot showing the max. (gpuz) recorded temp for the vrm's of a Msi 6870 Twin Frozr II (reference) in full load? coz I'm not convinced of the heatspreader that covers the card, especially of the small vrm stripe area:



























From a german review that won't convince me about the gpu temps (I was expecting) neither:

http://ht4u.net/reviews/2011/msi_r6870_twin_frozr_2_test/index6.php


----------



## arrow0309

I'm asking you this because I'm considering this 6870 reference model as one of the best (aftermarket cooling) two cards for my cf setup (planning to get one of them pretty soon since I allready have a reference 6870), the other one is the His 6870 IceQ X Turbo. I did manage to find them two for about 150€ (each), quite difficult to decide


----------



## Krusher33

Memory is covered too. Yeah... I'd say go for the HIS cause that makes 2 of us not keen on the idea.


----------



## arrow0309

I'm thinking af getting the His too, interesting cooling solution: better vrm heatsink, different but efficient gpu cooler (with two 8mm and two 6 mm heatpipes) and (the part I like most) it has a nice, blu pcb (yet reference layout)



























http://forums.ocdrift.com/index.php?...ceq-x-turbo-x/

And I decided to get the Turbo (920/1120) not the Turbo X (975/1150) version since is supposed to work in a cfx setup (not allways in OC)


----------



## arrow0309

*HIS 6850 IceQ X Turbo Graphics Card* review by VIPERLAIR

Link: http://www.viperlair.com/his-6850-iceq-x-turbo-graphics-card/


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*












Actual heatsinks and not some flat piece of metal.


----------



## Warblade31

I have a Newbie question: I want to crossfire my XFX 6870, can I use another maker like a Sapphire 6870 for the second card or do I have to use another XFX? Also does it have to be the same model? For example can I use a 6850(random) instead.


----------



## Calexan

@ Warblade31

i dont see why not as long as its a 6870 you can even use a pre OC'ed version..

some people do prefer to crossfire identical cards though..
i dunno maybe for looks or it just feels better for them to have 2 identical cards


----------



## Warblade31

@Calexan Thank you. I was under the impression that they had to be identical, but your telling me they dont have to be. Is there a trade off though if you use one weaker one vs a faster card?

Heres another question. Can you have one Black edition version that you can OC and then one regular one that is not unlocked?

Thanks for the help!


----------



## Calexan

this thread answers your question plus more
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=938888

hope it helps


----------



## Warblade31

Thanks for the link and the help.


----------



## Calexan

np glad i can help


----------



## Tokkan

my cpu-z for a 6850 sapphire
add me


----------



## Krusher33

Looks a heck of a lot like mine.


----------



## abu46

why isnt gpu-z showing opencl on my asus eah 6850
i have cat 11.5a, even after i install stand alone opencl driver it dosent checks this option and installs some sdk components for opencl


----------



## theshadow03

add me http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/6hr2w/


----------



## nerdybeat

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Warblade31;13485514*
> I have a Newbie question: I want to crossfire my XFX 6870, can I use another maker like a Sapphire 6870 for the second card or do I have to use another XFX? Also does it have to be the same model? For example can I use a 6850(random) instead.


I know it's a bit late, but I am actually running Sapphire + XFX 6870's in crossfire and overclocked with no issues =)

The looks on my two models are the same.
XFX
Sapphire

My temps are fine on them. My XFX (top card) gets a bit hotter while gaming than the Sapphire on the bottom, but that's to be expected in most instances.

Good luck !!


----------



## Calexan

Quote:



why isnt gpu-z showing opencl on my asus eah 6850
i have cat 11.5a, even after i install stand alone opencl driver it dosent checks this option and installs some sdk components for opencl


have you tried using the 11.5 with integrated OpenCL?

& why would you use hotfix btw? do you have problems as described in the hotfix?


----------



## Oleh

My Gigabyte HD 6850:


----------



## abu46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13505391*
> have you tried using the 11.5 with integrated OpenCL?
> 
> & why would you use hotfix btw? do you have problems as described in the hotfix?


got it fixed after reinstalling the 11.5a









am using the hotfix as they claimed to solve the mouse lag issue but it dosent
is using hotfix drivers not recommended or something?


----------



## Horsemama1956

Planning on a 6870 on Monday/Tuesday.. But 5870's are the same price around here with NO rebates. They are going for 209-219, which is the same price as standard 6870's. Personally if they are still there I'm thinking the 5870 is the better option as it's faster, easily.

Anyone know if that stupid grey screen thing is still a problem? I only got it once on my 5770 in Windows XP(when the 5770 first came out) and never again.

Hmm, seems the 5870 isn't all that much faster anymore.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956*


PHmm, seems the 5870 isn't all that much faster anymore.


That doesn't surprise me. It was beating the 6870 by a small margin back in December. Now five months later, I would hope the drivers would help catch up, especially given how long they worked on 11.4 for just performance increases. Not to mention, the 6870 runs cooler, quieter, and with less power with much better CF scaling. The only reason I can see getting a 5xxx card is if you want to CF a card you already have or if it is noticeably cheaper.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *a pet rock*


That doesn't surprise me. It was beating the 6870 by a small margin back in December. Now five months later, I would hope the drivers would help catch up, especially given how long they worked on 11.4 for just performance increases. Not to mention, the 6870 runs cooler, quieter, and with less power with much better CF scaling. The only reason I can see getting a 5xxx card is if you want to CF a card you already have or if it is noticeably cheaper.


There is one more reason.Quadfire.lol

With the 6800 series your limited to 2 cards.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Yeah, I was thinking the newer card would be better, as they both have similar overclock limits. Looking at reviews the 5870 is slightly faster to a good deal faster(like 10 frames). It only seems to lose in stuff heavily favoured by nVidia, and only by a few frames.

Not too concerned with power consumption, I just really don't want to upgrade anymore for another year or so, so I'm trying to grab the most powerful card in the $200 range.

Around here I can get the 460/6850/5850 ~160, the 5870/470/6870 ~220. 560/6950's are 260+ and I don't want to spend that much for a few frames more. I'm on a CRT until places start getting more variety of LCDs, as I haven't shopped online in a few years, and won't be doing so anytime soon. So I have flexibility with resolution(1600x1200 min). Would get the 470, but they're probably gone by now, or will be by Tuesday.

I can't crossfire with this board and chip together, and I don't really want several hundred dollars tied up in GPUs just for games(I mainly play Starcraft 2).

Also which cooler for the 6870? I see they have them with one similar to the Sapphire 6850, or the full coverage blower style.

Hmm, there is a PNY 560 ti for 229, so it looks like I'll have to see if I can trust it and just make a decision when I go buy whichever is in stock.

Edit - Yeah, the store is closed and they have 4 of the PNY 560 ti's so they should be there Monday/Tuesday. Didn't really want to get another Fermi, but seems like the best option for the money. +Rep.


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> s using hotfix drivers not recommended or something?


well 11.5a is quite bulky







& benefits mostly the 6600 series but if your mouse lags
& want to fix then hotfix is for you.. its just a matter of preference really


----------



## a pet rock

@Horsemama1956

Well, you also have to remember those reviews probably came out at release. They've had 6 months of driver support for just the 6xxx series. The 5xxx line just kinda got left behind. Kinda.

This shows that 6xxx line got boosts from 10-70% in games from the 11.4 driver release. Now, that's AMD saying it, so take it with a grain of salt. Even so, I'd say off hand the average increase a user will see is about 5-10 fps depending on how botched that game was ahead of time.

The 560 at $230 is probably a good buy. It's roughly at the same level as a 6870 (release drivers again). It'd be a pretty tough decision there.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Yeah I'm checking reviews, and various threads for answers. That HardOCP review is the only one where the 6870 is really in the conversation with the 560 and 6950 though. Game choices are far too limited in their reviews, I find.

Everything I've gathered suggests 6870 with the 470, 560 with the 6950's in terms of performance with them all costing about the same, give or take aside from the 6950 which is 250-260.


----------



## a pet rock

At guru3d they said basically the same thing as at the [H]. It competes well with the 6870, but the 6950 is too close in price for it to be a good deal. Again though, a 560 for $230 is a good deal and I'd have a hard time deciding between that and the 6870.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Looks like i can't really go wrong here, though i don't think I want to deal with Fermi again. So I'll just grab a 5870 or 6870. Whichever I feel like, I guess.


----------



## abu46

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Calexan*


well 11.5a is quite bulky







& benefits mostly the 6600 series but if your mouse lags
& want to fix then hotfix is for you.. its just a matter of preference really


maybe i am wrong but IMO 11.5a is "bulky" as its the same installation for 32 & 64bit ver. both


----------



## Calexan

yup almost the same save for the fixes on certain issues..

so i use non hotfix version since i dont have any issues lol


----------



## sunnyFTW

my 3dmark 11 scores on 11.5a are very less compared to 11.4 preview driver :'(


----------



## Horsemama1956

Thanks for the opinions, though i received a 460 from a relative for $50, brand new. Couldn't pass that up, and I'll just hold onto it until the next cards come out at some point this year.

Not sure I really wanted to spend $200 on the cards currently available as they aren't much better then the 6850/460 cards just below them.


----------



## Krusher33

Wow! A 460 for $50?! Nice!


----------



## mltms

i have oc my card to 1000 core 1150 mem 1.250 volt

top temp in furmark is 89 in 10 minuts

is my oc good in save ?


----------



## johnno25

Hi guys, new to this forum. Stumbled across it while searching for info on my 6850 I recently received.

Having an issue that i couldn't find a solution to in the many pages i went through.

My card is an HIS HD 6850 and for some unknown reason it just plain does not like any 11 series drivers. I get constant driver crashes while gaming at stock clocks. However, I did a full driver sweep and went to 10.10 drivers and they work perfectly. I've been thinking about going to 10.12 drivers but afraid to since 10.10 seems to be the only driver I found that works.

I really hate not being able to use the full power of my card (new drivers are supposed to be better, right?). Does anyone have an idea of what may be wrong? I'm thinking it may be a compatibility issue with another driver but I'd really hate to wipe my pc I just got it the way i want it.

Win7 ultimate 64
HIS HD 6850
Asus M4A785-M mainboard
AMD Phenom 9550 Quad core
4GB OCZ vista DDR2 800

More specs available if needed.
Any suggestions or help is appreciated.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mltms;13527601*
> i have oc my card to 1000 core 1150 mem 1.250 volt
> 
> top temp in furmark is 89 in 10 minuts
> 
> is my oc good in save ?


89 is outside my comfort zone. I try to stay below 80. Are you using stock cooler?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *johnno25;13527750*
> Hi guys, new to this forum. Stumbled across it while searching for info on my 6850 I recently received.
> 
> Having an issue that i couldn't find a solution to in the many pages i went through.
> 
> My card is an HIS HD 6850 and for some unknown reason it just plain does not like any 11 series drivers. I get constant driver crashes while gaming at stock clocks. However, I did a full driver sweep and went to 10.10 drivers and they work perfectly. I've been thinking about going to 10.12 drivers but afraid to since 10.10 seems to be the only driver I found that works.
> 
> I really hate not being able to use the full power of my card (new drivers are supposed to be better, right?). Does anyone have an idea of what may be wrong? I'm thinking it may be a compatibility issue with another driver but I'd really hate to wipe my pc I just got it the way i want it.
> 
> Win7 ultimate 64
> HIS HD 6850
> Asus M4A785-M mainboard
> AMD Phenom 9550 Quad core
> 4GB OCZ vista DDR2 800
> 
> More specs available if needed.
> Any suggestions or help is appreciated.


That's interesting... are you certain you downloaded the right one? ei 32 or 64 bit version? Did you get it from HIS's site or AMD's? I prefer the one from AMD. Never had problems with drivers directly from their site.


----------



## johnno25

Downloaded directly from AMD site. I suppose once I might possibly have clicked x86 instead of 64 but I've tried 11.1 right up to 11.5 and they all do the same thing. Haven't tried 11.5a so going to download it now and see if that stops the issue.

My gut tells me I've got an incompatible driver somewhere but finding which one it may be is going to suck.


----------



## Krusher33

Always does. Usually in those cases you'll want to remove ALL AMD/ATi files and try again.


----------



## d3tained1

Hi All....

Im a proud owner of 2 x Sapphire 6850 Toxic cards in crossfire...Mixed feelings about the setup!

1st post here....

Jacobus


----------



## nerdybeat

Quote:



Originally Posted by *d3tained1*


Hi All....

Im a proud owner of 2 x Sapphire 6850 Toxic cards in crossfire...Mixed feelings about the setup!

1st post here....

Jacobus


Welcome!

What makes you iffy about the setup? What res/how many monitors are you gaming on?


----------



## d3tained1

Sorry still need to do my signature.

Running on a Samsung BX2450 24" LED LCD at 1080p.

I primarily play Bad Company 2 and COD: Black Ops. Black Ops just runs poorly in crossfirex. I disable crossfire when playing Black Ops. Even with crossfire disable the game performs worse compared to physically removing the card (Dont understand this) but at least more than playable.

Bad Company 2 I get flashes from time to time. Dark lines flash running from top to bottom....The performance is great and high details. I still need to test other games.

I have tried different drivers / CAP's etc...game configurations and CCC settings.

Overall I am happy with the setup besides the couple of issues. Let's hope Battlefield 3 have some awesome crossfirex support.

If you guys have any tips or tweaks it would be great.

I am going to reinstall windows 7 tomorrow and load latest CCC with Drivers and then the latest CAPS.

Cherio
Jacobus


----------



## Krusher33

Let us know how that goes please. I was actually considering Crossfiring mine but now you're scaring me.


----------



## padzki

Hi! im a newbee regarding OC on video cards, can anyone help me?
I just bought a Sapphire 6850 Toxic with stock 820/1100. Currently I pushed it to 950/1200 with stock voltage(is this safe? how to know whether I should put it back @ stock? what software should i use? any tips?). P.S I'm using Sapphire Trixx in overclocking.

Your help would be much appreciated. This is my 1st post by the way.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *d3tained1;13534388*
> Sorry still need to do my signature.
> 
> Running on a Samsung BX2450 24" LED LCD at 1080p.
> 
> I primarily play Bad Company 2 and COD: Black Ops. Black Ops just runs poorly in crossfirex. I disable crossfire when playing Black Ops. Even with crossfire disable the game performs worse compared to physically removing the card (Dont understand this) but at least more than playable.
> 
> Bad Company 2 I get flashes from time to time. Dark lines flash running from top to bottom....The performance is great and high details. I still need to test other games.
> 
> I have tried different drivers / CAP's etc...game configurations and CCC settings.
> 
> Overall I am happy with the setup besides the couple of issues. Let's hope Battlefield 3 have some awesome crossfirex support.
> 
> If you guys have any tips or tweaks it would be great.
> 
> I am going to reinstall windows 7 tomorrow and load latest CCC with Drivers and then the latest CAPS.
> 
> Cherio
> Jacobus


First off, Blops is just an unoptimized pile of poo. People don't get the frames they're supposed to even when running single cards. Second, the CF driver issues on BC:2 have gotten a lot better. This thread is a fairly long one about just issues with BC:2 and possible solutions being thrown around. Just a simple search on the forums for "bad company 2 crossfire" and you can get even more. I personally get a couple textures not loading sometimes, but that's fine because I can't stand playing that game anymore. Hope you get your problem solved







.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *padzki;13537094*
> Hi! im a newbee regarding OC on video cards, can anyone help me?
> I just bought a Sapphire 6850 Toxic with stock 820/1100. Currently I pushed it to 950/1200 with stock voltage(is this safe? how to know whether I should put it back @ stock? what software should i use? any tips?). P.S I'm using Sapphire Trixx in overclocking.
> 
> Your help would be much appreciated. This is my 1st post by the way.


Run Furmark for 15 minutes and watch for artifacts and what the temp rises to. I don't really like going above 80 even though it's possible. If you get even a single artifact, it means it's not stable and you need to either downclock or up the volts. Increasing volts will also increase temperature a lot, so be sure to watch that if you are looking for stability that way.


----------



## padzki

Thanks for your help!! another question: should i put the fan on auto or fixed?? should i run the benchmark presets on Furmark?


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *padzki;13537247*
> Thanks for your help!! another question: should i put the fan on auto or fixed?? should i run the benchmark presets on Furmark?


I would keep it set to auto, but set up the fan profile to what you want. When it's set on auto, the fan will speed up when the card gets hotter. That way you only have to deal with noise when the card needs the extra cooling from higher fan speed. That said, the default fan profile is usually terrible. The lazy option is to make it a straight line 1% fan to 1C temp. But if you really want to tweak it to what you want, you still have the option. Unfortunately, I use Afterburner, so I'm not sure how to set up a fan profile in Trixx.

And use the Stability Test on Furmark. It'll run as long as you let it, which is better than the benchmark which will run for a preset amount of time. The benchmark can be good, but I would just wait until the temperature flatlines.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Hi i have the powercolor PCS+ HD6870, I have the accelero xtreme plus cooler on this card which i run at 100% using the 7v cable.
Either way since my highest recorded temperature was 55C with the new cooler in place (and it runs silent) I decided to try an overclock. Couldnt seem to get the permission to increase maximum in msi afterburner so I just bumpred it up to 1000mhz core clock with 1250mhz memory clock, didnt have to mess about with voltages and it ran fine, and then benchmarked using unigine heaven dx11 benchmark 2.5
I found a noticeable increase in fps from the 'stock' speeds (I say 'stock' because the PCS+ comes pre-overclocked).
Since I didnt have to increase voltage temperatures stayed the same.
Now I'm wondering how much further I can take the 6870, what overclocks are others running?
Thanks
Thanks


----------



## Davitz

So I have my 6850's in xfire. Any specific way to OC them or can I just get afterburner and bump the volts to 1.25 per card and go for 1GHz/1250 Mem then run furmark for a few hours?

Also what's the max safe volts and temp for the Directcu 6850? Currently I dont break 54C on full load with either card in xfire with 20C ambient.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davitz;13538510*
> So I have my 6850's in xfire. Any specific way to OC them or can I just get afterburner and bump the volts to 1.25 per card and go for 1GHz/1250 Mem then run furmark for a few hours?
> 
> Also what's the max safe volts and temp for the Directcu 6850? Currently I dont break 54C on full load with either card in xfire with 20C ambient.


If you got lucky with the cards that might work.but more likely you have to go a little at a time until it gets unstable and add a little voltage.one of my cards is stable at 1030 the other wont go past 930 for more than a hour.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob;13538193*
> Hi i have the powercolor PCS+ HD6870, I have the accelero xtreme plus cooler on this card which i run at 100% using the 7v cable.
> Either way since my highest recorded temperature was 55C with the new cooler in place (and it runs silent) I decided to try an overclock. Couldnt seem to get the permission to increase maximum in msi afterburner so I just bumpred it up to 1000mhz core clock with 1250mhz memory clock, didnt have to mess about with voltages and it ran fine, and then benchmarked using unigine heaven dx11 benchmark 2.5
> I found a noticeable increase in fps from the 'stock' speeds (I say 'stock' because the PCS+ comes pre-overclocked).
> Since I didnt have to increase voltage temperatures stayed the same.
> Now I'm wondering how much further I can take the 6870, what overclocks are others running?
> Thanks
> Thanks


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davitz;13538510*
> So I have my 6850's in xfire. Any specific way to OC them or can I just get afterburner and bump the volts to 1.25 per card and go for 1GHz/1250 Mem then run furmark for a few hours?
> 
> Also what's the max safe volts and temp for the Directcu 6850? Currently I dont break 54C on full load with either card in xfire with 20C ambient.


80C is what most people comfort zone is. They're rated higher but to be safe, stay below 80.

To see what people overclocks at, check out the database at HWBot and get familiar with the different search filters. http://hwbot.org/init.results.search.do


----------



## Davitz

Well what I could do is disable crossfire, make sure I switch off PCI-E slot 3 and OC to 1GHz or instability whichever comes first for the first card and then shut down, disable PCI-E slot 1 and enable slot 3 and just OC them one at a time?

Or should I slowly bump them both up together at the same time say 50MHz per pass on furmark? In that case, how long should I run furmark per pass?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davitz;13539194*
> Well what I could do is disable crossfire, make sure I switch off PCI-E slot 3 and OC to 1GHz or instability whichever comes first for the first card and then shut down, disable PCI-E slot 1 and enable slot 3 and just OC them one at a time?
> 
> Or should I slowly bump them both up together at the same time say 50MHz per pass on furmark? In that case, how long should I run furmark per pass?


One at a time takes longer but is better.for example I run my first (top) card at 1000 and the second at 930 when in xfire they both run at 930 but some games like nba2k11 automaticly disable xfire so my main card is running at 1000.

don't bother with short runs of furmark because if it fails in a short run its no where near stable. its much easier and more fun to just play a demanding game.my drivers fail in shift 2 or crysis 2 (at high settings) way faster than furmark.If temps are not an issue furmark will run a long time without artifacts at unstable clocks.


----------



## Davitz

So how long should the passes with furmark be?


----------



## abu46

can the owners of 6850 share their fan profiles in afterburner and some tips on how to set it correctly?

just wana be sure that i am setting them correctly for max. cooling as my asus eah 6850s temps reach 80C on load that too w/o oc!!
though my ambients are high(around 35C)

heres mine, i have tried to get an exponential curve as i read in one of the guide in on ocn


----------



## ht_addict

Just got finished adding my Dual Gigabyte 6850's into my Water Cooling Loop using XSPC RASA Universal Blocks. The results are spectacular(950/1250 @1.2v). With the stock cooling I couldn't get this high. I was able to run OCCT for 1hr with no errors on max shaders @ 1080p and maxed out a 52oC. Easily 20-30oC cooler.


----------



## Bassdoken

I just ordered a Twin Turbo Pro. I'm excited. I wonder when it'll get here.


----------



## d3tained1

Thx for the info!

What is concerning me about the BlackOps issue is that it runs fine with only 1 card in my PC. It is when you add another card even with crossfirex switched off that it problem starts. Runs 100fps but doesnt feel like it. Crossfire on or off.

Bad Company 2 is ok for now thank you.

I have to redo my windows anyway so Im goign to give it a go.

I did get 8000 3Dmark 2011 score with a small OC on both cards. So the cards are fine. Crappy software is at fault here yes.

Will let you guys know.

Cherio!
Jacobus


----------



## Bassdoken

Oh wow. Superbiiz is awesome. I ordered my TTP Tuesday afternoon, and it's scheduled to be here on Thursday.


----------



## padzki

hi guys! I own Sapphire 6850 Toxic. could you give me some OC profiles that are stable using stock fan??


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;13547038*
> Oh wow. Superbiiz is awesome. I ordered my TTP Tuesday afternoon, and it's scheduled to be here on Thursday.


Lawl that's where I bought both of mine from as well. Definitely worked out for the cheapest list price, and I just googled a coupon and got an extra $10 off. I also want to know if your card only has a 2pin fan connector. Both of mine do and it kinda bothered me, but even with 100% fan speed from the PSU the noise doesn't bother me one bit. Can't actually hear them over my case fans, so I'd call it a success. Just need to get quieter case fans now







.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;13545159*
> can the owners of 6850 share their fan profiles in afterburner and some tips on how to set it correctly?
> 
> just wana be sure that i am setting them correctly for max. cooling as my asus eah 6850s temps reach 80C on load that too w/o oc!!
> though my ambients are high(around 35C)
> 
> heres mine, i have tried to get an exponential curve as i read in one of the guide in on ocn


Sorry that no one is answering you. I just leave mine on auto and it has done well. Probably because I replaced the TIM on it.


----------



## abu46

thnx
yah really sad that no one is
















i cant even think of ocing it as temps are already 80C under load
and the default profile only lets the fan reach 50% max on full load!!


----------



## Krusher33

Is that load temps at default or overclock? And maxed out at 50%... WTH? Mine has gone up to 80% at one point while folding when it got hot in the house. I think GPU was at 80C too.


----------



## abu46

no man non oc temp @ load is 80C, i guess i wcan boil an egg on the gpu if i oc it!!

50% max fan speed is reached with fan profile set to auto


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;13548666*
> Lawl that's where I bought both of mine from as well. Definitely worked out for the cheapest list price, and I just googled a coupon and got an extra $10 off. I also want to know if your card only has a 2pin fan connector. Both of mine do and it kinda bothered me, but even with 100% fan speed from the PSU the noise doesn't bother me one bit. Can't actually hear them over my case fans, so I'd call it a success. Just need to get quieter case fans now
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .


I have an XFX 6850, as well. I hope mine has more than a 2 pin. lol.

Yeah, it was only $40 for me. At the egg, it was $55. Not cool man. Not cool.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;13549324*
> thnx
> yah really sad that no one is
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i cant even think of ocing it as temps are already 80C under load
> and the default profile only lets the fan reach 50% max on full load!!


Sorry, I didn't want to answer since I don't have my sig rig with me right now. I just set mine to 1%-1C and called it a day. The thing is I can't remember exactly how you do it. It's been several months now.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;13549450*
> I have an XFX 6850, as well. I hope mine has more than a 2 pin. lol.
> 
> Yeah, it was only $40 for me. At the egg, it was $55. Not cool man. Not cool.


I know you have an XFX, I was just thinking maybe the model besides ZNFC has more than 2pin. Again, if you just max out the fan in PSU it's not gonna be noticeable.

I think I paid $35 with free shipping. Of course, that free shipping came at the very end of the very last day allowed. Still free though.


----------



## Bassdoken

Shipping was free for me.
And I still get my product tomorrow.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;13549447*
> no man non oc temp @ load is 80C, i guess i wcan boil an egg on the gpu if i oc it!!
> 
> 50% max fan speed is reached with fan profile set to auto


I don't think it should be that hot at stock. How's airflow in the case? Got a spare fan that you can connect to PSU? You can try taking cover off, blow spare fan at GPU and see what temps you get.

My fan speed is 40% until about 65-70 and then it starts picking up.


----------



## Leito360

I own a CFX configuration of 2 x R6850OC. IÂ´m having BSOD problems. I know I can solve them by underclocking the memory clock to 900 MHz, but iÂ´m unable to do so with CCC. I canÂ´t underclock less than 1000 MHz, is there a way to modify this so I will be able to reach the 900 MHz safe clocks?

NOTE: Using MSI AfterBurner isnÂ´t an option!!!, the idea is modify CCC or some registry entry to modify the clocks.

Screen:


----------



## Mapex

When OCing the 6870 past 975MHz core, my screen will eventually split in half vertically, sending the right half to the left side and the left half to the right side. Typically when a card is overheating I just see graphical corruption, artifacts, and a rapidly approaching system freeze. Is the above symptom an overheating (IIRC it happens at <80C which the card should be able to handle) or a low voltage issue?


----------



## d3tained1

Im back...

So I formatted installed al the latest drivers and caps.

Same problems with Black Ops....now even have the false FPS ( Running 90 fps but feels like 45 ) on 1 single card.

Also getting lines running down sreen.

Crossfire is just not for me.

Selling my cards and getting a GTX 570.

Cheers guys!


----------



## abu46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;13551023*
> I don't think it should be that hot at stock. How's airflow in the case? Got a spare fan that you can connect to PSU? You can try taking cover off, blow spare fan at GPU and see what temps you get.
> 
> My fan speed is 40% until about 65-70 and then it starts picking up.


yes it is suprising for it to get that hot on stock clocks!!

i have two 120mm fans (1 as intake other exhaust at back) and i 80mm top intake
i tried an 80mm exhaust too but i got better results with intake config.
also i have tried a 120mm intake on the side panel to blow cold air on the gpu but it had next to no impact on temps.

Will it be ok to use intel stock TIM on 6850?

@a pet rock
thnx dude


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Leito360*


I own a CFX configuration of 2 x R6850OC. IÂ´m having BSOD problems. I know I can solve them by underclocking the memory clock to 900 MHz, but iÂ´m unable to do so with CCC. I canÂ´t underclock less than 1000 MHz, is there a way to modify this so I will be able to reach the 900 MHz safe clocks?

NOTE: Using MSI AfterBurner isnÂ´t an option!!!, the idea is modify CCC or some registry entry to modify the clocks.

Screen:


What about Trixx? Why isn't Afterburner allowed? From everything I've heard overdrive just isn't that good, so I never messed with it. Also, I'm curious how you decided underclocking memory would solve the problem. Is it the specific BSOD code? I don't know enough to know when underclocking would help.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mapex*


When OCing the 6870 past 975MHz core, my screen will eventually split in half vertically, sending the right half to the left side and the left half to the right side. Typically when a card is overheating I just see graphical corruption, artifacts, and a rapidly approaching system freeze. Is the above symptom an overheating (IIRC it happens at <80C which the card should be able to handle) or a low voltage issue?


It just sounds like your card has hit the wall. I think increasing the voltage would be the only thing that can help, if it does.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Anyone overclocking a 6870? Looking for max core clock and max mem clock on stock voltages?
Thanks


----------



## arrow0309

How do you like a 6950 like this?


















A nice heat exhaust turbine videocard never seen before (110mm fan)









http://en.expreview.com/2011/05/19/y...ard/17061.html


----------



## Leito360

Quote:



Originally Posted by *a pet rock*


What about Trixx? Why isn't Afterburner allowed? From everything I've heard overdrive just isn't that good, so I never messed with it. Also, I'm curious how you decided underclocking memory would solve the problem. Is it the specific BSOD code? I don't know enough to know when underclocking would help.

It just sounds like your card has hit the wall. I think increasing the voltage would be the only thing that can help, if it does.


AB isn't allowed cause i'm using it right know and I have to manually apply the clocks to underclock. The profiles and the automatic profiles don't work at all. So I gave up with it.

The Black SOD is the common that most of the 6850 owners have. I read in the AMD forums that underclock the mem clock to 900 MHz solves the problem, I did that with AB and it worked for me. The problem is that with AB I have to manually apply the settings with CCC the settings are apply when the system boots up.

I'll give it a try to Trixx in a couple of days.

Yeah, it looks like it just hitted the wall, that's why I was asking a way to get under the 1000 MHz bottom with CCC.


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *d3tained1*


Im back...

So I formatted installed al the latest drivers and caps.

Same problems with Black Ops....now even have the false FPS ( Running 90 fps but feels like 45 ) on 1 single card.

Also getting lines running down sreen.

Crossfire is just not for me.

Selling my cards and getting a GTX 570.

Cheers guys!


You do realise that Black Ops doesnt work properly for Nvidia users either, right? The game is a bad port, thats it, it doesnt run correctly because it was directly ported from a Xbox 360 without any optimization. Its not the cards, its the game


----------



## mltms

i have oc my 2 card 1000/1150 max temp is 91 
is the temp save ?


----------



## Kevlo

If you can, i would raise the fan speed, as running at 91 is safe, however, it heats up everything else in the case too.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Leito360*


AB isn't allowed cause i'm using it right know and I have to manually apply the clocks to underclock. The profiles and the automatic profiles don't work at all. So I gave up with it.

The Black SOD is the common that most of the 6850 owners have. I read in the AMD forums that underclock the mem clock to 900 MHz solves the problem, I did that with AB and it worked for me. The problem is that with AB I have to manually apply the settings with CCC the settings are apply when the system boots up.

I'll give it a try to Trixx in a couple of days.

Yeah, it looks like it just hitted the wall, that's why I was asking a way to get under the 1000 MHz bottom with CCC.


Hmmm... most odd. Again, I've never used CCC for over/underclocking so I have no earthly idea. Trixx might work. The only reason I can think of why AB isn't doing right is if it isn't loading with startup? But then I never tried to save profiles that way, I always booted up in stock. Again no experience.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kevlo*


You do realise that Black Ops doesnt work properly for Nvidia users either, right? The game is a bad port, thats it, it doesnt run correctly because it was directly ported from a Xbox 360 without any optimization. Its not the cards, its the game


Yeah, I think I mentioned earlier that Blops just doesn't run well. Of course he was still having the major crossfire issues so a single card would still be a good idea.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mltms*


i have oc my 2 card 1000/1150 max temp is 91 
is the temp save ?


Nice overclock! My first card is just shy of 1000 max OC, I need to check the second one individually too, I guess. Now for the temp, it's definitely out of my comfort zone but it will technically work. If that's furmark/kombustor, your everyday use shouldn't get as high. I personally try to keep my cards below 80C just for comfort level but they're safe up to 100C. Granted the higher temperature will affect how long the card will survive before it needs replacing.


----------



## ht_addict

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mltms;13564383*
> i have oc my 2 card 1000/1150 max temp is 91
> is the temp save ?


This is why I added my 6850's to my waterloop. Dropped the temp to 52oC.


----------



## Davitz

Hm, so on Trixx, Afterburner AND Smart Doctor, I can't budge the volts past 1.23 for either card. I know there's a way to get higher cause id like to get acess to the 1.25-1.3v range so I could get my OC stable. Heck, at 1.23 it doesn't pass 66C Load on EITHER card in xfire.


----------



## theshadow03

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Davitz*


Hm, so on Trixx, Afterburner AND Smart Doctor, I can't budge the volts past 1.23 for either card. I know there's a way to get higher cause id like to get acess to the 1.25-1.3v range so I could get my OC stable. Heck, at 1.23 it doesn't pass 66C Load on EITHER card in xfire.


how did u raise the voltage with afterburner because i have the same card and i can`t unlock the voltage control????


----------



## Horsemama1956

Well the 460 was a bust. Constant Driver crashes, so got my money back and grabbed an XFX 6870 priced matched from NCIX at Canada Computers for 189.99.


----------



## Davitz

Couldn't raise volts on AB, should have been clearer.


----------



## theshadow03

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Davitz*


Couldn't raise volts on AB, should have been clearer.


and with trixx did it force constant voltage??


----------



## Davitz

In crossfire it forced stock volts, but single card I could throw it upto 1.23


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *abu46;13561214*
> yes it is suprising for it to get that hot on stock clocks!!
> 
> i have two 120mm fans (1 as intake other exhaust at back) and i 80mm top intake
> i tried an 80mm exhaust too but i got better results with intake config.
> also i have tried a 120mm intake on the side panel to blow cold air on the gpu but it had next to no impact on temps.
> 
> Will it be ok to use intel stock TIM on 6850?
> 
> @a pet rock
> thnx dude


IMO doesn't hurt to try just to see if it brings down your temps some. If it doesn't, then I fear something's wrong with the card or heatsink.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *theshadow03;13573840*
> how did u raise the voltage with afterburner because i have the same card and i can`t unlock the voltage control????


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davitz;13574009*
> Couldn't raise volts on AB, should have been clearer.


You guys did the whole disclaimer thing in the config file?

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


----------



## R4V3N

Please add me with 2 x 6870s


----------



## Mapex

Quote:



Originally Posted by *a pet rock*


It just sounds like your card has hit the wall. I think increasing the voltage would be the only thing that can help, if it does.


Now that the work week is over I've been able to tweak some more.

It seems that my core clock was fine at 1GHz - all I needed to do was bring down my memory clock. Right now I'm at 1GHz core/1.2GHz memory and I have only a little wiggle room before my memory clock causes that same issue (it cannot do 1250). Why would too high a memory clock cause that screen splitting-and-swapping issue to appear? It doesn't make sense.


----------



## theshadow03

pleas add me ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU V2 validation: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/5sp6b/


----------



## theshadow03

i have the same problem as *DAVITZ* can someone tell me how to raise the voltage more then 1.233??


----------



## Horsemama1956

Anyone know how an Accelero S1 Rev. 2 with 2x~100mm fans would do on a 6870? It's only $25.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

If I were you I'd get the accelero xtreme plus, best decision i made regarding acoustic performance, also cools fantastically


----------



## Horsemama1956

That's like 60 bucks. Would have been better off grabbing a 560ti, or 6950 when you add it all together. Just wondering if it can handle it. Not too concerned with the sound since it would be much quieter even with the 2 fans compared to the reference blower style fan.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Wow.. Haha. Grabbed the Accelero S1 Rev. 2 and threw it on. At 950/1150 stock cooler hit 70c at 60% fan speed. With the new cooler and a 120mm blademaster running at 2000rpm(more then half as quiet as the stock blower fan at 60%) and I hit 53c in furmark.

Should be able to get over 1Ghz pretty easily now, as before it hit 80 and that's way to hot for me, personally. Damn good results for 25 bucks Canadian.

Only thing I had to do was bend the fins on the VRM sinks to accommodate the caps. Easy enough to do though. VRM temps dropped 10-15 degrees as well.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

can you let me know your overclock settings on the 6870 once you go past 1ghz? ^
Thanks


----------



## 179232

MSI Twin Frozr II HD 6870. Would love to join the club!


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob;13596364*
> can you let me know your overclock settings on the 6870 once you go past 1ghz? ^
> Thanks


Sure. What are you at now clock and voltage wise?


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956;13596496*
> Sure. What are you at now clock and voltage wise?


I'm on stock voltage at 1000mhz core clock and 1250mhz memory clock.
I only stopped there since those are the limits on msi afterburner and I havent managed to change the cfg file to get it to let me go higher.


----------



## 179232

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob;13596575*
> I'm on stock voltage at 1000mhz core clock and 1250mhz memory clock.
> I only stopped there since those are the limits on msi afterburner and I havent managed to change the cfg file to get it to let me go higher.


Do you think I could go that high too? I am at 970/1100 with my Twin Frozr II 6870 and it stays under 65 degrees on load. No problems with Crysis benchmark tool or 3DMark11.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ComradeNF;13596742*
> Do you think I could go that high too? I am at 970/1100 with my Twin Frozr II 6870 and it stays under 65 degrees on load. No problems with Crysis benchmark tool or 3DMark11.


overclocking on stock voltage should not increase temperatures because the only reason temps increase is because a higher voltage is used.
I would say you should be able to go for it.
Mine doesnt go above 56C, but it was the same when I was running stock


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob;13596575*
> I'm on stock voltage at 1000mhz core clock and 1250mhz memory clock.
> I only stopped there since those are the limits on msi afterburner and I havent managed to change the cfg file to get it to let me go higher.


My card seems to want more voltage then it should with memory increases. Having tested memory, it doesn't seem like these cards are even close to memory bandwidth limited, so I'm leaving it at 1100 for now, with stock voltage I'm at 1GHz core. Hit 53c in 3 runs of 3dmark11, and 62 in Furmark.

Not sure if there is much benefit to going over 1Ghz, but I'll probably try for 1100 later, just to see. Looks like I'm about 15-18c down in temps over the stock reference 6870 cooler @60%, which was WAY too loud. Starcraft 2 only hit 49c, which is about 20c down.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

totally agree the reference coolers on these are absurdly noisy, i love my accelero xtreme plus, probably the best value for money item on my pc i would argue.


----------



## Calexan

after reading Point Blank Rob's post that he has 1000/1250 @ stock voltage
i said to myself hey why not try it









& i did luckily i was successful









20 mins Furmark Extreme Burning Mode, Displacement Mapping & Post FX


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ComradeNF;13596466*
> MSI Twin Frozr II HD 6870. Would love to join the club!


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ComradeNF;13596742*
> Do you think I could go that high too? I am at 970/1100 with my Twin Frozr II 6870 and it stays under 65 degrees on load. No problems with Crysis benchmark tool or 3DMark11.


You're wellcome








And free to raise up the clocks & voltages of your gorgeous Twin Frozr II (make use of the Msi's own utility AfterBurner, better if it is the 2.1. vers or higher)








Pretty nice temps you've got, it makes me wanna get this one for my CrossfireX (becoming so the first pcie card of the system).








As for the 1000 Mhz I'm not so lucky however got RS with sig values in every bench & game so far.








Do you mind showing us some pics with gpuz load values (on max) like those posted a couple of posts before by Calexan better if in your max oc you can get; I'd really like to see the Vreg temperature 1 of your card in full load, thanks


----------



## Calexan

used to run my card @ 1000/1250 1225v but then i got envious of people
running them @ stock voltage so i tried it why not nothing to lose lol

i was really surprised it worked i didn't worked before i _guess_ its the Mjolner drivers









& im glad i tried


----------



## Point Blank Rob

good effort Calexan, anyone know how much higher you can go on stock?
I'll post my furmark results shortly


----------



## Point Blank Rob

display driver stopped working for me running furmark, odd. I never have any problems gaming? Card was only at 61C, any suggestions?


----------



## Calexan

well i manage to pull 20 min. furmark but tried only a little gaming & so far so good
( only a few min. ACBH & DA2 ) well try some more gaming later









@ rob

if driver crashes while running furmark i take it as a hint that it's not stable so i lower
my OC but thats just me..

it is really up to you if you say its stable while gaming & never experienced any problems
so i guess it's Ok anyway furmark Extreme Burning is just pushing your card to its limits..
while gaming you well never even get close to those temps or GPU stress so no worries
if it wouldn't pass Furmark as long as it doesn't crash while gaming


----------



## qfox96

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Noir;11094480*
> Only MSI 6870 are available in my country as of now.
> 
> Waiting for a 6850


i can see from your sig that u've got "Sapphire HD 6850 850/1050".... i want to oc also my sapphire hd 6850 pci-e currently in stock...

can u give a hint where to start?


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13605297*
> used to run my card @ 1000/1250 1225v but then i got envious of people
> running them @ stock voltage so i tried it why not nothing to lose lol
> 
> i was really surprised it worked i didn't worked before i _guess_ its the Mjolner drivers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> & im glad i tried


Doesn't mean it's stable.. You might get crahses/lockups/freezing in the future.


----------



## Calexan

Quote:



Doesn't mean it's stable.. You might get crahses/lockups/freezing in the future.


i do believe you







thats why im testing it on my games first & thats why i never
mentioned that it's stable..

back when i was running my OC @ 1000/1250 1225v manage to pass 30 min. of Furmark
Extreme Burning, Displacement Mapping & Post FX.. 








Fullscreenhttp://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...06/safasfw.jpg

but when i played ACBH it freezes & crashes need to lower may OC to 975/1250 1225v
just to get it stable whats weird is that it only happens on ACBH other games like SC2,
Mafia2, AC2 & etc.. didn't have problems..

i suspected t'was Driver issue i was using 11.4 preview back then but after 11.4 was
officially released till 11.5 i never had to use 975/1250 1225v again.. ACBH now runs
smoothly on 1000/1250 1225v..

btw just finished playing 2hrs DA2 & about 1 1/2hr ACBH with no crahses/lockups/freezing 
need to test some more on STALKER call of pripyat, Metro 2033 & NBA2K11

Cheers


----------



## Horsemama1956

Black Ops is good at finding stability issues. You'll get nice long freezes, then crappy fps. BC2 vanilla is another good one. Both are very finicky.

You could also try Kombuster. Furmark is buggy at times, even if you're stable it can lockup with the newer cards since they kinda suck with OpenGL.


----------



## Calexan

^ ok will try that.. i actually have those games & program installed
will update here..









edit: btw what is the ideal setting for kombuster?

Xtreme burn-in says it will give high work load but is not related to the stability of the card
should i leave it off or turn in on?


----------



## arrow0309

*[H]ard|OCP*

*GIGABYTE HD 6870 Super Overclock Video Card Review*

LINK: http://hardocp.com/article/2011/05/23/gigabyte_hd_6870_super_overclock_video_card_review/


----------



## paddy246

Hi, Im new here,
I have 6870 HAWK,








Been using this card for a month now with the default clock and now I want to tweak this alittle bit.

I tried to use 1000/1200MHz with default voltage, but the kombustor, in which I test the stability, always crashing after 2 minutes or so,
with 1000/1250 at default voltage, the amd driver crash and recovered after a couple of minutes of test also.
both come at 75-76 centigrade under kombustor's extreme burnin.

I leave the voltage to the default because I dont really know about how to tweak them in case I make some irreversible mistake )
So, any good value to overclock my card?
Thanks


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *paddy246;13617190*
> Hi, Im new here,
> I have 6870 HAWK,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Been using this card for a month now with the default clock and now I want to tweak this alittle bit.
> 
> I tried to use 1000/1200MHz with default voltage, but the kombustor, in which I test the stability, always crashing after 2 minutes or so,
> with 1000/1250 at default voltage, the amd driver crash and recovered after a couple of minutes of test also.
> both come at 75-76 centigrade under kombustor's extreme burnin.
> 
> I leave the voltage to the default because I dont really know about how to tweak them in case I make some irreversible mistake )
> So, any good value to overclock my card?
> Thanks


Try to raise the core voltage only (with the Msi's own AfterBurner) up to 1.22-1.25 volt and enjoy (for let's say 1000/1200).
The guys from guru3d managed to clock stable at 1044/1200 with 1.275v.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-6870-hawk-review/22

Test the freq. with Occt gpu test for 10' and a lot of intensive games.
Good luck, post your results


----------



## Calexan

still playing COD Black Ops its more than 2hrs i think no problems so far








never got the chance to play BF2 will try it later though..

MSI Kombuster Fullscreen for 15 mins. 8x AA i dont really know much about kombustor
so i leave mostly @ stock









can't show Afterburner over Kombustor @ fullscreen so took screenies after









i wasn't satisfied with Kombustor's result so i ran Furmark 1.9.0 used everything except Dynamic Camera..









i did tried OCCT for 6 mins. since thats the lowest it would allow me to run & the temps
reached 67°c after just a few seconds it scared me lol..

i tried running it with error check & it showed lots of errors but it never crashed is that Ok?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13617428*
> . . . cut . . .
> 
> i did tried OCCT for 6 mins. since thats the lowest it would allow me to run & the temps
> reached 67°c after just a few seconds it scared me lol..
> 
> i tried running it with error check & it showed lots of errors but it never crashed is that Ok?


No, it's not ok, you're not stable. Try to lower the shader complexity to the default value (0) and mantain the error check option. With the proper voltage you won't see errors anymore (and if necessary lower the memory clock)


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> No, it's not ok, you're not stable. Try to lower the shader complexity to the default value (0) and mantain the error check option. With the proper voltage you won't see errors anymore (and if necessary lower the memory clock)


ok so i tried what you said on OCCT.. btw i never touched the shader complexity

900/1050 @ 1174v = no errors
1000/1250 @ 1225v result = no errors
1000/1250 @ 1174v result = 160+ errors lol

but im sticking with 1000/1250 @ 1174v as long as i doesn't give me
problems while gaming & if does ill just increase voltage to 1225v









gonna play BF2 now..


----------



## Kevlo

Well, i may not join this club at all. Today is my birthday and it seems as if i have gotten enough money to pick up at least a 6950 (Possibly a 6970, as i still havent gotten all of my B-Day Moeny yet)

EDIT: I just checked and it seems to me, at least, that a 6950 is nothing more than an unclocked6970 and with some OC its just as good....i may look more into this then.


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> Today is my birthday


Happy Birthday









a 6950 is a good choice as long as you have enough money for it








& to unlock it to 6970 just sweetens the deal hehe..


----------



## Kevlo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13618953*
> Happy Birthday
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> a 6950 is a good choice as long as you have enough money for it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> & to unlock it to 6970 just sweetens the deal hehe..


Thanks








Ya, i could try that, i'll probably just stick with OC for a while at first before i try to unlock it.

I was looking at this card specifically:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0361074


----------



## Point Blank Rob

anyone else get seriously low framerates on furmark at 1280 x 720 with 8 x msaa I average 7fps lol. I bumped up the voltage to 1.225v as per the suggestion by arrow0309 to maintain stability on my 1250mhz, 1000mhz clocks.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Calexan, I've been testing and it's not really worth 1Ghz/1200+ unless you run a super high resolution and NEED to squeak out an extra couple of frames. If you can't do it with close to stock, I would just try and get something like 950/1150 stable, which seems to be the sweet spot.

The thing about getting errors, but no crashes is you may NOT be getting a performance boost from the overclock, and possibly a nice decrease.


----------



## paddy246

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13617343*
> Try to raise the core voltage only (with the Msi's own AfterBurner) up to 1.22-1.25 volt and enjoy (for let's say 1000/1200).
> The guys from guru3d managed to clock stable at 1044/1200 with 1.275v.
> 
> http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-6870-hawk-review/22
> 
> Test the freq. with Occt gpu test for 10' and a lot of intensive games.
> Good luck, post your results


cheers, mate:cheers:
I tried your suggestion, and it works. Ran kombustor for about 30minutes there.








as for Occt, I still figuring out how to use it, the last time I did, the result gave me some cpu statistic, not the gpu


----------



## Horsemama1956

You can change the options so it doesn't spit out graphs. Also you ran with no error check.

You might be wasting your time. What kind of performance do you get in games? Also what is the fps in kombuster at stock setting on your 6870? I just ran with the same settings as you at 950/1150 and am getting a minimum of 158 fps which is double yours.

Your processor might be limiting you too much for any gpu overclock to really do anything for you. Post a screen of the same setting in kombuster at stock. Have you benched any other games to see if you are getting worthwhile performance?
edit..

hmmm, nevermind kombuster had to be reset for extreme burn-in mode to function for some reason. The red text was there, it just was doing anything.


----------



## paddy246

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956;13619402*
> You can change the options so it doesn't spit out graphs. Also you ran with no error check.
> 
> You might be wasting your time. What kind of performance do you get in games? Also what is the fps in kombuster at stock setting on your 6870? I just ran with the same settings as you at 950/1150 and am getting a minimum of 158 fps which is double yours.
> 
> Your processor might be limiting you too much for any gpu overclock to really do anything for you. Post a screen of the same setting in kombuster at stock. Have you benched any other games to see if you are getting worthwhile performance?
> edit..
> 
> hmmm, nevermind kombuster had to be reset for extreme burn-in mode to function for some reason. The red text was there, it just was doing anything.


that low fps I believe due to the xtreme burn-in

For the games, I own and play only fifa series and Pro Evolution Soccer series regularly, which somehow my new card doesn't handle them well out of the box, (need some tweak with the Catalyst CC), so I thought that I need to OC my card. And apparently, that doesn't change, because the games underutilize my card, so they told me at the series forum.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

I have done some benchmarking using kombuster to try and show the difference between a 950mhz core clock and 1100mhz memory clock
VS
1000mhz core clock and 1250mhz memory clock
See the results below;

































I used both the extreme benchmark and normal benchmark.
The conclusion is that the 1000mhz 1250mhz clocks perform better, by a few frames per second on average.
I did use a higher than stock voltage to acheieve this clock in the banchmarks.
I dont know if you need to use as higher voltage as i did, 1.225v, but I wanted to ensure stability for the testing.
I would have done a stock comparison however my 6870 is the pcs+ which comes pre-overclocked.


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> Calexan, I've been testing and it's not really worth 1Ghz/1200+ unless you run a super high resolution and NEED to squeak out an extra couple of frames. If you can't do it with close to stock, I would just try and get something like 950/1150 stable, which seems to be the sweet spot.


there is performance gain even @ not so high resolutions reason enough for me
to keep my OC







thanks rob saves me the trouble + rep for you









@ Rob

my card seems stable 1000/1250 @ 1.225v on OCCT no errors same as yours
but ill still keep 1000/1250 @ stock voltage until i encounter problems









card runs 3 to 5°c cooler @ stock voltage not sure about performance decrease
though how could voltage affect performance? but ill try to run benchies like
you did just to make sure..


----------



## 179232

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


You're wellcome








And free to raise up the clocks & voltages of your gorgeous Twin Frozr II (make use of the Msi's own utility AfterBurner, better if it is the 2.1. vers or higher)








Pretty nice temps you've got, it makes me wanna get this one for my CrossfireX (becoming so the first pcie card of the system).








As for the 1000 Mhz I'm not so lucky however got RS with sig values in every bench & game so far.








Do you mind showing us some pics with gpuz load values (on max) like those posted a couple of posts before by Calexan better if in your max oc you can get; I'd really like to see the Vreg temperature 1 of your card in full load, thanks










I have no idea what you are talking about







. I am not that great with PC's!

However, my 6870 had a hardware issue so I swapped it out for the same thing again, and this one has even better temps! At max settings in BC2 with max AA and AF, I stay under 60 degrees. I am at 970/1100 right now.

Explain what you wanted me to do in a little simpler terms please









I would be happy to make a video or something if you want.

Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using Tapatalk.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Calexan*


there is performance gain even @ not so high resolutions reason enough for me
to keep my OC







thanks rob saves me the trouble + rep for you









@ Rob

my card seems stable 1000/1250 @ 1.225v on OCCT no errors same as yours 
but ill still keep 1000/1250 @ stock voltage until i encounter problems









card runs 3 to 5Â°c cooler @ stock voltage not sure about performance decrease
though how could voltage affect performance? but ill try to run benchies like
you did just to make sure..


If something isn't completely stable, it's not working properly which is how you can get lower performance. For instance, if I lower the voltage to a point I get no errors but things still function, the OCCT test loses about 40 fps.

Seems like you just want a card to run at 1Ghz, but in reality 50Mhz doesn't make much difference unless you are benchmarking, especially when the clocks are already high. It's your hardware, so you can do what you want, but you'll never stop screwing around with it especially if you run into problems later on.

We're talking like 2 fps for hours of trial and error in real world performance. Maybe 75-100 points in 3dmark 11 with 950, compared to 1000. The 6870 doesn't scale as nicely as the 460/6850 because the clocks start out so high, unless you can get 1100+


----------



## edlois

This is my AMD HD 6850 1GB GDDR 5 stock
Setting on Vision engine control
anti-aliasing = use app setting and morphological filtering
anisotropic filtering = use app setting
tessellation = amd optimized
catalyst A.I = quality (enable surface format optimization)
wait for vertical refresh = off
anti-aliasing mode = multiple-simple AA
Open GL = triple buffering

but my game like not balance fps drop an raise then drop agian went i play crysis 2 at first i play like 50-66 fps some times over 100..

how to setting my vision engine correctly


----------



## qfox96

i also want to join...
Sapphire HD 6850 @950/1150 stock voltage
stable so far can play RTS games....


----------



## qfox96




----------



## qfox96

just a question why if i try to increase my core clocke to 960/1150 i can not pass the windows ratings (windows experience index) but i can pass the kumbostor benchmark even after 15mins any idea?


----------



## Calexan

Quote:



We're talking like 2 fps for hours of trial and error in real world performance. Maybe 75-100 points in 3dmark 11 with 950, compared to 1000. The 6870 doesn't scale as nicely as the 460/6850 because the clocks start out so high, unless you can get 1100+


can you point me to threads or reviews discussing this topic? i would love to learn more..
i would like to read & see it myself before i believe you.. no disrespect intended but i just
wanna see proof before i believe in something cause cold hard facts don't lie..

i tried Paddy's setting on MSI kombustor with 1000/1250 @ stock & barely notice any fps
increase even though Paddy was just running his 1000/1200.. so that i believe cause i
experienced it personally but you or others may not want to believe me if can't show them
screenies or proofs right? i try to make a run again & take sreenshot & post it here..


----------



## Calexan

Quote:



just a question why if i try to increase my core clocke to 960/1150 i can not pass the windows ratings (windows experience index) but i can pass the kumbostor benchmark even after 15mins any idea?


apparently there is more to stability than just passing stresstests even if it passes furmark
or Kombustor Extreme Burning modes it still isn't stable.. i find OCCT more reliable i have
used this program just recently so im not that familiar with it but it points out the instability
of my card in 60 secs. that furmark or kombustor Extreme burning mode couldn't in 15 mins..


----------



## paddy246

my last clock, I did them with kombustor without errors, and now with occt, shown some massive 116 errors.
I guess I need to go back to my default clock, there.


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> my last clock, I did them with kombustor without errors, and now with occt, shown some massive 116 errors.
> I guess I need to go back to my default clock, there.


try bumping your voltage it worked for me @ 1000/1250 1174v i get 160+ errors on OCCT
after i bumped voltage to 1225v got 0 errors









edit: @ paddy btw how did you manage to show core & mem clocks on Kombustor?


----------



## paddy246

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13627390*
> try bumping your voltage it worked for me @ 1000/1250 1174v i get 160+ errors on OCCT
> after i bumped voltage to 1225v got 0 errors


I got a whooping 3181 errors with 1225v,
and the previous 116 errors is in the 1250v.
You reckon I need to go higher with the voltage?
Whats the highest but still safe value on that?


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> I got a whooping 3181 errors with 1225v,
> and the previous 116 errors is in the 1250v.
> You reckon I need to go higher with the voltage?


i guess so.. or you could lower your clocks a bit.. so sad to hear that though
Quote:


> Whats the highest but still safe value on that?


on air that'll be 1.3v or 1300v max you can set on Afterburner or Trixx

btw how did you manage to show core & mem clocks on Kombustor?
i just couldn't find the option for it







lol


----------



## paddy246

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13627637*
> i guess so.. or you could lower your clocks a bit.. so sad to hear that though
> 
> on air that'll be 1.3v or 1300v max you can set on Afterburner or Trixx


thanks mate, I'll try it again with 1.3v or with a lower clock,
is it still safe, though, if my card hit a 80+ centigrades on extreme kombustor?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13627637*
> btw how did you manage to show core & mem clocks on Kombustor?
> i just couldn't find the option for it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lol


I dunno, I just use them as it is.








Its the 2.0.0, february 1st build of kombustor, if that help.


----------



## qfox96

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Calexan;13623533*
> apparently there is more to stability than just passing stresstests even if it passes furmark
> or Kombustor Extreme Burning modes it still isn't stable.. i find OCCT more reliable i have
> used this program just recently so im not that familiar with it but it points out the instability
> of my card in 60 secs. that furmark or kombustor Extreme burning mode couldn't in 15 mins..


any link where to find OCCT? what is OCCT btw...


----------



## Calexan

Quote:


> is it still safe, though, if my card hit a 80+ centigrades on extreme kombustor?


Quite safe even @ 85°c just not over 89°c though cause that'll be kinda dangerous

anyway while your gaming you wont even get close to those temps only on Furmark,
Kombustor Extreme Burning Mode & OCCT as those programs pushes your card to its limits..


----------



## qfox96

any stable core/mem clock in stock cooling for sapphire hd 6850 here? back reading hundreds of pages seems too long...sometimes off topic


----------



## Calexan

OCCT Link:http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php?Download

OCCT is also a stress testing software not just for CPU & GPU but also PSU as well
when first time using OCCT just use 10 mins. testing then turn On just be patient
cause testing will begin in a few minute & not immediately..


----------



## Calexan

qfox try checking tipidpc.com then search 6850 users thread hehe.. marami tutulong sayo dun


----------



## paddy246

Im now quite happy with OCCT at 6 minutes,
1000/1200 at 1269mv, and no errors found,
75-80centigrade when I use user-define fan speed.
will check it again with longer duration when my computer is idle.

thanks for helping, mate.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *qfox96;13627838*
> any stable core/mem clock in stock cooling for sapphire hd 6850 here? back reading hundreds of pages seems too long...sometimes off topic


I managed to get up to 1000/1225 with my XFX but had to jack the voltage up ridiculously high. I only ran it for benchmarks. Now I'm just running them at stock.


----------



## Calexan

Quote:



Im now quite happy with OCCT at 6 minutes,
1000/1200 at 1269mv, and no errors found,
75-80centigrade when I use user-define fan speed.
will check it again with longer duration when my computer is idle.

thanks for helping, mate.


really!? w







w but we need







hehe









================================================== =========

so tried kombustor again using Paddy's setting @ 1000/1250 @ stock voltage
driver crashed after 13 mins. so i bumped voltage to 1225v..

1000/1250 @ 1225v









1000/1200 @ 1225v no much diff. with 1000/1250 @ 1225v









950/1150 @ 1225v lower clocks mean lower fps









Conclusion:
between 1200 & 1250 not much difference in FPS & lower clocks means lower FPS _duh!_


----------



## paddy246

doing OCCT for 15minutes:
still no errors, thats a relief








1000/[email protected]


----------



## qfox96

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Calexan*


OCCT Link:http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php?Download

OCCT is also a stress testing software not just for CPU & GPU but also PSU as well
when first time using OCCT just use 10 mins. testing then turn On just be patient
cause testing will begin in a few minute & not immediately..


thanks for the link...btw after extracting the OCCT file and run it, it shows some message "YOUR GRAPHIC CARD DOESN'T SUPPORT CUDA. YOU NEED A GEFORCE8 OR HIGHER. GPU MEMTEST WILL BE DISABLED"

any idea?

salamat try ko rin maghanap sa tpc


----------



## qfox96

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Calexan*


qfox try checking tipidpc.com then search 6850 users thread hehe.. marami tutulong sayo dun










thank you.... salamat


----------



## Calexan

Quote:



thanks for the link...btw after extracting the OCCT file and run it, it shows some message "YOUR GRAPHIC CARD DOESN'T SUPPORT CUDA. YOU NEED A GEFORCE8 OR HIGHER. GPU MEMTEST WILL BE DISABLED"

any idea?


just press ok it will only disable GPU Memtest

@ Paddy

Great job


----------



## welly321

Quote:



Originally Posted by *qfox96*


thanks for the link...btw after extracting the OCCT file and run it, it shows some message "YOUR GRAPHIC CARD DOESN'T SUPPORT CUDA. YOU NEED A GEFORCE8 OR HIGHER. GPU MEMTEST WILL BE DISABLED"

any idea?

salamat try ko rin maghanap sa tpc


Memtest is only available on nvidia cards . Just use the gpu occt test


----------



## skyline_king88

add me sapphire 6850 with custom paint ....


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ComradeNF*


I have no idea what you are talking about







. I am not that great with PC's!

However, my 6870 had a hardware issue so I swapped it out for the same thing again, and this one has even better temps! At max settings in BC2 with max AA and AF, I stay under 60 degrees. I am at 970/1100 right now.

Explain what you wanted me to do in a little simpler terms please









I would be happy to make a video or something if you want.

Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using Tapatalk.


Ok, so I see your new & cooler 6870 (I wonder how louder it gets at full load gaming sessions) that makes me wanna love this card (is it the twin frozr II right?). Now let's get to the point:
You can monitor the maximum load temp of the VReg of your card (VReg Temperature 1 correspond to the videocard's gpu voltage regulation module) and this is the value that I'm interested about, have a look at your card's alu backplate (located under the main cooler) designed for the cooling of the memory and vrm chips (mosfet's):










You'll notice how thin is the part projected to cool down the videocard's 4 phase gpu vrm whereas all the other non reference 6870 use a bigger heatsink. And there is even space for that








(however the good thing is that's the only reference 6870 hwo gets some extra cooling on the right side for other 2+2 mosfets) 
Now, the only thing you have to do is monitoring with the latest gpuz utility during a (overclocked) gaming session of that value described as VReg Temperature 1 (as well as the other marked with MAX) by clicking on the small arrow in order to enable "Show Highest Reading" at all these voices:










What do you think, did I get myself clear this time?


----------



## qfox96

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Calexan*


just press ok it will only disable GPU Memtest

@ Paddy

Great job










i'm using a occt v3.1.0 gpu occt test, custome test duration of 10 minutes, is it normal that the big red furry thing in the middle is not moving? like wiht the furry thing in kumbostor?

anybody is familiar using occt?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *qfox96*


i'm using a occt v3.1.0 gpu occt test, custome test duration of 10 minutes, is it normal that the big red furry thing in the middle is not moving? like wiht the furry thing in kumbostor?

anybody is familiar using occt?


Unlike the Kombustor and Furmark which are opengl stress benchmarks, the Occt gpu test is a direct3d bench so it's a bit different, just observe the fps rate and gpu temperature, if this (last one) raise at loads means that the test works. Have you enabled the error correction?


----------



## DrHeadbang

Add me to the 6870 list please. I tried overcocking last night. Got up to 980/1120 stable at stock voltage. Max temp was 71 and this was at max usage playing Bad Company 2 for an hour. I used the ab workaround to get multiplayer bc2 to work. So far my min has been 48fps @1080p HBAO/DX11/High/4xAA/8x Anstropic filtering.


----------



## theshadow03

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *paddy246;13630794*
> doing OCCT for 15minutes:
> still no errors, thats a relief
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1000/[email protected]


how is it that youre idle clocks are 100/150 with cat 11.5


----------



## qfox96

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13633318*
> Unlike the Kombustor and Furmark which are opengl stress benchmarks, the Occt gpu test is a direct3d bench so it's a bit different, just observe the fps rate and gpu temperature, if this (last one) raise at loads means that the test works. Have you enabled the error correction?


yes the error correction is tick also the full screen.
so the it doesn't move like the image in the kumbostor?


----------



## paddy246

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *theshadow03;13635307*
> how is it that youre idle clocks are 100/150 with cat 11.5


I wonder that myself








its like that when idle, and 300/1050 when playing movies with dxva.

I guess its that green earth thing


----------



## theshadow03

Quote:



Originally Posted by *paddy246*


I wonder that myself








its like that when idle, and 300/1050 when playing movies with dxva.

I guess its that green earth thing










i know what powerplay means...ok!! i asked because i have a hd 6850 and my idle clocks are 300/300 with cat 11.5


----------



## paddy246

Quote:



Originally Posted by *theshadow03*


i know what powerplay means...ok!! i asked because i have a hd 6850 and my idle clocks are 300/300 with cat 11.5


Sorry mate, I dont mean anything, I just dont know myself why my card behave like that and thats just me guessing why. No need to angry








I dont even know what powerplay means before you post it


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *theshadow03;13640681*
> i know what powerplay means...ok!! i asked because i have a hd 6850 and my idle clocks are 300/300 with cat 11.5


Jeez, calm down.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

For those who might be interested, I have started a 6870 overclockers club, which can be found here
http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/1026250-amd-6870-overclock-club.html


----------



## theshadow03

Quote:



Originally Posted by *paddy246*


Sorry mate, I dont mean anything, I just dont know myself why my card behave like that and thats just me guessing why. No need to angry








I dont even know what powerplay means before you post it










i didnt get angry...i wanted to know if you know why your card stay in idle at that clocks.


----------



## Domenic71

Just a couple months late.. XFX 6870


----------



## paddy246

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *theshadow03;13652235*
> i didnt get angry...i wanted to know if you know why your card stay in idle at that clocks.


No, Im not sure why,

but after some search, I found this:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/HD_6870_HAWK/26.html

the clock profiles match with mine,
except with the Playback, I got 1050mhz instead of 1000mhz


----------



## arrow0309

*MSI R6850 Cyclone PE Graphics Card Review* _by Neoseeker.com_

LINK: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/MSI_R6850_Cyclone_PE/


----------



## smoke420

Dirt 3 100+ fps and lots of fun check it out if you like racing.


----------



## nick2012

here's mine sapphire hd6870

pls add me


----------



## Kevlo

Well i must part with this thread now, i have my 6950 and i have absolutely zero regrets and the only thing i regret is not getting it sooner. Goodbye.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13666348*
> Dirt 3 100+ fps and lots of fun check it out if you like racing.


What settings? Gonna give it a try soon








For now I'm dealing with the newest, best rpg ever, The Witcher II Assassins of Kings, playable with the config I have in sig (only the cpu set at its summer time level 4Ghz) at about 50-60 fps (and even higher in the inside areas) with this settings (for now): Catalyst 11.5b all default 1680x1050 v-sync off game settings at high but disabling Ubersampling, Cinematic depth of field, SSAO, Antialiasing and Bloom (which is however exagerate)








The tearing is barely visible, however the v-sync disabled ensures the gpu load at (quite allways) 99%, enabling it the gpu load decrease with a visible loss in framerate. Any of you can confirm (or unconfirm ) something about it?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13674423*
> What settings? Gonna give it a try soon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For now I'm dealing with the newest, best rpg ever, The Witcher II Assassins of Kings, playable with the config I have in sig (only the cpu set at its summer time level 4Ghz) at about 50-60 fps (and even higher in the inside areas) with this settings (for now): Catalyst 11.5b all default 1680x1050 v-sync off game settings at high but disabling Ubersampling, Cinematic depth of field, SSAO, Antialiasing and Bloom (which is however exagerate)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The tearing is barely visible, however the v-sync disabled ensures the gpu load at (quite allways) 99%, enabling it the gpu load decrease with a visible loss in framerate. Any of you can confirm (or unconfirm ) something about it?


At first I thought it was maxed with 1920x1080 res,8x msaa, and everything on high but after checking there is an ultra setting on some options.on ultra with the view out side the car im getting between 80 and 120fps.my cards are running 900/1150 and my cpu is at 3.6 both to keep voltage down and the room cool.Im running 11.5 and the latest cap...

I have had tearing issues before mostly while browsing the net.The way I read it was it comes from your video card putting out fps higher than your monitor can handle.
http://hifi-india.blogspot.com/2006/11/faq-what-is-screen-tearing-and-how-do-i.html
The best way to fix these kind of problems is to turn v-sync on, there are other reasons too.V-sync is great all it does is sync your fps with the refresh rate of your monitor.For example I've found that in some games like lost planet 2 my cards are capable of 1000+ fps in the menu's sounds great until you notice the cards at 99% load and getting almost as hot as a stability test.another way to stop tearing is to raise the graphic settings to the point where your fps wont go much higher than your monitors refresh rate but that wont help in the menu's.

I have ccc set to v-sync on unless application specifies because in some games like dirt3 I dont notice any tearing above my refresh rate.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13675621*
> At first I thought it was maxed with 1920x1080 res,8x msaa, and everything on high but after checking there is an ultra setting on some options.on ultra with the view out side the car im getting between 80 and 120fps.my cards are running 900/1150 and my cpu is at 3.6 both to keep voltage down and the room cool.Im running 11.5 and the latest cap...
> 
> I have had tearing issues before mostly while browsing the net.The way I read it was it comes from your video card putting out fps higher than your monitor can handle.
> http://hifi-india.blogspot.com/2006/11/faq-what-is-screen-tearing-and-how-do-i.html
> The best way to fix these kind of problems is to turn v-sync on, there are other reasons too.V-sync is great all it does is sync your fps with the refresh rate of your monitor.For example I've found that in some games like lost planet 2 my cards are capable of 1000+ fps in the menu's sounds great until you notice the cards at 99% load and getting almost as hot as a stability test.another way to stop tearing is to raise the graphic settings to the point where your fps wont go much higher than your monitors refresh rate but that wont help in the menu's.
> 
> I have ccc set to v-sync on unless application specifies because in some games like dirt3 I dont notice any tearing above my refresh rate.


How about changing our old fashioned 60 Hz Lcd Monitor with a new one, capable at higher v. refresh freq.?








I found this model from Nec, capable of 83 Hz over DisplayPort:

http://davidnaylor.org/blog/tag/nec-ea231wmi/










http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1555530

What do you think, playing without tearing at higher framerate?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13676361*
> How about changing our old fashioned 60 Hz Lcd Monitor with a new one, capable at higher v. refresh freq.?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found this model from Nec, capable of 83 Hz over DisplayPort:
> 
> http://davidnaylor.org/blog/tag/nec-ea231wmi/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1555530
> 
> What do you think, playing without tearing at higher framerate?


how about 600Hz true motion 55 inch plasma tv?lol


----------



## Horsemama1956

The refresh rate isn't 600Hz on a plasma.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956;13678535*
> The refresh rate isn't 600Hz on a plasma.


I know how plasma work hints the lol


----------



## Oleh

Not sure why it shows up as 6800 series, but it's a gigabyte 6850:


----------



## hoodsxcore0100

just ordered the beezneez (XFX hd 6870 dual fan) and im excited





















turbo fister


----------



## capitaltpt

Just picked up a XFX HD-685X-ZDFC (dual fan) and loving it so far, especially how quiet it is. My old 4890 use to sound like a vacuum cleaner when the computer started. When I first put in the 6850, I thought there was a problem with the power button. I didn't hear a thing.


----------



## ReeceMcMuffin

ATI Radeon HD 6870 xfx twin fan edition


----------



## sunnyFTW

i think 6870 @ 975mkz on core = [email protected] ???
m i right ??


----------



## Point Blank Rob

6870 overclock club now open to 6850s
would be good to see people posting some overclocks;
http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/1026250-amd-6870-overclock-club.html
since there is a lot of discussion about it


----------



## ReeceMcMuffin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sunnyFTW;13684400*
> i think 6870 @ 975mkz on core = [email protected] ???
> m i right ??


No the 6950 at stock is between 800 MHz and 870MHz







Depending on what one you buy


----------



## Horsemama1956

He means overclocked 6870 equal to stock 6950 performance. 6950 is about 5-10% faster so he's in the ballpark.


----------



## ReeceMcMuffin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956;13685869*
> He means overclocked 6870 equal to stock 6950 performance. 6950 is about 5-10% faster so he's in the ballpark.


ohhhhh silly me







ok well yhh lol


----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## EliteComputerBuilds




----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EliteComputerBuilds;13686631*


Not bad, the last result in oc, I wonder are you using same synchronised settings (including the overvoltage)? And of course, RS stable?


----------



## sunnyFTW

@ReeceMcMuffin lol









so i was right ??


----------



## Horsemama1956

It's right around there. Depends on the game, and how the drivers work with that game. Not sure about benchmarks though.


----------



## damxi0

will this image do?


----------



## BullsEyeGuy

I just got this card a few days ago and I'm wondering why my 'OpenCL' box is not checked even though I downloaded the updates from AMD's site. I've seen on a few other GPU-Z sheets that some have it checked and some don't.

Anyone have any ideas?


----------



## rocketjames

hi buy 2 of that on newegg for crossfireX too replace my GTX260 EVGA is death after 2 years

http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-6850-cyclone-power-review/

what you thing for the msi 6850 good or bad


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rocketjames;13710769*
> hi buy 2 of that on newegg for crossfireX too replace my GTX260 EVGA is death after 2 years
> 
> http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-6850-cyclone-power-review/
> 
> what you thing for the msi 6850 good or bad


Congratulations









You've just got the best 6850 Crossfire ever


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rocketjames;13710769*
> hi buy 2 of that on newegg for crossfireX too replace my GTX260 EVGA is death after 2 years
> 
> http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-6850-cyclone-power-review/
> 
> what you thing for the msi 6850 good or bad


I'm running one right now and love it.


----------



## adamxatomic

Add me please.
2x XFX HD6850 Crossfire


----------



## rocketjames

adamxatomic your video card is rock ' N ' roll no problem whit it tell me !!!

need your config video card temp mhz all !!! plz !!!

is overclock or no !!!


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *adamxatomic;13719564*
> Add me please.
> 2x XFX HD6850 Crossfire










That looks really familiar...

Hope you like the setup, the fans on those things drove me crazy.


----------



## smoke420

Some new pics


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;13738417*
> Some new pics
> 
> _... cut ..._


+1









This last picture of yours (with the downside external fan) has allready inspired me








After about 1 hour of work managed myself to place a 92mm Scythe Kama Flex 1600 rpm exhaust fan too. I had to deal with the height under the dvi connector (pretty tight because of my mobo) however, at the end (& with some modifications) it works








Therefore I also changed the airflow side of my case panel 140mm Kaze Maru (fan controlled) from exhaust fan to intake fan (hope that all this modifications will do the proper ventilation enough for my "future aftermarket" crossfire too)









BTW, nice rig this yours


----------



## arrow0309

Man, that's unbelievable







My gaming 100% gpu load (The Witcher 2 v-sync off) max dropped to 57° (63° before) with the 1000/1140 oc meanwhile the max recorded (coretemp) cpu temp on core 0 dropped to 55° at 4 Ghz (58-59 before)









Nice improovment, let's say I'm now ready for the second 6870, as soon as there's some income (can't wait for that)


----------



## drBlahMan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13747529*
> Man, that's unbelievable
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My gaming 100% gpu load (The Witcher 2 v-sync off) max dropped to 57° (63° before) with the 1000/1140 oc meanwhile the max recorded (coretemp) cpu temp on core 0 dropped to 55° at 4 Ghz (58-59 before)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice improovment, let's say I'm now ready for the second 6870, as soon as there's some income (can't wait for that)


That's real nice







Are you using the Windforce version *?*


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *drBlahMan;13747556*
> That's real nice
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you using the Windforce version *?*


Nope, is a reference 6870 Zalman vf3000a modded









http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/850691-official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-a-337.html#post12958686


----------



## drBlahMan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13747599*
> Nope, is a reference 6870 Zalman vf3000a modded
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/850691-official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-a-337.html#post12958686


Now that right there, is badass







_I might have to look into that_


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13747019*
> +1
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This last picture of yours (with the downside external fan) has allready inspired me
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After about 1 hour of work managed myself to place a 92mm Scythe Kama Flex 1600 rpm exhaust fan too. I had to deal with the height under the dvi connector (pretty tight because of my mobo) however, at the end (& with some modifications) it works
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Therefore I also changed the airflow side of my case panel 140mm Kaze Maru (fan controlled) from exhaust fan to intake fan (hope that all this modifications will do the proper ventilation enough for my "future aftermarket" crossfire too)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BTW, nice rig this yours


Thank you,and yes shes all mine all done by me.I like saying that.lol

I also had great improvements about 5-7c load per card.If you put your hand in front of the fan you can see why.It pulls an amazing amount of heat out of the case.im also running the case with positive pressure helps a little.

I was going to get a lanboy air,sooooooooo glad I didn't.lol..

my fan controller blew up literally a loud hum and them boom...my system shut down thought for sure my psu was done but lucky I ripped that pos out and all was fine.It didn't bother me too much considering my psu was fine and I kept all the fans at 100% anyway.lol

believe it of not with all 15 case fans at 100% all I get is a hum.


----------



## G23

...


----------



## rocketjames

my pc (code name Darmult) whit the gigabytes , is my first Amd Pc ever!!! my crossfire not inside just buy my crossfire!! Play in 40'' tv Toshiba ,,ho by the way Msi HD6850 really good video card







[/URL] Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Ho nunchaku is extra in the picture !!! Hihi NINJA


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13747529*
> Man, that's unbelievable
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My gaming 100% gpu load (The Witcher 2 v-sync off) max dropped to 57° (63° before) with the 1000/1140 oc meanwhile the max recorded (coretemp) cpu temp on core 0 dropped to 55° at 4 Ghz (58-59 before)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice improovment, let's say I'm now ready for the second 6870, as soon as there's some income (can't wait for that)


Holy crepes, I'm gonna have to try that. Now I just need to order a couple more fans.


----------



## Matt86

Stock MSI 6850 OC version (not Cyclone) running at 950MHz @1.15v and 1150 memory


----------



## Greg0986

Hey guys, As some of you might know, I recently got a second 6870. It was great, nearly double FPS on most games







The only thing that annoyed me was the temperatures. I have an XFX 6870 and an engineering sample that I won in a competition. I had the XFX card in the top slot and the ES in the bottom slot.

I was getting temperate 20 degrees apart :O The XFX one was, at idle, around 40*c but the ES was at 60*c idle :O At first I just thought, "meh, its an ES, they will prob run hotter". Today I randomly got the urge to switch the GPU's around to see if it was in fact just the card. But no, it was the orientation. I now have the XFX on the bottom and the ES on top and both the cards are idling at around 40*c!







Great result!

So, if any of you have temp issues, try switching slots to see if that helps


----------



## kurt1288

Finally got my Gigabyte 6850 (GV-R685OC-1GD), and I'm loving it so far (and I've barely gotten anytime to use it). It runs at about 1/2 the temp that my 4870 did, and is just as quite as the aftermarket cooler I had put on (the 4870). Now to start overclocking it.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kurt1288;13822512*
> Finally got my Gigabyte 6850 (GV-R685OC-1GD), and I'm loving it so far (and I've barely gotten anytime to use it). It runs at about 1/2 the temp that my 4870 did, and is just as quite as the aftermarket cooler I had put on (the 4870). Now to start overclocking it.


Nice cooling solution, (I'm a Gigabyte fan) I might be interested of gettin' one too for a cf setup; but I have to admit I'd like the 6870 SOC most.








Let us know about your oc results (even without voltage modification)


----------



## joaotoscano

Looking forward to get my 6850 for my mobo Crosshair III Formula


----------



## kurt1288

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13824257*
> Nice cooling solution, (I'm a Gigabyte fan) I might be interested of gettin' one too for a cf setup; but I have to admit I'd like the 6870 SOC most.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let us know about your oc results (even without voltage modification)


So far, I've gotten 910/1150 stable. I've tried at 920, but that doesn't seem to be stable. That's about an 10% from the factory overclock and about a 17/10% overclock from stock. For the amount of time I put into overclocking the card (which was almost nothing), I think that's pretty good.


----------



## R4V3N

I would love to join with 2x 6870s


----------



## arrow0309

*Gigabyte Radeon HD 6870 OC Graphics Card Review.*

Link: http://www.eteknix.com/graphics/gigabyte-radeon-hd-6870-oc-graphics-card-review-1252/


----------



## Ayekalooter

I'd love to join this club~ I'm currently rocking a SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850. I picked the card up from Newegg around Christmas time. When I got the card, I was using a MicroATX board in a tiny little lanbox style case, and the card needed to be short. This card fit, while other higher end cards wouldn't.

Luckily for me, I game at 1200p (and don't use my second screen while gaming) and this card has been able to keep up with all current games that I want to play at that resolution. The card followed me into my new setup (and larger motherboard and case), and if there comes a time where the card is no longer able to keep up, I hear they are great in crossfire!

I currently have my card running at 975Mhz on the core and 1075Mhz RAM for most games and general use... Sometimes I lower it a bit... I'm still feeling out where exactly the best everyday performance to heat / noise ratio is at. Ive found going higher on the RAM doesn't seem to improve performance noticeably, and brings in a hint of instability...


----------



## adamxatomic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rocketjames;13728487*
> adamxatomic your video card is rock ' N ' roll no problem whit it tell me !!!
> 
> need your config video card temp mhz all !!! plz !!!
> 
> is overclock or no !!!


I sent you a message, but I guess you didn't get it?

Temps are 44c/64c = GPU1 40c/63c GPU2
OC is at 875Mhz/1150Mhz.
And yes they are overclocked.

When benching, these things have no problem of hitting 940Mhz with a little voltage nudge. However, they seem to prefer the 1150Mhz area on the memory.


----------



## hendoben

Can anyone recommend an after-market cooler for the hd6850? I've got the 'Asus 1GB Radeon HD 6850 DirectCU' model, and while i'm pretty happy with the temps, 40c idle, I'm not so happy with the noise this thing makes once the fans spin up.

Reason I'm asking on here is because I'm not too sure what the deal is with the vrm heat-sinks, it appears that there aren't many GPU coolers out there that cater for the 6850 directly. Cool, thanks.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hendoben;13905209*
> Can anyone recommend an after-market cooler for the hd6850? I've got the 'Asus 1GB Radeon HD 6850 DirectCU' model, and while i'm pretty happy with the temps, 40c idle, I'm not so happy with the noise this thing makes once the fans spin up.
> 
> Reason I'm asking on here is because I'm not too sure what the deal is with the vrm heat-sinks, it appears that there aren't many GPU coolers out there that cater for the 6850 directly. Cool, thanks.


Arctic Cooling's Twin Turbo Pro is compatible with a reference 6850. The VRM/VRAM heatsinks are perma-glued though, and I'm not positive if it will fit a DCU since that's non-reference. If you compare pics of the PCBs you should be able to tell if they moved the holes or not.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hendoben;13905209*
> Can anyone recommend an after-market cooler for the hd6850? I've got the 'Asus 1GB Radeon HD 6850 ' model, and while i'm pretty happy with the temps, 40c idle, I'm not so happy with the noise this thing makes once the fans spin up.
> 
> Reason I'm asking on here is because I'm not too sure what the deal is with the vrm heat-sinks, it appears that there aren't many GPU coolers out there that cater for the 6850 directly. Cool, thanks.


I have 2 Asus DirectCU in crossfire and the coolers I got work great, are still DirectCU, and are quiet at any rpm.not sure were you live but they are compusa's brand ultra so If you you dont like them you can return them.not to mention they are cheap $35 each.

Ultra U12-40659 Carbon X4

pics of my rig
http://www.overclock.net/13738374-post14242.html


----------



## hendoben

Thanks. They don't seem to sell that cooler outside of the US though, i'm in Europe, Ireland to be precise, so the delivery costs, if i found someone to even deliver to Ireland, would put it out of my price range unfortunately.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hendoben;13916853*
> Thanks. They don't seem to sell that cooler outside of the US though, i'm in Europe, Ireland to be precise, so the delivery costs, if i found someone to even deliver to Ireland, would put it out of my price range unfortunately.


That cooler it's kinda version of the XIGMATEK Bifost for the american market. The Bitfrost is maybe a bit more expensive however available in Europe:


















http://www.amazon.co.uk/XIGMATEK-Bifrost-VD1065-cooler-aluminium/dp/B0030BS2WE]XIGMATEK Bifrost VD1065 - Video card cooler - aluminium - 100 mm - black: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories[/URL]


----------



## Horsemama1956

Copy and pasted from the dirt 3 thread.

Holy ****! If you bought a card from XFX that currently has a Dirt3 bundle(but released before the promotion) and register it with XFX you get Dirt 3 for free even though your card was out before the promotion. I just registered it and there was a link to get a game code.

Not sure how recent the card would have to be, but I know the 6870 is one of them. If this was known in the thread I must have missed it.

Just did it and yup you get a Steam key.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;13919166*
> That cooler it's kinda version of the XIGMATEK Bifost for the american market. The Bitfrost is maybe a bit more expensive however available in Europe:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> XIGMATEK Bifrost VD1065 - Video card cooler - aluminium - 100 mm - black: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories


I can't recommend the xigmatek because it has a 3-pin fan connection to be ran off the motherboard or psu so wire management is harder not to mention your paying $10 more for the inconvenience.Truthfully the Zalman VF3000A and Arctic Cooling's Twin Turbo Pro are supposedly a little better so if you cant get it cheaper your better off getting one of those .I say supposedly because there are very few reviews of these coolers(ultra\xigmatek).I can say with my cards at 920\1150 v1.90 my gaming temps never past 61c.I think thats good considering its crossfire and my ambient temps aren't great.

What kind of temps are you guys getting in crossfire?

http://www.overclock.net/12680742-post76.html


----------



## hendoben

I was thinking of this? I'm still not really sure what the deal is with the ram heatsinks. Also, what way are the fans powered, will they still work automatically with afterburner?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hendoben;13920317*
> I was thinking of this? I'm still not really sure what the deal is with the ram heatsinks. Also, what way are the fans powered, will they still work automatically with afterburner?


The Gelid Solutions Icy Vision Rev.2 VGA comes with all the ram heatsinks you will need.

The ram sinks that came with my coolers used really thin double sided tape most reviews say they fall off or you have to heat them up and thats bull.all I had to do was brush off any visible dust and clean with a little alcohol .After it dried I just stuck them on that simple.they have not fell off in fact I picked up the card with one to see how strong it was.

On the other hand the kit did not come with anything to cool the vrm's.This is not a problem if you have the v1 because it comes with a vrm heatsink already but im not sure about the v2's .If you have 2x 6-pin power connections its a v2 and you will have to check for yourself because the pics online aren't too helpful.

these cards dont need much to cool them and all the aftermarket coolers are going to be much quieter than stock .Your not going to be disappointed with any of the coolers specially if your not running crossfire.so get the cheap one.


----------



## falcon26

I've got the Twin Turbo Pro on my 6870. Its dead quiet. You can't even tell its on. I keep it at 30% fan speed and my idle temps are about 35 and load about 55 while playing BC2. Not bad. I paid $40 for it from superbiiz.com


----------



## Annex

I have reference coolers on my 6870's currently, but I'm planning to water cool them both with GPU blocks only.. I'm mainly doing this to cut down on noise since I have my 1090t under water already, but I'm curious about the OC potential of these cards..

I've been able to run 940/1140 on both GPU's without any noticeable problems, but I would like to push more if possible.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Annex;13938158*
> I have reference coolers on my 6870's currently, but I'm planning to water cool them both with GPU blocks only.. I'm mainly doing this to cut down on noise since I have my 1090t under water already, but I'm curious about the OC potential of these cards..
> 
> I've been able to run 940/1140 on both GPU's without any noticeable problems, but I would like to push more if possible.


May wanna check out the 68xx series overclockers club in my sig


----------



## Tman5293

I have an XFX 6850 Black Edition which I overclocked to 875MHz Core Clock and 1230MHz Memory Clock.

And for the Pics:


----------



## Buska103

Damn! Nice memory clock there... I'm sure you would be able to bump that core clock by at least 75mhz on 1.2V... at least for my two cards >









Just curious, how much do used 6850s sell by these days? Wondering if it's worth it to sell my setup on craigslist or ebay...


----------



## Jras

Planning to upgrade from the 5770 in anticipation of Battlefield 3 later this year. The 6850/6870 looks to offer a good upgrade within a price point that suits my budget.

The 6850 im look at is:
http://www.amazon.com/HIS-PCI-Express-Video-Card-H685F1GD/dp/B0047N0XBM/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1308610291&sr=1-3]Amazon.com: HIS PCI-Express Video Card (H685F1GD): Computer & Accessories[/URL]

Or i can get this 6870 for $25 more.
http://www.amazon.com/HIS-PCI-Express-Video-Card-H687F1G2M/dp/B0047N0XBW/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1308668097&sr=1-2]Amazon.com: HIS PCI-Express Video Card (H687F1G2M): Electronics[/URL]

Would anyone say that it would be worthwhile to spend the extra and go for the 6870?

note...I have to buy from Amazon since I have a giftcard.


----------



## SBN1977

My Sapphire 6870


----------



## SBN1977

Both cards are the standerd cooling system, so you not going to do great OC's on either one, so go with the strongest in the 6870, which is only $15 more after rebate.


----------



## nerdybeat

Hey guys -

Just checkin in to ask a few questions. I have had my CFX setup for a few months now, works great. Love the scaling of the 68XX series. As it turns out however, the PCIe lanes are so close on my Sabertooth X58 that the top card really suffocates...








I tried adding the extra 120mm blowing at them, didn't really help much. I can't afford to get a watercooling loop right now either.

With summer ambients in home 23-25C, I am seeing idle/web browsing temps around 52-60C on the top card. The bottom card remains OK around 40-44C. I do have fan profiles on, and the top card is still hitting those temps with ~45% fan speed.

Do these temps seem a bit high for idle/normal usage? I don't want to risk degrading the GPU(s). Corsair is releasing a new window for my 650D within the next 5-6 weeks with some 120mm slots (likely 4) and I could see how that helps the temps, and maybe take out the bottom card for now.

Any suggestions/input? Are these temps dangerous? While gaming (Rift, BFBC2, TW:Shogun2, etc) the top doesn't go above 75-80C, while bottom never goes above 70C.


----------



## a pet rock

Those temps are to be expected and are safe. I wouldn't go much higher though. With my 6850s, the top card idled at 50C with 50% fan and I had a slot between the coolers. I went with some aftermarket heatsinks just because of noise.


----------



## drnilly007

I would try and move the bottom card down a slot so the top one can bet some better airflow.... and you may be able to mount a 80mm between the two quite easily.... but am not sure


----------



## Camph

Hey guys, got my first ATI card. So far it's extremely stable but the frame rates aren't quite as good as I thought. Would using 11.5 drivers make it faster (I turned off hardware acceleration but it doesn't seem to make that big of a difference)? Also, does the overclocking utility in the drivers work just as well as MSI afterburner? Anything else I should do to increase the performance of this card? Thanks


----------



## Tman5293

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Camph;13972765*
> Hey guys, got my first ATI card. So far it's extremely stable but the frame rates aren't quite as good as I thought. Would using 11.5 drivers make it faster (I turned off hardware acceleration but it doesn't seem to make that big of a difference)? Also, does the overclocking utility in the drivers work just as well as MSI afterburner? Anything else I should do to increase the performance of this card? Thanks


Well you should easily be able to get your memory clock up to 1200MHz. It looks like you have the regular XFX 6850. I have the XFX 6850 Black Edition. I was able to get my clocks to 875MHz Core Clock and 1230MHz Memory Clock. I used AMD Overdrive (the overclocker in the drivers). I hear that MSI Afterburner works much better. It lets you turn your clocks up higher and it lets you change the voltage going to the card. I don't use it because I had some trouble getting Afterburner to apply the overclocks at start up. But by all means give it a shot!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nerdybeat;13971357*
> Hey guys -
> 
> Just checkin in to ask a few questions. I have had my CFX setup for a few months now, works great. Love the scaling of the 68XX series. As it turns out however, the PCIe lanes are so close on my Sabertooth X58 that the top card really suffocates...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I tried adding the extra 120mm blowing at them, didn't really help much. I can't afford to get a watercooling loop right now either.
> 
> With summer ambients in home 23-25C, I am seeing idle/web browsing temps around 52-60C on the top card. The bottom card remains OK around 40-44C. I do have fan profiles on, and the top card is still hitting those temps with ~45% fan speed.
> 
> Do these temps seem a bit high for idle/normal usage? I don't want to risk degrading the GPU(s). Corsair is releasing a new window for my 650D within the next 5-6 weeks with some 120mm slots (likely 4) and I could see how that helps the temps, and maybe take out the bottom card for now.
> 
> Any suggestions/input? Are these temps dangerous? While gaming (Rift, BFBC2, TW:Shogun2, etc) the top doesn't go above 75-80C, while bottom never goes above 70C.


Get a Scythe Setsugen 2 for the top one & enjoy the same config. and better cooling. (I'd change the bottom's cooler too and there's no width restriction over there)


----------



## Vitto97

hi, in your opinion what is the safe limit for the voltage in a bench overclock of a 6850 with stock cooling?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Vitto97;13976862*
> hi, in your opinion what is the safe limit for the voltage in a bench overclock of a 6850 with stock cooling?


You will get different answers from different people but I have gone as high as 1.45..
I wouldn't call that safe though more like suicide runs.lol...

Before I got the coolers I ran that to get both my cards both to 1020 on the core .After one heaven 2.1 run one of my cards got to 99c.way too hot not to mention it heated up the room pretty quick..

After the coolers it takes no were near that much voltage.

Now back to your question I would say 1.35 is safe on most cards but not for a long period of time.

Aftermarket cooling and you could go to maybe 1.40.(although after adding my coolers going over 1.30 did not help stability)

Water cooling probably even higher.(I don't think these cards get hot enough to need water unless your using x2 in crossfire)

Water would be good for other reasons but I doubt it would raise your final overclock much over a good aftermarket cooler.

MOST IMPORTANT- If your going to use stupid amounts of voltage like I did make sure to watch your temps specially vreg's with that much voltage its as important as the core if not more..

PS. killing your cards for high scores gets old quick..I hope your card last long enough for you to get bored with benchmarks and play some games.lol


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nerdybeat;13971357*
> Hey guys -
> 
> Just checkin in to ask a few questions. I have had my CFX setup for a few months now, works great. Love the scaling of the 68XX series. As it turns out however, the PCIe lanes are so close on my Sabertooth X58 that the top card really suffocates...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I tried adding the extra 120mm blowing at them, didn't really help much. I can't afford to get a watercooling loop right now either.
> 
> With summer ambients in home 23-25C, I am seeing idle/web browsing temps around 52-60C on the top card. The bottom card remains OK around 40-44C. I do have fan profiles on, and the top card is still hitting those temps with ~45% fan speed.
> 
> Do these temps seem a bit high for idle/normal usage? I don't want to risk degrading the GPU(s). Corsair is releasing a new window for my 650D within the next 5-6 weeks with some 120mm slots (likely 4) and I could see how that helps the temps, and maybe take out the bottom card for now.
> 
> Any suggestions/input? Are these temps dangerous? While gaming (Rift, BFBC2, TW:Shogun2, etc) the top doesn't go above 75-80C, while bottom never goes above 70C.


Your cards look like blowers if thats so adding door fans wont help much, if at all.Aftermarket coolers are a different story.

Let the cards get hot with the side of your case off. Now feel around the cards for hot spots.If there are no hot spots chances are your cards are not heating up the inside of your case enough for side fans to make much difference.

All side fans do is lower temps inside your case.If your temps are already close to ambient inside your case they wont help much.


----------



## SBN1977

this had been several years back, but I had a Foxcon MB that put the GPU's that close and I had some high temps from top card. What I did was put a blower type fan on top of it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835888309 there are many others now, thats just the one I used a few years back, but sucking in air from the back and blowing it out droped the heat about 5c if I remeber correct. Have to pop of the fiting and reverse it so the blower is pulling air from gpu on most of that type of fan


----------



## smoke420

F.E.A.R.3 solid 60fps maxed out..The game is ok so far.


----------



## MOSFET

Here is a screen shot of GPU-z (for the Sapphire 6870)


----------



## iLLGT3

Hello all. I just got my first PC up and running tonight and I am having a problem with a black border (1" give or take) around my 24" screen. (1920x1080 obviously)

My Dell monitor has the option to stretch the screen but it won't let me. The horizontal/vertical options are grayed out.









It may also be that I need the latest drivers which I can't get until I get a wireless card/USB for my computer lol.. I used the driver disc that came with my XFX 6850 card to get my card recognized and working.


----------



## Tman5293

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iLLGT3;13998322*
> Hello all. I just got my first PC up and running tonight and I am having a problem with a black border (1" give or take) around my 24" screen. (1920x1080 obviously)
> 
> My Dell monitor has the option to stretch the screen but it won't let me. The horizontal/vertical options are grayed out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It may also be that I need the latest drivers which I can't get until I get a wireless card/USB for my computer lol.. I used the driver disc that came with my XFX 6850 card to get my card recognized and working.


You need to open up the driver settings (Catalyst Control Center) and find the scaling settings for your monitor. It should be under "My Digital Flat Panels." In the "Scaling Options" you should see a slider that says Underscan on the left and Overscan on the right. I'm guessing that it's all the way to the left at 15% right now. You need to drag that slider all the way to the Overscan side where it says 0%. Then hit apply in the bottom right and your done! Hope this helps.


----------



## iLLGT3

^ I have this page bookmarked so I can come back to it. Something on my motherboard decided to make a nice little flame and burn out so I'm gonna have to wait.


----------



## Coach Mcguirk

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jras;13952995*
> Planning to upgrade from the 5770 in anticipation of Battlefield 3 later this year. The 6850/6870 looks to offer a good upgrade within a price point that suits my budget.
> 
> The 6850 im look at is:
> Amazon.com: HIS PCI-Express Video Card (H685F1GD): Computer & Accessories
> 
> Or i can get this 6870 for $25 more.
> Amazon.com: HIS PCI-Express Video Card (H687F1G2M): Electronics
> 
> Would anyone say that it would be worthwhile to spend the extra and go for the 6870?
> 
> note...I have to buy from Amazon since I have a giftcard.


Yea. Do it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG Captivate using Tapatalk


----------



## Monarch8d

I'm looking to xfire for the first time and I own an ASUS HD 6850. Should I just get another 6850 or would I see more benefit to xfire my 6850 with a 6870?


----------



## Tman5293

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Monarch8d*


I'm looking to xfire for the first time and I own an ASUS HD 6850. Should I just get another 6850 or would I see more benefit to xfire my 6850 with a 6870?


Two 6850s would have much better performance than a 6850 and a 6870.


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Where are you getting that from ^ ?
I agree he should go for 2 6850s since it will give more performance than you need and it will be better value. but a 6870 + 6850 is quicker than 2 x 6850 once configured correctly.


----------



## Monarch8d

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob*


Where are you getting that from ^ ?
I agree he should go for 2 6850s since it will give more performance than you need and it will be better value. but a 6870 + 6850 is quicker than 2 x 6850 once configured correctly.


Yeah I was thinking 6850 but I just wasn't sure if the performance increase was really worth getting a 6870. I'm looking for performance and value so the 2 6850's is looking like the best way to go. Thanks a lot guys.


----------



## Tman5293

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob*


Where are you getting that from ^ ?
I agree he should go for 2 6850s since it will give more performance than you need and it will be better value. but a 6870 + 6850 is quicker than 2 x 6850 once configured correctly.


Actually it would be worse since the 6870 would be forced to the same clocks as the 6850.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tman5293*


Actually it would be worse since the 6870 would be forced to the same clocks as the 6850.


Actually thats false lol


----------



## Point Blank Rob

cheers for the backup tokkan








Tman5293 that no longer happens on 6xxx series chips.


----------



## Synthean

Synthean
XFX HD6870 BE


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Synthean;14020691*
> Synthean
> XFX HD6870 BE


You've got +1 rep, nice Corsair rig. I love that new case from the Corsair


----------



## arrow0309

*AMD Radeon HD 6850/6950 CrossFire Performance*


















Link: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=778&Itemid=72


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob;14011749*
> Where are you getting that from ^ ?
> I agree he should go for 2 6850s since it will give more performance than you need and it will be better value. but a 6870 + 6850 is quicker than 2 x 6850 once configured correctly.


how is it any faster?
although the 6870 has 1120 Stream Processing Units when paired with a 6850 only 960 are being used so clock for clock performance is pretty much the same.

now for clock speed you may get a higher overclock from a 6870 but only the card with the lowest clock speed will reach 100% load..

so the way I see it a 6870 is turned into a 6850 when paired with it.

If this is not the case let me know where im wrong.but thats wrong is not helpful. so please provide a link ..lol


----------



## Point Blank Rob

cant find any benchs sorry but it's discuess here;
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=262&threadid=150746&enterthread=y


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob;14025557*
> cant find any benchs sorry but it's discuess here;
> http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=262&threadid=150746&enterthread=y


I read the link provided and its just not true. I am running two 6850's and one overclocks better than the other. With one at 1000 core and the other at 920 running in xfire the card with the higher clocks wont hit 100% load.This was not been resolved unless it was in the last driver upgrade doubt it.

Even in the link provided it says "it was changed and not documented" believe that if you want.

Can someone here with crossfire confirm please.Run the cards at different core speeds and check if the higher clocked card gets to 100% load.


----------



## Enfluenza

IN!
i love my REFERENCE XFX HD6870








runs much cooler than my XFX 5830 even with the same amount of shaders lol


----------



## ltg2227

I want to get another 6850 for my sig rig to crossfire. The thing is, the Egg only has the OC edition in stock( i have the non-OC edition) but this shouldn't be a problem, correct?? I also have thought about adding aftermarket cooling fans to both cards. Any suggestions for a decent pair of fans that would fit my cards (preferably from the Egg).


----------



## Synthean

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;14021693*
> You've got +1 rep, nice Corsair rig. I love that new case from the Corsair


Yeah arrow, this case was a dream to build in, the SE 600T was most spacious case that I have ever owned and well worth the costs IMHO. I went for a nice clean sleek looking rig....thanks for rep! Pic below shows temps and volts running in my system.


----------



## I Mazza I

I'd like to be apart of this, thoroughly enjoying my 6870.


----------



## Synthean

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *I Mazza I;14033489*
> I'd like to be apart of this, thoroughly enjoying my 6870.


Mazza, you running that i7 950 at 1.6 MHz, and .95 volts? Why underclocked?


----------



## I Mazza I

I have it set to power saver mode.


----------



## Monarch8d

I want to crossfire the two asus radeon 6850 cards with an asrock p67 extreme 4 in a cooler master haf 932. Will this fit? I'm away from my comp waiting on my flight and was pondering this...

Sent from my EVO 4G


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Monarch8d;14033925*
> I want to crossfire the two asus radeon 6850 cards with an asrock p67 extreme 4 in a cooler master haf 932. Will this fit? I'm away from my comp waiting on my flight and was pondering this...
> 
> Sent from my EVO 4G


I have the same cards and case so thats not a problem.

some pics: http://www.overclock.net/13738417-post3821.html

The only issue is your motherboard barely has enough room for the coolers.The top card with the cooler attached wont have much room to suck in cool air because it will almost touch the bottom card .It should still cool better than stock and be much quieter.

dont forget aftermarket coolers dump even more heat in the case than stock.so to avoid your cpu getting hotter .I would suggest adding a exhaust fan behind the cards it helps a lot 5-7c load cooler per card..as seen in the last pic...
hope this helps


----------



## romaniankid

What is the recommended psu wattage to run a 6870 crossfire setup?


----------



## Camph

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *romaniankid;14041531*
> What is the recommended psu wattage to run a 6870 crossfire setup?


According to http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/493743.aspx, 600W so you should be fine


----------



## Monarch8d

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;14036051*
> I have the same cards and case so thats not a problem.
> 
> some pics: http://www.overclock.net/13738417-post3821.html
> 
> The only issue is your motherboard barely has enough room for the coolers.The top card with the cooler attached wont have much room to suck in cool air because it will almost touch the bottom card .It should still cool better than stock and be much quieter.
> 
> dont forget aftermarket coolers dump even more heat in the case than stock.so to avoid your cpu getting hotter .I would suggest adding a exhaust fan behind the cards it helps a lot 5-7c load cooler per card..as seen in the last pic...
> hope this helps


Awesome. Thanks so much, +rep for sure.


----------



## 0razor1

Lovely pics up there^^

Nice rigs !

GG for me -- MSI couldn't fix my 6850 -- to heck with it -- the over over overclocking-- not stammering -- but really an overclocked 6870 was so much easier and in hindsight worth the manhours I've spent cooling and clocking this card








Anyway~ I've upgraded to a 6950 w/ extra cash   but atleast what I have here is something that'll keep me going as long as my AM3 build doesn't fall apart ! AMD's gonna go south NOW with the 560ti ruining it for everyone. the 6850 against the 460 pitted well, but the 560 is now a no brainer , with the Ti edition wreaking havok on the 6870 AND 6950 -- Prices get even better for us.. but OH boi! what is AMD upto ? 28nm PLEASE  its been too long 40nm has seen its days ...

BTW, the 68xx is no longer in production @[email protected] sad to know. I don't get it .. They're abandoning the 6850 simply cause the 6790 beats the 550ti ?? So AMD now has nothing to offer b/w the 550ti , 560 and 560ti by nvidia  hate to see those green ppl swimming in it.

69xx club , here I come!
Gonna miss this club


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Synthean;14033704*
> Mazza, you running that i7 950 at 1.6 MHz, and .95 volts? Why underclocked?


It wouldn;t run windows 3.11 ?? @ 1.6MHz















hheeh:drink: am stupid!


----------



## Dirkonis

Thinking of picking up a 6850 or 6870 for my new build. How do you guys like your setups with these GPUs? I will be pairing it with a i5-2400, I know 20 bucks more for a 2500 but I have no plans to overclock as I have my AMD rig to play with for that.

Use will be for SWTOR,GW2,BF3,RAGE etc. Curious as to how you think the combination will perform. I am always surprised about graphic/cpu combination capability and hope that the answers I get are even more upbeat.

thanks in advance


----------



## 0razor1

Read one post above^^ they're out of production , but will still be supported-- the only problem if of course, if YOU goof the card at some point , have fun getting it fixed.

IMO , 69xx or wait..


----------



## romaniankid

I don't understand why they would stop production of the cards...I was going to crossfire my 6870 eventually. Guess it's now or never then?


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;14047580*
> Read one post above^^ they're out of production , but will still be supported-- the only problem if of course, if YOU goof the card at some point , have fun getting it fixed.
> 
> IMO , 69xx or wait..


Umm, there will still be a ton left, and they will still fix it, or replace it with something similar. The 69xx will be out of production soon enough, so that means you're screwed too? People still get support for the 5 series.


----------



## ltg2227

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gpuinurmotherboard;14047111*
> Thinking of picking up a 6850 or 6870 for my new build. How do you guys like your setups with these GPUs? I will be pairing it with a i5-2400, I know 20 bucks more for a 2500 but I have no plans to overclock as I have my AMD rig to play with for that.
> 
> Use will be for SWTOR,GW2,BF3,RAGE etc. Curious as to how you think the combination will perform. I am always surprised about graphic/cpu combination capability and hope that the answers I get are even more upbeat.
> 
> thanks in advance


I like my 6850 very well(sig rig) and am going to pick up another for crossfire when a nice sale comes along on the Egg. Speaking of which, You might want to look at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150506&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL062811&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL062811-_-EMC-062811-Latest-_-VideoCards-_-14150506-LC7C


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956;14048837*
> Umm, there will still be a ton left, and they will still fix it, or replace it with something similar. The 69xx will be out of production soon enough, so that means you're screwed too? People still get support for the 5 series.


well, was using the SAME cooler on my MSI 6850 -- well , too much of a headache --- the VRM001-- got it from HK ;/
back to the point -- all I meant was that initially I spend the first week breaking in the card so that if there's any fault that may ruin things for me when I'm away == I'm studying in a rural town 
well, in case anything came up durying this breaking in , its easy to get a replacement immediately,, however, with the 68xx being out of production AND stock here (India) it was wiser to cough up the extra cash and get a 6950..

Just saying-- while using the accelero s1 and a pci blower is SILENT-- w/ this twin frozer-- I can stand the small increase in decibels AND not go through the headache of swapping out the heatsink and the thermal epoxy good-lord ! and it even saves me a pci - slot *no blower now*
and the 6950 overclocked is second to a 580 stock







I think there was an article at tom's or anand's about it...
A gfx card is most likely to fail in the first month 00 or the first week if burning in 00 not that the burning in makes the card any better-- its simply stressing the card beyond what its regular operation specifics will be .. and that ensures normal running is less likely to fail--









Just saying , its like getting a 560 over a 460-- the 460 IS in stock , and afaik , are almost the same .. except for some elementary optimisations -- sure the 460 can be picked up cheap --- but what fun if it got spoiled the month after and one has to go through regular warranty channels!








<--- I can talk junk at times 00 let it ride


----------



## savage1987

Just found this thread, I think I qualify









2x MSI HD6870 in crossfire, although one is away on warranty at the moment







so GPUz will say only one. Stock clocks for now but I might get restless and have a play..

I will get a screenshot up ASAP, just realised I don't have GPU-Z on this system yet







just switched to 64bit win7 a short while ago and I'm still finding these things missing lol

I might even put up some pics of the full system. I think I built it pretty







black/red theme worked nicely

Sam


----------



## savage1987

edit: not really sure why photobucket refuses to give me full resolution, I uploaded it full size


----------



## denydog

This talk of out of production 6870's caused me to order a second MSI Twin Frozr II card last night. The price seemed good, and I was planning on going Crossfire anyway at some point.

I hope this new card is the OC version like my first one, though I suppose it won't really matter.


----------



## savage1987

Out of production? Huh? This doesn't bode well for my warranty claim. I had a dodgy 6870 that intermittently wouldn't boot when it was installed. Sent it back for warranty asking nicely for a replacement card identical to that one, since it's going in a crossfire arrangement, hopefully I can still get that


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;14058179*
> well, was using the SAME cooler on my MSI 6850 -- well , too much of a headache --- the VRM001-- got it from HK ;/
> back to the point -- all I meant was that initially I spend the first week breaking in the card so that if there's any fault that may ruin things for me when I'm away == I'm studying in a rural town
> well, in case anything came up durying this breaking in , its easy to get a replacement immediately,, however, with the 68xx being out of production AND stock here (India) it was wiser to cough up the extra cash and get a 6950..
> 
> Just saying-- while using the accelero s1 and a pci blower is SILENT-- w/ this twin frozer-- I can stand the small increase in decibels AND not go through the headache of swapping out the heatsink and the thermal epoxy good-lord ! and it even saves me a pci - slot *no blower now*
> and the 6950 overclocked is second to a 580 stock
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think there was an article at tom's or anand's about it...
> A gfx card is most likely to fail in the first month 00 or the first week if burning in 00 not that the burning in makes the card any better-- its simply stressing the card beyond what its regular operation specifics will be .. and that ensures normal running is less likely to fail--
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just saying , its like getting a 560 over a 460-- the 460 IS in stock , and afaik , are almost the same .. except for some elementary optimisations -- sure the 460 can be picked up cheap --- but what fun if it got spoiled the month after and one has to go through regular warranty channels!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> <--- I can talk junk at times 00 let it ride


I don't understand any of this. Though I did pick up on the 460 part, and those are done as well. They've been on clearance for a few months, actually.

If you buy a 68xx now, you will not have issues getting it replaced from the manufacturer, or replaced with another card.

This isn't the first time computer hardware has gone EOL.

That doesn't mean they cease to exist anymore.


----------



## ColdRush

*CALLING ALL ASUS 6850 V2 OWNERS*

I flashed my bios while using a faulty hard drive(bad idea to start with, but I didn't feel like waiting), and after the flash turned out bad the hard drive decided to crap out on me. So while that drive is in the process of an RMA I picked up a cheap drive to try and save my 6850.

Long story short, I lost the original bios file when the original drive failed and none of the versions on Techpowerup's bios database work.

If you could save your bios from gpuz and upload it that would be excellent!

Please help me OCN in my time of need

Note: The v2 version has two 6pin connectors as opposed to the first version which only had one.

Symptoms of the bad flash:
No display, no post while integrated gpu is disabled, when in windows 6850 is running at 100% with 25% fan speed, only 50c. False readings and what not.

Also note that the card DID work at one point, before the flash.


----------



## Camph

Is there a way to change the idle memory clock? It's stuck at maximum when I have 2 monitors plugged in and that causes its temps to shoot up pretty hard.


----------



## arrow0309

*VTX3D HD6870 X2 Review*

LINK: http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...870-x2-review/


----------



## arrow0309

*PowerColor Radeon HD 6850 SCS 3 Graphics Card Review*

LINK: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha..._HD_6850_SCS3/


----------



## 0razor1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956*


I don't understand any of this. Though I did pick up on the 460 part, and those are done as well. They've been on clearance for a few months, actually.


Just meant , read below.
When you get a new card, you stress test it right ? Well , any deep flaws in that production unit get thrown up? 
If so, It's easy to get a replacement the same day if the card is in production/ there's plenty of stock!
If its NOT in production , then you must wait out your RMA period for a shipment. Not good IMO.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956*


If you buy a 68xx now, you will not have issues getting it replaced from the manufacturer, or replaced with another card.


Of course, thats the general idea, but applying for an upgrade ( if the card is really just not available) takes time, atleast in this corner of the world, and thewhole point of what I wrote above is this : if you buy a card today , you'd want to use it TODAY, thats possible even if it gets ruined somehow BUT the service center has it in stock. A 6870 for example is tough to find.
So if that card dies, you wait the std. 2 -4 weeks for a replacement. If a 6970 dies, I can really just walk into a svc. center and get a replacement on the spot ! 
That is all!

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956*


This isn't the first time computer hardware has gone EOL.

That doesn't mean they cease to exist anymore.


No , no . Still , why buy an apple 3GS in today's time and age ? Dis-regarding the 4's faults, OFC


----------



## Cathal




----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:



Originally Posted by *0razor1*


Just meant , read below.
When you get a new card, you stress test it right ? Well , any deep flaws in that production unit get thrown up? 
If so, It's easy to get a replacement the same day if the card is in production/ there's plenty of stock!
If its NOT in production , then you must wait out your RMA period for a shipment. Not good IMO.

Of course, thats the general idea, but applying for an upgrade ( if the card is really just not available) takes time, atleast in this corner of the world, and thewhole point of what I wrote above is this : if you buy a card today , you'd want to use it TODAY, thats possible even if it gets ruined somehow BUT the service center has it in stock. A 6870 for example is tough to find.
So if that card dies, you wait the std. 2 -4 weeks for a replacement. If a 6970 dies, I can really just walk into a svc. center and get a replacement on the spot ! 
That is all!

No , no . Still , why buy an apple 3GS in today's time and age ? Dis-regarding the 4's faults, OFC










Ok, so they are hard to find on your planet, but everyone else should avoid them? Get real.


----------



## 0razor1

You're one to say 
Don;t u get it , buy a defective 6870 today and have fun waiting for a replacement ( a rather lengthy process if the company doesn't have it in stock) That's not money saved.
The sAme with a 6970 will NOT be an issue as of now . 
U still want to climb gum trees and buy EOL products, go ahead!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;14135440*
> You're one to say
> Don;t u get it , buy a defective 6870 today and have fun waiting for a replacement ( a rather lengthy process if the company doesn't have it in stock) That's not money saved.
> The sAme with a 6970 will NOT be an issue as of now .
> U still want to climb gum trees and buy EOL products, go ahead!


You're probably nuts, I've never seen so much models (and reviews) of an Ati videocards series like this one (68xx).








Our italian online price search engine reports *473* 68xx different prices, almost double than the 69xx.

PS. Hwo the f*** think of a (quick) replacement (with or without warranty)?


----------



## 0razor1

lulz, here you can get a a replacement fixed the SAME day @ the local service center! They've just got to see it in stock ,and if there's no visible damage to the card , voila! Instant replacement.
Gems , I tell you!
Thats just w/ MSI , dunno about the rest.. But replacements ( if not in stock ) come all the way from the states AFTER the card has been sent to Chennai ( thats like Eastern -coast to western shipping ) for inspection.. And they DO attempt to fix the card there before it goes abroad --
The way it works here.
INSTOCK ?
YES : check visual damage- none , and if the customer looks mildly intelligent, replace NOW NOW NOW !!
NO : Lulz @ the customer, send the card a thousand miles to a repair workshop, if it ISN'T fixed , then ask for a replacement from some office in the US of A , and then THAT replacement is shipped halfway across the world, YET again !

So option #1 takes an hour
Option #2 takes a month!
There are NO RMA forms to be filled , just a stupid acceptance receipt lol , which I lost at some point , and I STILL got my credit note.
If the whole repair process doesn't work ( 10 days max) , they give the customer an option of a credit note ( for an upgrade / refund) or a replacement, which takes another 3 weeks .

It's that bad/ good , depending on whether the stocks are IN or NOT .
Thus , 69xx . 68xx is depleted over here .. Maybe just a a passing phase!
Arrow ! Nice ram there, Super like! can't manage those timings EVEN at 1333  Time to upgrade!


----------



## 0razor1

WHY is the pixel fillrate on the 6950 at OC settings THE SAME EXACT VALUE in GPU-z that even a 6850 gives  I feel cheated! !


----------



## Zamoldac

Count me in - Gigabyte 6850 1Gb DDR5 (GV-R685D5-1GD)/ HK GPU-X² 6850 LT

PS: Can anyone here point me towards a good bios editor?.. or if someone could share a bios with 1ghz/core (tried RBE... total fail)


----------



## 0razor1

just RBE







UNLESS UR INTO HEXING AND ALL








You do have tons of tools to flash , but RBE is the most reliable in editing ,
unless of course you go around looking for custom roms , but I would advise against it . Some of these cards use custom layouts- make sure you flash the same company's same model graphics card - if edited - make sure you verify with the upload whether the flash went well!
I see you haven't labeled your card -- update sig ?


----------



## 0razor1

A few links I found around , make sure you go through the forums on TPU before you do anything stupid








RaBiT Bios Editor
Some ati bios editor!
And here's a guide to your rabit editor!

Hope this helps!
Still don;t know what card you're dealing with!


----------



## Zamoldac

I'm currently using a GV-R687D5-1GD-B bios (900Mhz/4200Mhz/1.174v), if you have experience with RBE on 6series cards can you confirm me that both freq and volts are safe to edit? (tried 1000Mhz/4400Mhz with the bios and i couldn't boot into windows)

Thanks.


----------



## kzone75

Hey, guys. If I get the Gigabyte 990FX-UD3 mobo tomorrow, I think I will order another 6850.


----------



## Zamoldac

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *0razor1;14138914*
> A few links I found around , make sure you go through the forums on TPU before you do anything stupid
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> RaBiT Bios Editor
> Some ati bios editor!
> And here's a guide to your rabit editor!
> 
> Hope this helps!
> Still don;t know what card you're dealing with!


Thanks for the links, I'l try some of those see if the clocks apply properly.

PS: As specified in the my first post on this page my card is a Gigabyte 6850 1Gb DDR5 (GV-R685D5-1GD) on which I have a HK GPU-X² 6850 LT waterblock.


----------



## 0razor1

Oh so sleepy , didn't pay any attention ! My bad ! Well that doesn't have voltage tweaking . I doubt flashing to 6870 clocks will get you very far ! 1GHz on the core is just NOT practical ! Go for lower freqs ? try 900 ( that doesn't usually require a voltage boost ) on the core and boot ? If it goes through , that's one doubt you're rid of.

Windowforce AFAIK doesn't over volt. Check the Chil chip that fixes the voltage !
read this :
_If I'm not mistaken, the Gigabyte 6850's don't have voltage control so I don't believe you can move them outside of their stock parameters.

Should that be the case, you will only be able to take it as high as the stock voltage allows which I believe is around 840-850 mhz._
and..
_
I found a few posts on other forums where people were trying to push their GB cards but as high as they would go is 850/1140 because that is all that the stock voltage will allow.
_
more...
_Gigabyte 6850 got chil chip for voltage control
Gigabyte 6850 oc version got some other chip ,so no software voltage control
This is from unlucky owner of oc version
I managed to change voltage to 1.17 when i flashed 6870 bios ,so there is some hope bios editing will change voltage._

With the voltage control , if you have it :
_I bumped the core up, bumped the memory up, ran Vantage and did that more times than I would prefer to think about. Eventually we ended up with some very nice clocks; 1050MHz on the core and 4700MHz on the 1GB of GDDR5._
even more :
_In order to mod the voltage on it, one must get a hold of the Trixx app from Sapphire_
If so , dump your bios w/ GPU-z, edit ONLY the clocks and fan profile with RBE , then flash, you should be good to go !
you may have to unlock the card first! - Make it flashable using this :
*
1. Unpack ATIwinflash into a folder either in your desktop or in your root directory. Meaning C:\ATIwinflash. If you create a folder straight in C:\ and do it that way, it will be easier if you are not sure of navigating through DOS. So, just make a C:\ATIWinflash folder and extract everything into that.
2. Then grab the BIOS mod program from the begining of this thread and unzip everything into a folder.
3. Go to your C:\ATIwinflash and run the application. If you have trouble, right click and run as administrator.
4. Click the SAVE button to save your BIOS. It will get saved in C:\ATIwinflash folder.
6. Copy that BIOS file (it will be either a .ROM file or .BIN file - most likely a .ROM file such as BIOS.ROM) into the moded bios folder as instructed at the beginning of this thread.
7. If it is a .ROM file, just rename it as Original.BIN and run the mod utility.
8. It will create a Modded.BIN file.
9. Copy the Modded.BIN file to your ATIwinflash folder.
10. Now go to start and in type in CMD.
11. Once you see the listing with CMD at the top, right click on it to run as admin.
12. DOS command prompt will open up. Navigate back to C:\ using CD.. (two periods after CD) - may have to do this twice until you see C:\. Assuming you are not familiar with DOS prompt commands. If you are, please pardon me.
13. Type 'CD ATIWinflash' (without the quotes) to go to C:\ATIWinflash>
14. Type in 'atiwinflash -unlockrom 0' (without the quotes) and hit enter.
15. Type in atiwinflash -f -p 0 modded.bin*

Here's a thread regarding your card and overclocking it .. ( incl. flashing) Hope some useful info comes up here !
_http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/900875-hd-6850-gigabyte-windforce-overclocking.html_

A lot of info copied and pasted but hope all of this in one place helps!
IMHO , I had a 6850 that did 945 and 1200 .. stay away from bios flashing , it sounds cool and all ( I did flash my 6950) BUT thats only when one CAN unlock shaders -Thats not possible w/ a 6850 ! I'll create warranty hassles as well!
Imagine a fried card - there's plenty of ways to get there xD

RMA'ing it with a modded bios will get you this far ..>> <---- thats it .


----------



## 0razor1

MAX FREQ I'd set for a FLASH - 950 , 1200 :/
Please read about how ECC ruins performance @ higher memory clocks.. so 1200- is actually better performing than say 1220 if errors creep in @ 1230MHz ..
Just saying m you can always OC that extra 50 Hz if you want to ! BUT the card should boot at less extreme values 0-0 950 is high as it is !


----------



## Zamoldac

The factory non-OC Gigabyte 6850's (like mine) support voltage control, I will tweak around with the stock bios and see where that gets me, thanks for your support







.


----------



## djaswal

Got 6870 :d


----------



## arrow0309

* Club3D Radeon HD 6870 X2 review *

LINK: http://www.guru3d.com/article/club3d...870-x2-review/


----------



## superste2201

me !







HD 6870 @ 970/1200/1.26v

XFX 6870


----------



## Mikemoon07

heres mine


----------



## denydog

OK, I've got CrossFire up and running.

I was reading about some people having difficulty getting cards recognized, drivers working, CrossFire enabled, etc... Turns out I was no exception. Had to go through the whole driver uninstall/reinstall three times to get driver to work. Cards for some reason initially installed with Windows drivers in Device Manager, and the second card showed a "can not start" error, so I used Device Manager to automatically update drivers to AMD 11.2 or something. Then installed the 11.6 full package over that.

Then I was getting bsod crashes. Figured out it seemed to occur whenever Afterburner started up. So I uninstalled Afterburner, reinstalled drivers again, then installed Afterburner as last step. That appeared to do the trick

All this had me a little frustrated since I never have software issues, haha, But at least Crossfire's working now.

Still not entirely happy, as the top card runs about 10C hotter than the bottom card (they're tight), but I can keep it under 70C or so with the Twin Frozr fans cranked up pretty high. I need to improve case cooling now, since it's on the weak side anyway.

The last thing is the three games I play, 1. Crysis Warhead, I'm still using mostly the same combination of Gamer and Enthusiast settings as with the single card, mostly because of the heat and fan noise. I already went back to stock clocks for now. If not for heat and noise I could try and max all the settings. 2. MS-X, No CrossFire support, uses one card. 3. ME 2, Haven't tried it yet.


----------



## polynomialc

i switched to silverstone fortress f2 case, where my cards exaust straight up, instead of out the side of the case, my cards are very close in this setup for xfire, but it helped lots with temps.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *denydog;14165572*
> OK, I've got CrossFire up and running.
> 
> I was reading about some people having difficulty getting cards recognized, drivers working, CrossFire enabled, etc... Turns out I was no exception. Had to go through the whole driver uninstall/reinstall three times to get driver to work. Cards for some reason initially installed with Windows drivers in Device Manager, and the second card showed a "can not start" error, so I used Device Manager to automatically update drivers to AMD 11.2 or something. Then installed the 11.6 full package over that.
> 
> Then I was getting bsod crashes. Figured out it seemed to occur whenever Afterburner started up. So I uninstalled Afterburner, reinstalled drivers again, then installed Afterburner as last step. That appeared to do the trick
> 
> All this had me a little frustrated since I never have software issues, haha, But at least Crossfire's working now.
> 
> Still not entirely happy, as the top card runs about 10C hotter than the bottom card (they're tight), but I can keep it under 70C or so with the Twin Frozr fans cranked up pretty high. I need to improve case cooling now, since it's on the weak side anyway.
> 
> The last thing is the three games I play, 1. Crysis Warhead, I'm still using mostly the same combination of Gamer and Enthusiast settings as with the single card, mostly because of the heat and fan noise. I already went back to stock clocks for now. If not for heat and noise I could try and max all the settings. 2. MS-X, No CrossFire support, uses one card. 3. ME 2, Haven't tried it yet.


I had similar problems with drivers and what made it worse is this was my first amd/ati system and I started with crossfire.Truthfully it sounds like ulps.If you have problems again after you start overclocking and overvolting try disabling ulps in your registry.


----------



## charlie310

I'm trying to increase the voltage to my XFX Radeon 6850. There are two versions of the card, and mine is the one with 2 fans instead of one. LINK

I've tried using MSI AB and edited the cfg file to allow higher frequencies, and I enabled "unlock voltage control" in settings. I've also tried using Trixx.

I've heard that a non-reference 6850 will not be able to change voltage. I am not sure if mine is or not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *charlie310;14184092*
> I'm trying to increase the voltage to my XFX Radeon 6850. There are two versions of the card, and mine is the one with 2 fans instead of one. LINK
> 
> I've tried using MSI AB and edited the cfg file to allow higher frequencies, and I enabled "unlock voltage control" in settings. I've also tried using Trixx.
> 
> I've heard that a non-reference 6850 will not be able to change voltage. I am not sure if mine is or not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


You should be able to overvolt and overclock your card since is a reference 6850 IMHO, even a better one (due to the dual fan cooler) so I don't see what's the point?









Can you confirm that you have one of these:

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/xfx-hd6850-dual-fan-cfx-review-ultimate-gaming-for-300/

If so, read it, you'll see your card is a reference 6850 & also great oc capable


----------



## skyline_king88

sorry guys have to leave trade my 6850 for 2x 280s


----------



## charlie310

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


You should be able to overvolt and overclock your card since is a reference 6850 IMHO, even a better one (due to the dual fan cooler) so I don't see what's the point?









Can you confirm that you have one of these:

http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...aming-for-300/

If so, read it, you'll see your card is a reference 6850 & also great oc capable










Yup, my card is the one in the link. I just found out that it is not a reference 6850; but, I also found out that most 6850s are not. Interesting thing is that the PCB on mine is the same one used on the XFX 1-fan model which has many reviews showing that it does have voltage control. Even my GPU-Z info matches the snapshots of those reviews to a tee.

My point: how can I increase the voltage on this card? Plain and simple. From my hours of research, the only explanation I can come up with is that either the newer driver versions do not allow it, and the older ones do. I'm confused as well.


----------



## LocutusH

What do you think, will a 6870 TFIII be enough for BF3 @ 1920x1200 ?
Or should i definitely go for the 6950 2GB? There is a nice price difference...


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:



Originally Posted by *LocutusH*


What do you think, will a 6870 TFIII be enough for BF3 @ 1920x1200 ?
Or should i definitely go for the 6950 2GB? There is a nice price difference...


It will run it, but we have no idea how well and at what settings. Do not buy a card for an unreleased game.

For all we know the rest of your system is crap, so you should fill in your system details, which will allow people to assist you better when you ask questions in the future.

Best bet is to wait if you have a decent card right now, and see what happens when the game releases.


----------



## LocutusH

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956*


It will run it, but we have no idea how well and at what settings. Do not buy a card for an unreleased game.

For all we know the rest of your system is crap, so you should fill in your system details, which will allow people to assist you better when you ask questions in the future.

Best bet is to wait if you have a decent card right now, and see what happens when the game releases.


Atm i have a Q9300 and a 4870 1GB... so i will build a new pc anyways. i7 2600, asus maximus iv gene-z, and... some video card. 6870, or 6950...i am just somewhat limited by the case size (QX-2000). It will fit the biggest card, but the air flow may be limited..


----------



## Horsemama1956

You could always just chug along with the 4870 in your new system for a few more months until we know more about performance requirements for BF3.


----------



## rocketjames

Hi Arrow my temp too my crossfireX HD6850 Msi Clyclone Pe no Oc

display 1920x1080

Ambience temp 27,C
is 
idle 45,C
Load 78,C

Gpu 0 - 43,C idle - load 74,C
Gpu 1 - 45,C idle - load 78,C

Cpu 26,C idle - load 35,C ,,the cooler master really help whit the two fan !!!

Motherboard idle 35 - load 46,C

AIDA64 Extreme Edition for temp !!!

put two more fan in the cases one in the back hard drives one in the floor cases !!!

have a full cases thats help a lot !!! hi thinks !!!
yes hi make big Test HIHI !!!

That is good or bad !!!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## confed

my 6850 is on its way to my house. what performance increase you think ill see from my current card? eventually, im gonna upgrade the cpu and mobo and add another card for crossfire. ill post whats needed to join in a few days.


----------



## georgeguy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *confed*


my 6850 is on its way to my house. what performance increase you think ill see from my current card? eventually, im gonna upgrade the cpu and mobo and add another card for crossfire. ill post whats needed to join in a few days.


a ***** ton.


----------



## GanjaSMK

I got a 6850 (Sapphire, non Toxic version) in the last week. I have to say it's pretty snappy performance for a mid level card. But...

I'm a little bummed out. Mine crashes (at least on 11.6, haven't tried any other driver sets yet) at anything above 825/1100 respectively. I add voltage to the card, still no dice.

Anyone think a different driver set might alleviate the issues or did I just get a bummed out card?!


----------



## Manischewitz

what's the benefits of having a reference 6870 over a non reference?


----------



## toyz72

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Manischewitz*


what's the benefits of having a reference 6870 over a non reference?


my guess would be cooling and after market coolers.


----------



## rprice06

HIS IceQ X Turbo 6870 1GB


----------



## rocketjames

Quote:



Originally Posted by *confed*


my 6850 is on its way to my house. what performance increase you think ill see from my current card? eventually, im gonna upgrade the cpu and mobo and add another card for crossfire. ill post whats needed to join in a few days.


50% more performance whits two card depant the games
your power suply really low chek thats on this page

is better whits really good psu like enermax,corsair,ocz,antec all good mark ,650 watts too 800 watts more you got the best is !!!!

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp


----------



## Ltgrithy




----------



## GanjaSMK

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GanjaSMK*


I got a 6850 (Sapphire, non Toxic version) in the last week. I have to say it's pretty snappy performance for a mid level card. But...

I'm a little bummed out. Mine crashes (at least on 11.6, haven't tried any other driver sets yet) at anything above 825/1100 respectively. I add voltage to the card, still no dice.

Anyone think a different driver set might alleviate the issues or did I just get a bummed out card?!










Anyone ^ ?


----------



## charlie310

Quote:



Originally Posted by *rocketjames*


Hi Arrow my temp too my crossfireX HD6850 Msi Clyclone Pe no Oc

display 1920x1080

Ambience temp 27,C
is 
idle 45,C
Load 78,C

Gpu 0 - 43,C idle - load 74,C
Gpu 1 - 45,C idle - load 78,C

Cpu 26,C idle - load 35,C ,,the cooler master really help whit the two fan !!!

Motherboard idle 35 - load 46,C

AIDA64 Extreme Edition for temp !!!

put two more fan in the cases one in the back hard drives one in the floor cases !!!

have a full cases thats help a lot !!! hi thinks !!!
yes hi make big Test HIHI !!!

That is good or bad !!!



Quote:



Originally Posted by *rocketjames*


50% more performance whits two card depant the games
your power suply really low chek thats on this page

is better whits really good psu like enermax,corsair,ocz,antec all good mark ,650 watts too 800 watts more you got the best is !!!!

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp


Seriously, no one can understand what you are trying to say. Your posts make it look like you dropped out of the 1st grade, or you are severely mentally challenged.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GanjaSMK*


Anyone ^ ?










Could be drivers. It could also be that Saphire cheaped out on the components. Apparently, this is the case with XFX (older versions of my card had voltage control, but the newer version don't).


----------



## confed

Quote:



Originally Posted by *rocketjames*


50% more performance whits two card depant the games
your power suply really low chek thats on this page

is better whits really good psu like enermax,corsair,ocz,antec all good mark ,650 watts too 800 watts more you got the best is !!!!

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp


ill be getting another power supply but i know for a fact i do not need a better one to run just 1 6850


----------



## Stileth

New owner here: http://www.overclock.net/intel-build...00k-build.html


----------



## Know.One

I have a 6850...I think I'm getting a second one soon. Please add me.


----------



## rocketjames

Quote:



Originally Posted by *charlie310*


Seriously, no one can understand what you are trying to say. Your posts make it look like you dropped out of the 1st grade, or you are severely mentally challenged.

Could be drivers. It could also be that Saphire cheaped out on the components. Apparently, this is the case with XFX (older versions of my card had voltage control, but the newer version don't).


Go Hell mother ****er that you no !!!

never post here !!!


----------



## charlie310

Quote:



Originally Posted by *rocketjames*


Go Hell mother ****er that you no !!!

never post here !!!











It's like you're using Google Translate to convert Navajo to English.

"Yes dis na gu seram bindew 600W to lenc haqt GPU 6850."


----------



## savage1987

finally got myself a pic, excuse the quality.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *charlie310;14263256*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's like you're using Google Translate to convert Navajo to English.
> 
> "Yes dis na gu seram bindew 600W to lenc haqt GPU 6850."


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *savage1987;14267921*
> finally got myself a pic, excuse the quality.


Nice rig man, and your cpu's oc? Because otherwise you'll get seriously cpu limited








Let us see some of your bench's and 3DMarks


----------



## savage1987

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;14268777*
> Nice rig man, and your cpu's oc? Because otherwise you'll get seriously cpu limited
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let us see some of your bench's and 3DMarks


OC at the moment is sitting at 3.9GHz with cool'n'quiet still functional (215x18.5 @ 1.4Vcore), still needs lots of perfecting. I had it at 4.4 comfortably at one stage but it would have needed more volts than I wanted to give it to be Prime95 stable









Also noticed tonight that one of the cards is BAKING. Hit 105C in Furmark before I could kill it!!! I'm not sure if it's a driver/software bug inhibiting the fan on that card or if it's the cooler come unseated.. either way this needs addressing urgently!! I'll start with re-seating the coolers on both cards (if it's straightforward enough).

The card seems to clock itself back at that temp, it plateaus there. Maybe this explains the meager jump in 3DMark06 scores - 19043 with a single card, only 22475 in crossfire.

Work has been havoc lately so really I'm just waiting on the time to really sit down and get stuck into this whole system. I want it optimised but these things take time and concentration









Here's a little play I had learning my way around the CPU/CH4F: http://overclock.net/amd-cpus/1058165-new-kid-overclocking-955be.html

(Heads up: I'll be away for a week or so as of tomorrow.)

Thanks for the comments








Sam


----------



## Jras

So.....Due to a sales spiff program I should be getting a $180 Amazon gift card soon. Im Thinking its time to upgrade my GPU, and ive got my eye on this guy here.

  Amazon.com: XFX HD 6870 900M 1 GB DDR5 Dual MINIDP Dual DVI PCI-E Video Card HD687AZDFC: Electronics
Does anyone here have any thoughts or experience on this card and care to comment? Interested on its cooling and OC ability.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## LocutusH

6850 and 70 REF COOLER owners! (rear exhaust cooler?)

How is the fan % in idle, and load? And at what % does it become noisy?

Thanks for the answers.


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:



Originally Posted by *LocutusH*


6850 and 70 REF COOLER owners! (rear exhaust cooler?)

How is the fan % in idle, and load? And at what % does it become noisy?

Thanks for the answers.










Anything over 40% it was audible over my r4s and blademasters running 100%. At the 60+ needed to keep temps in check it was VERY annoying.


----------



## matt2012

Pretty self explanatory


----------



## CptMorgans

First day with new processor and new GPU.

MSI 6870 Hawk @ 980/1200 on stock volts 1.185v.

Mobo Temp 27C
GPU Idle Temp 36C (Auto fan @ 40%)
GPU Load Temp 63C (Auto fan @ 53%)

Thats the max clocks on stock volts. Seeing as this cards built for much higher volts I'll see what I can get out of her.


----------



## WhitePrQjser

So what is this clubs opinion on 2x 6850?

How are they with 2-3 monitors? How do they perform in games?

Would they max out, let's say, Red Faction: Armageddon or Metro 2033 DX11?

Really interested since building a PC for a friend soon, and multi-GPU seems to be the way to go - and the future


----------



## deathskater

Hello I've been thinking on switching over to Ati I recently bought a GTX 460 1gb from my local compusa and can still return it and wanted a opinion on pros and cons on switching to a 6850 I'm not experienced at all in Ati and this GTX 460 has only brought problems >.<


----------



## charlie310

Quote:



Originally Posted by *deathskater*


Hello I've been thinking on switching over to Ati I recently bought a GTX 460 1gb from my local compusa and can still return it and wanted a opinion on pros and cons on switching to a 6850 I'm not experienced at all in Ati and this GTX 460 has only brought problems >.<


It all depends on what games you play, and what resolutions you play. They are pretty even, so I would go with the reputable brand card that is the cheapest.


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WhitePrQjser*


So what is this clubs opinion on 2x 6850?

How are they with 2-3 monitors? How do they perform in games?

Would they max out, let's say, Red Faction: Armageddon or Metro 2033 DX11?

Really interested since building a PC for a friend soon, and multi-GPU seems to be the way to go - and the future










With multiple monitors, I would suggest at least 6950's (2GB) because at those resolutions, you need all the vram you can get.

But for a single monitor, dual 6850s would be able ot handle pretty much everything, sans Metro 2033 @ max (assuming 1920x1080). I'm just guessing, but it would probably get around 40fps.


----------



## deathskater

I've heard AMD cards usually have problems with vram heat is this true and also hows the rep on the XFX 6870 have those been performing well ? 
Was thinking on getting this one from my local compusa http://www.compusa.com/applications/...948&CatId=3669


----------



## charlie310

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deathskater;14305266*
> I've heard AMD cards usually have problems with vram heat is this true and also hows the rep on the XFX 6870 have those been performing well ?
> Was thinking on getting this one from my local compusa http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7024948&CatId=3669


Why not read the reviews yourself to make a determination.

How much OCing you plan to do? Obviously, the vram issue depends on many factors: sub-vendor, case-cooling, overclock frequencies and voltage, etc. TBO, I never heard of any vram overheating issues. Where did you hear about this?

I would rather buy a 6950 for that price, or get the 6870 from Newegg for $25 less. If you can't wait or just want to spend more, go for it.


----------



## WhitePrQjser

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;14303108*
> With multiple monitors, I would suggest at least 6950's (2GB) because at those resolutions, you need all the vram you can get.
> 
> But for a single monitor, dual 6850s would be able ot handle pretty much everything, sans Metro 2033 @ max (assuming 1920x1080). I'm just guessing, but it would probably get around 40fps.


A friend of mine and I are to put together a build in August in time with BD - hopefully it'll release then - and I'm planning it all, because I'm really good at hardware, and he has full confidence in me, and trusts me to build him a powerhouse for the money.

Guess I have to convey with him. If he wants multiple monitors (and use Eyefinity), he should go for 6950 or 6970. Might convince him to get dual 6950s, but he might only want a single 6970 then since the price is kind of high.

But if he rather wants to use one monitor should he rather get 2x 6870s or is the performance gain over 2x 6850s not noticable?


----------



## deathskater

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *charlie310;14307298*
> Why not read the reviews yourself to make a determination.
> 
> How much OCing you plan to do? Obviously, the vram issue depends on many factors: sub-vendor, case-cooling, overclock frequencies and voltage, etc. TBO, I never heard of any vram overheating issues. Where did you hear about this?
> 
> I would rather buy a 6950 for that price, or get the 6870 from Newegg for $25 less. If you can't wait or just want to spend more, go for it.


Well as I said before I'm returning a GTX 460 to my local compusa wich sadly I live in Puerto Rico and prices are much higher than Compusa in the U.S so I can't really base my price on newegg or compusa.com but from www.compusa.pr if I order from newegg shipping kills me horribly 40bucks + regardless of size or weight

And I heard this from a friend that told me he has had bad experience with AMD cards while overclocking but I don't expect to overclock more than something moderate and under safe boundaries. Over all I just want the performance that I get with the GTX 460 or better for a decent price I wish to switch to ATI/AMD cards hoping for a more stable system lately nvidia drivers seem to crash often


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deathskater;14308939*
> Well as I said before I'm returning a GTX 460 to my local compusa wich sadly I live in Puerto Rico and prices are much higher than Compusa in the U.S so I can't really base my price on newegg or compusa.com but from www.compusa.pr if I order from newegg shipping kills me horribly 40bucks + regardless of size or weight
> 
> And I heard this from a friend that told me he has had bad experience with AMD cards while overclocking but I don't expect to overclock more than something moderate and under safe boundaries. Over all I just want the performance that I get with the GTX 460 or better for a decent price I wish to switch to ATI/AMD cards hoping for a more stable system lately nvidia drivers seem to crash often


As charlie310 said the cards are neck and neck, with maybe the 6850 edging ahead slightly. The ATI drivers are fine. Really it comes down to price and brand loyalty. The 6850 draws less power, something to bear in mind if you have a weak PSU (but for you that doesn't seem to be the case).


----------



## Bryst

Add me, been to lazy to do this

1 MSI Cyclone and 1 Sapphire


----------



## WhitePrQjser

BUMP at my question


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WhitePrQjser*


A friend of mine and I are to put together a build in August in time with BD - hopefully it'll release then - and I'm planning it all, because I'm really good at hardware, and he has full confidence in me, and trusts me to build him a powerhouse for the money.

Guess I have to convey with him. If he wants multiple monitors (and use Eyefinity), he should go for 6950 or 6970. Might convince him to get dual 6950s, but he might only want a single 6970 then since the price is kind of high.

But if he rather wants to use one monitor should he rather get 2x 6870s or is the performance gain over 2x 6850s not noticable?


Depends on the price of the 6870's tbh. When they were released it wasn't worth it as it was 25% more expensive for ~7% more performance. But now they seem to be reaching a sensible point. Here in the UK they are priced within Â£10 of each other quite often, so the 6870 makes sense.

With regards to the 6950 vs 6970 debate it really comes down to budget. The 6970 is a better card (obviously) but not by much. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=292 I would say the 6950's are more cost-effective. Also please note you *cannot* unlock the 6950's into 6970's anymore. They have been laser-cut.
Defiantly get the 2GB version's if you are going multiscreen as VRAM really does come into play with eyefinity.


----------



## WhitePrQjser

Quote:



Originally Posted by *5867dude*


Depends on the price of the 6870's tbh. When they were released it wasn't worth it as it was 25% more expensive for ~7% more performance. But now they seem to be reaching a sensible point. Here in the UK they are priced within Â£10 of each other quite often, so the 6870 makes sense.

With regards to the 6950 vs 6970 debate it really comes down to budget. The 6970 is a better card (obviously) but not by much. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=292 I would say the 6950's are more cost-effective. Also please note you *cannot* unlock the 6950's into 6970's anymore. They have been laser-cut.
Defiantly get the 2GB version's if you are going multiscreen as VRAM really does come into play with eyefinity.


Some of the newer 6950s can unlock.

Twin Frozr II or III, ASUS DirectCU II and PowerColor dual fan version are known to be unlockable









Thanks for the reply! So either dual 6870s or 6950s, or a single 6950 if planning to CFX in a couple of months, or a single 6970


----------



## Bassdoken

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WhitePrQjser*


A friend of mine and I are to put together a build in August in time with BD - hopefully it'll release then - and I'm planning it all, because I'm really good at hardware, and he has full confidence in me, and trusts me to build him a powerhouse for the money.

Guess I have to convey with him. If he wants multiple monitors (and use Eyefinity), he should go for 6950 or 6970. Might convince him to get dual 6950s, but he might only want a single 6970 then since the price is kind of high.

But if he rather wants to use one monitor should he rather get 2x 6870s or is the performance gain over 2x 6850s not noticable?


With one monitor, I'd go with dual 6870s since they can be had for <$200 @ Newegg. The prices are pretty close for some of the cards, might as well go with the more powerful one, ya know?

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WhitePrQjser*


Some of the newer 6950s can unlock.

Twin Frozr II or III, ASUS DirectCU II and PowerColor dual fan version are known to be unlockable









Thanks for the reply! So either dual 6870s or 6950s, or a single 6950 if planning to CFX in a couple of months, or a single 6970










Pretty much.

Remember, if you're getting a 6950, make sure to get the 2GB version.


----------



## WhitePrQjser

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bassdoken;14310332*
> With one monitor, I'd go with dual 6870s since they can be had for <$200 @ Newegg. The prices are pretty close for some of the cards, might as well go with the more powerful one, ya know?
> 
> Pretty much.
> 
> Remember, if you're getting a 6950, make sure to get the 2GB version.


We just need something powerful to max out BF3 for a reasonable price


----------



## Zamoldac

I've played a little with my 6850 here's what i've got so far:










Gotta love the HK WB, temps stay ~50C (even when using FurMark)







.


----------



## 5867dude

Quote:



Originally Posted by *WhitePrQjser*


Some of the newer 6950s can unlock.

Twin Frozr II or III, ASUS DirectCU II and PowerColor dual fan version are known to be unlockable









Thanks for the reply! So either dual 6870s or 6950s, or a single 6950 if planning to CFX in a couple of months, or a single 6970










Really? Thanks for the info. +Rep.


----------



## deathskater

Quote:



Originally Posted by *5867dude*


As charlie310 said the cards are neck and neck, with maybe the 6850 edging ahead slightly. The ATI drivers are fine. Really it comes down to price and brand loyalty. The 6850 draws less power, something to bear in mind if you have a weak PSU (but for you that doesn't seem to be the case).


Well I went to the compusa today and they had a sale of 6850's for 149.99 was gona get me 2 of those but they ran out







But found me a XFX 6870 for 200 bucks considering it's in Puerto Rico it was cheap and the 6950 ran out but they where 270 wich was too much Well I'm off to install my card will let you ppl know how it goes and maybe join the club if I'm satisfied with results


----------



## deathskater

For now I'm satisfied for what I've seen with the card ran some drift 3 and heavens benchmark to see how it ran not much difference from the GTX 460 I had but now I wish to know is it worth overclocking this card It's the XFX 6870 (EE) I do not mind fan noise as my music and game volume make it unnoticeable


----------



## deathskater

Just felt like Saying My card came as a bad overclocker I bump clock to 950 and memclock to 1100 at stock and I get the white dots on occt test







Most cards I've seen being reviewed can reach higher I was hoping to get a moderate overclock at stock volts 1.174 wich is what MSI afterburner shows


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:



Originally Posted by *deathskater*


For now I'm satisfied for what I've seen with the card ran some drift 3 and heavens benchmark to see how it ran not much difference from the GTX 460 I had but now I wish to know is it worth overclocking this card It's the XFX 6870 (EE) I do not mind fan noise as my music and game volume make it unnoticeable


You might as well overclock it, although you'll probably only get to 950/975. If your 460 was at 900 or close to it, there probably wasn't much point in switching, to be honest.


----------



## T3beatz

Just for you guys info there are 6870's going for a real low price on ebay, I bought one a couple days ago still waiting for it to be delivered. I have to get rid of my old 9600 gso.

http://cgi.ebay.com/XFX-HD-687A-ZNFC...ht_1421wt_1139

T.J.


----------



## deathskater

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Horsemama1956;14314252*
> You might as well overclock it, although you'll probably only get to 950/975. If your 460 was at 900 or close to it, there probably wasn't much point in switching, to be honest.


I was running it at 840mhz and I honestly still wanted to switch to experiment with amd cards and I still didnt pay much difference since I turned in the 460 .

I wish to overclock some but I get the white dots in occt if anyone is willing to give me some advice on overclocking this card would appreciate it might be different than my previous card .
I've heard its easy to get 1ghz stable at what voltage do most people get it at so I could have a idea to test around those numbers


----------



## Horsemama1956

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deathskater;14316462*
> I was running it at 840mhz and I honestly still wanted to switch to experiment with amd cards and I still didnt pay much difference since I turned in the 460 .
> 
> I wish to overclock some but I get the white dots in occt if anyone is willing to give me some advice on overclocking this card would appreciate it might be different than my previous card .
> I've heard its easy to get 1ghz stable at what voltage do most people get it at so I could have a idea to test around those numbers


It's not that easy to get 1Ghz. Most people don't get there. The card is already pushed pretty hard at 900Mhz, so 950/975 is pretty common.

My XFX 6870 couldn't do more then 975 without an excess amount of voltage. There wasn't much difference between 950/1150 and 1000/1200, so shoot for 950. Try 1.2 and make sure to bump the voltage like one or 2 steps up from what you want. If you set it to 1.2, it ends being a bit less.


----------



## WhitePrQjser

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *5867dude;14311621*
> Really? Thanks for the info. +Rep.


As far as I know, yes







Have read it multiple places - also at TechPowerUp









Thanks for the rep!


----------



## iLLGT3

Is ATI overdrive a good program? I want to max out the clocks. That won't damage my card will it?

Max on my XFX6850

- GPU Clock 775 to 875
- Memory Clock 1000 to 1250


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iLLGT3;14366433*
> Is ATI overdrive a good program? I want to max out the clocks. That won't damage my card will it?
> 
> Max on my XFX6850
> 
> - GPU Clock 775 to 875
> - Memory Clock 1000 to 1250


That memory overclock is pretty massive to be honest, It's difficult to get that stable even on my 6870! Therefore Id stick to 1150 for now.
Most people use MSI afterburner rather than the ati software.
Use OCCT to test stability, you may wanna check out the 68xx series overclock club in my sig.
Hope this helps


----------



## arrow0309

New AMD Drivers:

*AMD Catalyst 11.7 WHQL*

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=4053182#post4053182

*AMD Catalyst 11.8 Preview Driver (8.88.3 July 11)*

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=348465

Enjoy


----------



## Archer S

I recently sold my card, so i respectfully ask to be removed from the list of owners.


----------



## arrow0309

*XFX HD6870 Black Edition Crossfire Review*

LINK: http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...ssfire-review/










*"Kitguru says: For less than Â£280 there really is nothing faster on the market."*


----------



## arrow0309

*MSI Afterburner APP 1.0.0 RC3 on Android.*

Link: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=348337


----------



## golfergolfer

I am going to be buying a 6850 and i was wondering if i should get powercolor or XFX the powercolor costs $110 and the XFX $140... which one should i get? please answer fast because i need to buy these cards now


----------



## mostowizard

Now I know this isn't the right thread, but I was wondering if anyone wanted to trade a reference cooler style 6870 for my asus directcu model. I would rather have a reference card so I can put it in a Silverstone RV03


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:



Originally Posted by *golfergolfer*


I am going to be buying a 6850 and i was wondering if i should get powercolor or XFX the powercolor costs $110 and the XFX $140... which one should i get? please answer fast because i need to buy these cards now


I never liked PowerColor GPUs, but that's just MHO.







You really have to buy them right now? Lol, it's always funny to see posts like this. Do proper research and take your time. It will pay off way more than trying to build/upgrade as fast as possible.


----------



## d3310n

hey guys, so im having this problem when i change the voltage on my card. it goes wacky







i get what i believe is artifacting but im not entirely sure. my temps are under control, and it doesnt matter what the clockspeed is, but i can change those just fine. any ideas?
saphire 6870, im using saphire trixx as thats the onlly app that lets me change my volts


----------



## T3beatz

Same here, mine (sapphire 6870) was clocked at 1000mhz core and 1180mhz mem, I uped the voltage to about 1.200 in Trixx but I started getting artifacts and wackyness from my driver shutting down. I backed everything back down to 950mhz core and 1150mhz mem and put the voltage down to 1.175, and now everything is stable. I'm not an expert overclocker so any opinions can help. I would like to at least get things stable at the sapphire toxic level 970mhz core, 1150mhz mem, but I'm afraid of messing something up so I'll leave it where it is. Besides it runs all my games great as is and I plan on stepping up to a Xfire setup in the next month or so because I want to get a couple more monitors for eyefinity.

T.J.


----------



## charlie310

Quote:



Originally Posted by *golfergolfer*


I am going to be buying a 6850 and i was wondering if i should get powercolor or XFX the powercolor costs $110 and the XFX $140... which one should i get? please answer fast because i need to buy these cards now


If you want to do extreme overclocks, go with a card that has unlocked voltage control. From what I hear, the XFX 1-fan model is extremely loud (like a blow-dryer). But, you get the double-lifetime warranty which makes re-selling a breeze.


----------



## supermaniacs

Need help guys. Just crossfired by 6870's with stock AMD and MSI 6870! Now i seem to be having some problems which i am hoping someone could help me with. I am using 11.8 drivers and gpu2 load does not seem to work. It stays at 0% when playing games like crysis 2! Tehe amount of stuttering renders the game unplayable! I have stcok i5 760 2.8ghz and gaming seems to be a hassle now that i have crossfired it!! Please help!!


----------



## otaku_ex

Did you install AMD caps/ATI Catalyst Application Profiles?


----------



## supermaniacs

What are those?


----------



## falcon26

I wonder how well the 6870 will do in BF3. any ideas?


----------



## T3beatz

I've seen a few reviews, one on new egg under the sapphire 6870 and he is using one with BF3 Alpha and he says it handles the game pretty good. I don't thing the graphics in that game will be much of a threat, if you can run MOH or BF bad company with Hight FPS then BF3 should not that much harder on the GPU.

Just my opinion.


----------



## otaku_ex

Here, it should be the latest ones.


----------



## headcracker

Add me up









Really liking this card so far. Handled anything i've thrown at it so far with ease even maxed metro 2033









Whats the max OC you're all getting with your 6870's?

So far i've got 990/1160 @ 1.265 vcore stable. Had 1 crash @ 995/1170 (same vcore)


----------



## T3beatz

Well, I was able to get mine up to 970/1150 with no problems using Trixx, but I just leave it at the stock setting for now because it chews through all my games anywho, so no need to overclock and stress the card. I plan on running two so overclocking wont be needed.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;14508937*
> Well, I was able to get mine up to 970/1150 with no problems using Trixx, but I just leave it at the stock setting for now because it chews through all my games anywho, so no need to overclock and stress the card. I plan on running two so overclocking wont be needed.


No need?lol Seriously,this is overclock.net what does need have to do with it.lol

How about getting more than you paid or for the fun of pushing it to the limit.maybe you just don't like overclocking but I think your in the wrong place.lol


----------



## T3beatz

Um... its overclock.net, it doesn't say GPUoverclock.net, I've overclocked my CPU, Ram, GPU, etc, etc... It takes all of 30 secs to set my saved profile for my GPU, if I ever need it bumped up again.


----------



## Bassdoken

Should I get 11.7 drivers, or stick with 11.6? Which perform better?


----------



## d3310n

Quote:



Originally Posted by *headcracker*


Add me up









Really liking this card so far. Handled anything i've thrown at it so far with ease even maxed metro 2033









Whats the max OC you're all getting with your 6870's?

So far i've got 990/1160 @ 1.265 vcore stable. Had 1 crash @ 995/1170 (same vcore)



Lol @ you, I'm getting 980 core/ 1180 mem on stock volts. Just finished gaming for like 4 hours with it to









Sent from my VELOCITIZED LG Ally


----------



## eGGe

Yeah, I just ordered my new rig (can be seen in the sig)! And I will be joining this club with a nice MSI R6870 HAWK







Can't wait to start gaming


----------



## Know.One

Can you add me to the list please?









By know_one at 2011-08-09

Edit:
Forgot to mention that one is an Asus and the other is a Gigabyte.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bassdoken*


Should I get 11.7 drivers, or stick with 11.6? Which perform better?


Definitely the newer 11.7 or maybe even the 11.8 preview (Win 7 x64 only)


----------



## slytown

Change my status to 2x XFX 6870s. Doubling up for BF3.


----------



## 179232

Quote:



Originally Posted by *slytown*


Change my status to 2x XFX 6870s. Doubling up for BF3.


You realize people have reported that BF3 uses above 1GB of VRAM at 1920x1080 on highest settings? People have reported up to 1.3GB at high settings.

OT: Please add me into the club. I have a MSI Twin Frozr II 6870.


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ComradeNF*


You realize people have reported that BF3 uses above 1GB of VRAM at 1920x1080 on highest settings? People have reported up to 1.3GB at high settings.


Please explain why this will effect his Xfire setup? Because that's the way I plane on going.


----------



## R4V3N

Quote:



Originally Posted by *T3beatz*


Please explain why this will effect his Xfire setup? Because that's the way I plane on going.


In Xfire each card uses it's own vram, so you still only have 1Gb, effectively


----------



## T3beatz

So, are you saying that an Xfire setup with 2 6870's 1gb versions will not perform good with BF3 if it uses the reported 1.3gb VRAM?

Oh, and add me to the list







...


----------



## iLLGT3

I posted in here a few days ago about CF 6850's. What would be better, CF 6850's or an XFX HD6950


----------



## Panesy12

Hey







I got a Powercolor 6870







Thanks.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iLLGT3;14536848*
> I posted in here a few days ago about CF 6850's. What would be better, CF 6850's or an XFX HD6950


6850 CF is a better choice than a single 6950 1Gb up to a 1920x1080 resolution screen but you'd get a little vram limited (since is only 1Gb x card) on higher pannels and/or with the new high end games where a 2Gb 6950 (or even better two of 'em) will outperform


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;14546908*
> 6850 CF is a better choice than a single 6950 1Gb up to a 1920x1080 resolution screen but you'd get a little vram limited (since is only 1Gb x card) on higher pannels and/or with the new high end games where a 2Gb 6950 (or even better two of 'em) will outperform


True but there are also still some games that don't take advantage of crossfire and new games often need new CAP's (Catalyst Application Profiles).Not to mention the tried and true argument get the best card you can afford and go crossfire later.


----------



## bnmbnm

please can anyone explain me about CF:

as i understand 2 GPU's can double only processing power but no double mem amount right?

is this hardware limit or it might be some new drivers that can make it use double mem?

and is it same thing with NVIDIA GPU's or only ATI?


----------



## T3beatz

How many frames do ya think you will loose if you Reach the VRAM cap? Not many games out right now that will push most systems to that limit on 1900x1080 4xAA and 1GB of VRAM.

I really think people are over estimating BF3 in thinking its gonna kill every system out right now. MOH was able to have some pretty decent graphics without putting a hard load on a medium gaming system, BF-BC2 also. And BF3 is just gonna be a combination of them both with an upgrade in the engine.

IMO, game developers should try to make there games better with the minimum increased load on systems, and GPU's instead of the opposite. That's why I think Crysis 2 was re-vamped, the engine used less gas while still having pretty good graphics.


----------



## abu46

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;14554713*
> IMO, game developers should try to make there games better with the minimum increased load on systems, and GPU's instead of the opposite. That's why I think Crysis 2 was re-vamped, the engine used less gas while still having pretty good graphics.


+1 to that bro


----------



## adrian0729

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bnmbnm;14553558*
> please can anyone explain me about CF:
> 
> as i understand 2 GPU's can double only processing power but no double mem amount right?
> 
> is this hardware limit or it might be some new drivers that can make it use double mem?
> 
> and is it same thing with NVIDIA GPU's or only ATI?


AFAIK, it doubles the memory. So when you are doing multiple monitor setups, many will suggest a CF/SLI. or a 2/4 gb memory gpu.

Question:
Will the 6850/6870 bottleneck my setup? which is the best priceerfomance card?


----------



## vikingsteve

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bnmbnm;14553558*
> please can anyone explain me about CF:
> 
> as i understand 2 GPU's can double only processing power but no double mem amount right?
> 
> is this hardware limit or it might be some new drivers that can make it use double mem?
> 
> and is it same thing with NVIDIA GPU's or only ATI?


No. Whatever amount of memory the GPU has, is the memory amount you have to work with. It does not combine. For instance, running 2 6870s will yield 1GB of VRAM to work with. You don't get 2GB.

Similarly, using a 6990 will allow you only 2GB of VRAM per GPU, even though it says 4... that's just a marketing ploy.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *adrian0729;14557344*
> AFAIK, it doubles the memory. So when you are doing multiple monitor setups, many will suggest a CF/SLI. or a 2/4 gb memory gpu.


This is incorrect.


----------



## adrian0729

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vikingsteve;14566950*
> 
> This is incorrect.


sorry, my bad.
Quote:


> Do SLI or CrossFire double the memory ?
> This is one the questions that many people make mistake understanding it .
> The answer is NO , SLI or CrossFire doesnt double the memory , You have a 512MB card , adding another card wont make your memory 1GB, it still will be 512MB,so both cards will use 512MB of RAMs but the memory won't double.


----------



## T3beatz

I did a little reading and the way it works is each card processes every other frame so they need the same amount of memory to store information in order to be effective.

But I did not find if you have a 1GB card and a 2GB card will that help?


----------



## ProdigyWolf

I have a single AMD Radeon HD6850 manufactured by HIS.


----------



## vikingsteve

Quote:



Originally Posted by *T3beatz*


I did a little reading and the way it works is each card processes every other frame so they need the same amount of memory to store information in order to be effective.

But I did not find if you have a 1GB card and a 2GB card will that help?


I don't think you can run them together, and even if you could, it would default the 2GB card to using, at most, 1GB.


----------



## Mopiko Laila

Hi, I'm new from malaysia.

I've got Powercolor 6870 x2 Quadfire..


----------



## Wesley914

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mopiko Laila*


Hi, I'm new from malaysia.

I've got Powercolor 6870 x2 Quadfire..


I heard that quadfire would not work. I'm not saying I don't believe you at all.

Can we see some benchies? I'm really curious to see how they scale.


----------



## Mopiko Laila

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Wesley914*


I heard that quadfire would not work. I'm not saying I don't believe you at all.

Can we see some benchies? I'm really curious to see how they scale.


It works fine..but with 11.7 and 11.8 preview driver..go to benchmark thread under furmark bench. Got one benchy there.


----------



## iLLGT3

If I enable manual fan control through CCC or Afterburner and set it to 45ish, will the card automatically turn it up if it needs to during a game? My 6850 idles at 48-52 and is quite loud lol


----------



## Scoica

his 6870 owner, add thx


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iLLGT3;14574668*
> If I enable manual fan control through CCC or Afterburner and set it to 45ish, will the card automatically turn it up if it needs to during a game? My 6850 idles at 48-52 and is quite loud lol


No but it's very simple to setup a fan profile in msi afterburner.

Unless you have high ambient temps or are running two or more monitors your idle temps are high.

Have you tried changing your TIM (thermal interface material)and reseating your cooler?

If you want to cool down the temps and reduce noise go with an aftermarket cooler or if you have the money to spend water cool although I think water is overkill for a 6850.

There are lots of coolers to choose from mine where 35$ each.Check out this thread.
http://www.overclock.net/ati-cooling/850451-6800-series-aftermarket-cooling-thread.html


----------



## iLLGT3

Nah I'm running a single 1080p monitor. I'll take a look at afterburner and see what I can do.

What you are saying is that if I lower the fan speed to 45% and then I start to play a game, it will automatically speed up if it needs to? I don't want it to stay at 45% cos I'm afraid it might overheat.

And cheers for the reply.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *iLLGT3*


Nah I'm running a single 1080p monitor. I'll take a look at afterburner and see what I can do.

What you are saying is that if I lower the fan speed to 45% and then I start to play a game, it will automatically speed up if it needs to? I don't want it to stay at 45% cos I'm afraid it might overheat.

And cheers for the reply.


no it will stay at 45% as the card keeps getting hotter.
Set a profile with afterburner so the speed ramps up with the temps.
You can also set it lower at idle so you wont hear it but your idle temps will raise a little.

here is a pic of my profile


----------



## iLLGT3

I'm confused as to how to set a range. (I assume that's what I do)

I go to settings and then the fan tab like above and click that checkbox but what do I need to do next?

EDIT: Play with the graph I see!

So what's a normal idle temp then? Mine is at 44.

This is probably a dumb question but Afterburner has to be running for this to stay like this yea?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *iLLGT3*


I'm confused as to how to set a range. (I assume that's what I do)

I go to settings and then the fan tab like above and click that checkbox but what do I need to do next?

EDIT: Play with the graph I see!

So what's a normal idle temp then? Mine is at 44.


yes it has to be running but thats fine because with it running you can also setup overclock profiles so your card overclocks automatically and the fan ramps up with temps thats a lot considering once its setup all you have to do is start it.You can also set it to auto-start.

I'd say high 30's to mid 40's even higher with dual monitors.But it depends on lots of things mostly ambient temp and air flow in your case.But if an overclocked cpu is raising temps in your case your idle temps are going to go up not to mention if you overclock the videocard it-self.


----------



## T3beatz

mine with a single sapphire 6870 is 36-37c


----------



## iLLGT3

Jesus I must be doing something wrong lol

Yeah it seems to stay between 44-47.


----------



## smoke420

mine are 36c and 46c.This is running 2 in crossfire x and dual monitors both facts that noticeably raise temps. I also have aftermarket coolers on both cards for better temps and almost no noise. pics.. http://www.overclock.net/13738417-post3821.html


----------



## Jamyy10

Can i join? I have an MSI 6870 Twin Frozr II OC.


----------



## arrow0309

Can you guys tell me if there's any recent improovment (patch, driver) on the 68xx multigpu scaling in GTAIV (EFLC)? Shall I wait for the second 6870 or it just ain't worth?


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;14580732*
> mine are 36c and 46c.This is running 2 in crossfire x and dual monitors both facts that noticeably raise temps. I also have aftermarket coolers on both cards for better temps and almost no noise. pics.. http://www.overclock.net/13738417-post3821.html


I think you need more fans!lol, nice setup looks good.


----------



## xPrestonn

Quote:



Originally Posted by *iLLGT3*


If I enable manual fan control through CCC or Afterburner and set it to 45ish, will the card automatically turn it up if it needs to during a game? My 6850 idles at 48-52 and is quite loud lol


my xfx 6850s do idle pretty high [top around 43, bottom around 40] but they almost NEVER get above 70 over load which is pretty impressive to me. top card got up to 74 once but the bottom has never passed 65


----------



## iLLGT3

^ yeah mine haven't been high at all under load either.









Jamyy10, what is that little display you have next to your Hard Drive? I've seen those before. What does it do?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *arrow0309*


Can you guys tell me if there's any recent improovment (patch, driver) on the 68xx multigpu scaling in GTAIV (EFLC)? Shall I wait for the second 6870 or it just ain't worth?










Didn't know this game had multigpu scaling issues.If I remember correctly overclocking my cards made very little difference.Truthfully I think the game is the problem and its more cpu limited than gpu.


----------



## T3beatz

Yeah, sounds like how Flight Simulator X is, it uses the CPU a ton, my GPU in that Game averaged about 40% usage while running (per GPU-Z) and my CPU was pretty high I don't have any cpu usage logging software so I don't really know where it sits. I have quad cores but I don't think that games utilizes them. Anyone know of CPU logging software for Temps and Usage? I have AMD overdrive and all I get out of it is Temps for logging not Usage.

Changing from the 9600gso that I had, to the 6870 that's in it now didn't yeld as much change as I would have expected. I thought I was going to be able to push it almost to very high, right now I'm sitting around the medium mark.


----------



## Jamyy10

Quote:



Originally Posted by *iLLGT3*


^ yeah mine haven't been high at all under load either.









Jamyy10, what is that little display you have next to your Hard Drive? I've seen those before. What does it do?


Its an LCD poster only for certain ROG motherboards like mine. It goes through a sequence of codes and if it is stuck on one it means it didn't pass the test and therefore it wont post. one of the codes is CPUINIT which is CPU initiation failed. Which would mean there is a fault with the CPU. Once its booted past POST then you can programme it to say something or tell the time.

It is really really handy and i wish more motherboards had them or this which is the ASUS Crosshair 1.


----------



## iLLGT3

That's cool!


----------



## Panesy12

Running a 1GB and a 2GB card will make the 2GB card 1GB. Even if you have it as the primary card, it will still be 1GB. It is calculated by the smaller card so if you have a 2GB and a 1GB, it's 1GB total. I'd say don't crossfire, just use the 2GB. However, in some game cases, they only use the primary card and don't use the slave, in this case the game can run the 2GB card.

*EDIT* I just realized I hadn't reloaded the page :/ this was meant to be back on page 404 aha. ><


----------



## T3beatz

I just decided to go with an extra Sapphire Radeon 6870 1gb for Xfire, ordered it yesterday, that should do me fine for the next couple years, I guess, until its time to upgrade again or if I get a great bargain for some better cards like I did for my 6870's. My Bottle neck will be my CPU, I think.


----------



## xPrestonn

Quote:



Originally Posted by *T3beatz*


I just decided to go with an extra Sapphire Radeon 6870 1gb for Xfire, ordered it yesterday, that should do me fine for the next couple years, I guess, until its time to upgrade again or if I get a great bargain for some better cards like I did for my 6870's. My Bottle neck will be my CPU, I think.


6870 CFX is a bit better than a gtx 580







you and I should both be fine for a while.

You CPU will bottleneck you at some point, but you should be able to OC that away to an extent


----------



## T3beatz

yeah, I've check the benches, I'm pretty happy with the way I went a single gtx 580 is about $460.00 (lowest price on Newegg), I got both my 6870's for $320.

The bad thing about the Phenom 840 is it's not a black addition so it's not really an overclocker, I have it at 3.47 from 3.2 right now with the stock cooler, (don't want to push it anymore without a better cooler) plus it has no L3 cache. It's a great CPU for the money but in the near future I'm gonna grab something a little better.


----------



## xPrestonn

Quote:



Originally Posted by *T3beatz*


yeah, I've check the benches, I'm pretty happy with the way I went a single gtx 580 is about $460.00 (lowest price on Newegg), I got both my 6870's for $320.

The bad thing about the Phenom 840 is it's not a black addition so it's not really an overclocker, I have it at 3.47 from 3.2 right now with the stock cooler, (don't want to push it anymore without a better cooler) plus it has no L3 cache. It's a great CPU for the money but in the near future I'm gonna grab something a little better.


Got my 6850s for 270 AR









and yeah, the absence l3 cache is a bummer, but with bulldozer coming soon you're not trapped


----------



## stevevace2

My 6870 wont overclock or overvolt no matter what i try it crashes even at 950 core no mem oc. I need to up the voltage but all the programs i tried dont work 
any ideas in this thread?

asus reference 6870


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xPrestonn;14585804*
> Got my 6850s for 270 AR
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and yeah, the absence l3 cache is a bummer, but with bulldozer coming soon you're not trapped


I don't know to much about bulldozer yet, I've looked into those cores a little but my socket is AM3 and I think if I go that route I'll have to get a new mobo with an AM3+ socket (Always something to upgrade!!!







).

My current Mobo also only supports 2 8x PCIE slots when running Xfire, I hope that doesn't hinder performance that much, I've read in some places that it's not to bad.


----------



## xPrestonn

enable overvoltage in afterburner if you haven't already.


----------



## vikingsteve

anybody here crossfire the XFX 6870 black edition with dual-fan cooling? I'm probably going to buy two of them in December when I build my new rig. I would like to know how the cooling is in crossfire. I'm pretty sure they'll be okay, but I always like to see numbers beforehand just so I know what to expect. I've already seen one review where the guy used just one and it ran at about 61C.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4000/xfx_radeon_hd_6870_1gb_black_edition_video_card_review/index15.html

There was another review I read where the card was at 75C stock under load, but 67C running overclocked. This is a bit of a gap between the two reviews so I'd like further input...

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx_hd_6870_black_edition/14.htm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150520

that's the card, in case anybody else would like to offer some insight if they've used this product or know somebody else that has


----------



## miniterror

you cna add me to the list
i got a xfx hd6870 dualfan and flashed it with the black edition vbios to make the gpu and core clocks go up by default


----------



## xPrestonn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vikingsteve;14586634*
> anybody here crossfire the XFX 6870 black edition with dual-fan cooling? I'm probably going to buy two of them in December when I build my new rig. I would like to know how the cooling is in crossfire. I'm pretty sure they'll be okay, but I always like to see numbers beforehand just so I know what to expect. I've already seen one review where the guy used just one and it ran at about 61C.
> 
> http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4000/xfx_radeon_hd_6870_1gb_black_edition_video_card_review/index15.html
> 
> There was another review I read where the card was at 75C stock under load, but 67C running overclocked. This is a bit of a gap between the two reviews so I'd like further input...
> 
> http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx_hd_6870_black_edition/14.htm
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150520
> 
> that's the card, in case anybody else would like to offer some insight if they've used this product or know somebody else that has


For that price I would buy the 6870 hawk for a bit cheaper.

Better cooling and overclocking, plus it's got redesigned VRM and whatnot

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127560&Tpk=6870%20hawk


----------



## charlie310

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vikingsteve;14586634*
> anybody here crossfire the XFX 6870 black edition with dual-fan cooling? I'm probably going to buy two of them in December when I build my new rig. I would like to know how the cooling is in crossfire. I'm pretty sure they'll be okay, but I always like to see numbers beforehand just so I know what to expect. I've already seen one review where the guy used just one and it ran at about 61C.
> 
> http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4000/xfx_radeon_hd_6870_1gb_black_edition_video_card_review/index15.html
> 
> There was another review I read where the card was at 75C stock under load, but 67C running overclocked. This is a bit of a gap between the two reviews so I'd like further input...
> 
> http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx_hd_6870_black_edition/14.htm
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150520
> 
> that's the card, in case anybody else would like to offer some insight if they've used this product or know somebody else that has


Obviously, it's going to be dependent on your case cooling. I find case cooling is a major contributing factor to GPU temps. I have the two-fan XFX 6850, which runs really cool (76C at max). But, it runs even cooler if I increase all my case fans from low to high.

From reviews, it appears that the one-fan XFX 6850 is one of the coolest 6850s so I imagine the 2-fan version is even better.

It also depends on your fan profile as well. Video Cards rarely run at 100% fan speed unless you specifically set it up for that. So, if your XFire setup is running too hot, you can always increase the GPU fan speed.


----------



## Geronimo25

here ya go... a gigabyte oc edition HD 6870


----------



## Enfluenza

ad me please.
i got once regular XFX 6870 clocked at BE speeds and one legit black edition.
all reference with voltage control!








just got my second one today







, my regular one can OC to 1Ghz but idk about me new one.
i'll OC it once i get a chance. i literally just popped it in


----------



## arrow0309

*HI TECH LEGION*

*Asus HD 6870 DirectCU 1GB GDDR5 Video Card Review*

Link: http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/video-cards/12028-asus-hd6870-cu-1gb-gddr5


----------



## vikingsteve

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xPrestonn;14604489*
> For that price I would buy the 6870 hawk for a bit cheaper.
> 
> Better cooling and overclocking, plus it's got redesigned VRM and whatnot
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127560&Tpk=6870%20hawk


I just might do that. The only big difference is memory clock, and that's not really significant anyway.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *charlie310;14604553*
> Obviously, it's going to be dependent on your case cooling. I find case cooling is a major contributing factor to GPU temps. I have the two-fan XFX 6850, which runs really cool (76C at max). But, it runs even cooler if I increase all my case fans from low to high.
> 
> From reviews, it appears that the one-fan XFX 6850 is one of the coolest 6850s so I imagine the 2-fan version is even better.
> 
> It also depends on your fan profile as well. Video Cards rarely run at 100% fan speed unless you specifically set it up for that. So, if your XFire setup is running too hot, you can always increase the GPU fan speed.


I plan on using 7 fans in my HAF 932 Advanced. I plan to take out the top and side 230mm fans and install 3 and 4 120mm, 1200rpm fans in each slot, respectively. There should be plenty of airflow.


----------



## catharsis

add me to the list xfx hd-6850 are here


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vikingsteve;14624391*
> I just might do that. The only big difference is memory clock, and that's not really significant anyway.
> 
> I plan on using 7 fans in my HAF 932 Advanced. I plan to take out the top and side 230mm fans and install 3 and 4 120mm, 1200rpm fans in each slot, respectively. There should be plenty of airflow.


replacing those 230mm fans is a good idea I have 3x 120 on top and 4x in the door all 2000 rpm.Another thing you should do is put one behind the bottom card right up against the monitor cables. If your not using reference cards it pulls a great deal of heat out of the case when the cards are at load.I've seen a 5-7c drop in load temps on both cards and there is no longer a hot spot just above my cards.It shown in the last pic.
http://www.overclock.net/13738417-post3821.html


----------



## vikingsteve

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


replacing those 230mm fans is a good idea I have 3x 120 on top and 4x in the door all 2000 rpm.Another thing you should do is put one behind the bottom card right up against the monitor cables. If your not using reference cards it pulls a great deal of heat out of the case when the cards are at load.I've seen a 5-7c drop in load temps on both cards and there is no longer a hot spot just above my cards.It shown in the last pic.
http://www.overclock.net/13738417-post3821.html


That's a good idea, thanks man.


----------



## T3beatz

Hey guys, my latest Sapphire 6870 card that I got from Newegg came with 2 games! Deus EX, and Dirt 3! I already had Dirt 3 so I gave the other to my little brother as an early Christmas gift. I'm looking forward to Deus EX, it kinda has a Crysis look to it. Oh, and the card came with the blue outline instead of the silver (it's not the Flex addition either).

That's $100.00 bucks worth of games or free, so I paid $75.00 for the card, nice!

Oh, does the Non reference Sapphire 6870 have the same cooling as the vapor X model? it looks the same...


----------



## ilikepancakez

xfx radeon hd 6870 overclocked a tiny bit :3


----------



## Chrelancelo

View attachment 225247


sapphire radeon hd 5670

View attachment 225248


----------



## DIzonjordan

Hello there.. Can I join that owners thread this is my HD 6870

This is my Powercolor HD 6870










I don't have any idea in overclocking


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Chrelancelo;14655868*
> View attachment 225247
> 
> 
> sapphire radeon hd 5670
> 
> View attachment 225248


don't you mean 6870?


----------



## DIzonjordan

Can someone help me in OCing my powercolor 6870


----------



## T3beatz

I bet you can bump it up to 940 or 950 core clock, and 1150 mem clock, with no voltage increase with no problems, you don't have to start there you can take it slow, Check youtube for overclocking the 6870, there are plenty videos... Then go into settings and adjust your fan profile, the stock one doesn't kick in until the card gets really hot (at least that's how it is on the sapphire ones.

I wish they would add voltage control to the CCC, and make it so you can set your own fan profile there... basically they should mimic the MSI Afterburner software so that I don't have to start that up all the time.

When I'm playing BFBC2 I have to use the CCC, disable crossfire, and turn off afterburner (so no custom fan) because it crashes in multiplayer. They really need to fix that.


----------



## Izeudie

I've had my xfx 6870 for about a month and it's a great card, CF it today too since I got an awesome deal on the second card.


----------



## jhatfie

Liked the dual fan XFX 6870 I have in my HTPC so much, that I picked up two for crossfire to test in my gaming rig. Great cards for the $$. Currently OC'd to 1000/1175 @ 1.23v using Trixx. Have tested them up to 1050/1200, but needs lots more voltage to do it stable. So sticking with 1000Mhz for daily use.
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/34yf/


----------



## nbmjhk6

I bought it on Tuesday and thanks to Newegg taking forever to ship it out I'll have it Monday. Atleast I'll have a nice new monitor to play with over the weekend.


----------



## FireAroundTheBrim

XFX 6870 Black Edition 1GB








Just got it last monday. Thinking about buying another.


----------



## Nihilanth

MSI Cyclone 6850 PE/OC


----------



## Mopiko Laila

My Gpu... sold 6950 for 6870X2


----------



## Vitaliy93

XFX 6870


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mopiko Laila;14740038*
> My Gpu... sold 6950 for 6870X2


Nice,








I'm wondering how do they 4 gpu scale? Show us some pics in Cfx x3 and x4 mode.


----------



## iLLGT3

I posted here about potentially doing a crossfire sometime within the next few weeks. Would it be ok to CF a 6870 and a 6850 or should I just do 2x 6850? I've got a 6850 right now.


----------



## R4V3N

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iLLGT3;14743987*
> I posted here about potentially doing a crossfire sometime within the next few weeks. Would it be ok to CF a 6870 and a 6850 or should I just do 2x 6850? I've got a 6850 right now.


6850 + 6870 would have the same performance as 6850 + 6580. the 6870 would act as if it was a 6850 so you would be better to get a 6850


----------



## Marafice Eye

Should be joining you guys officially tomorrow, if UPS does it's job right. Ordered an XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 from Newegg on Thursday night.


----------



## Mopiko Laila

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *R4V3N;14744167*
> 6850 + 6870 would have the same performance as 6850 + 6580. the 6870 would act as if it was a 6850 so you would be better to get a 6850


With the new driver put the 6870 as the main gpu for xfire, there will be differences between twin 6850 in crossfire... I,ve tested it not long ago.

Ati ccc will not downgrade the 6870 to 6850 in x fire..


----------



## geek12

Add Me:


----------



## iLLGT3

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mopiko Laila;14746580*
> With the new driver put the 6870 as the main gpu for xfire, there will be differences between twin 6850 in crossfire... I,ve tested it not long ago.
> 
> Ati ccc will not downgrade the 6870 to 6850 in x fire..


I guess I will be getting a 6870 then!

Thanks.


----------



## charlie310

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *geek12;14750667*
> Add Me:


FYI, 4870 doesn't equal 6870; nor does it equal 6850.
.....Unbelievable.


----------



## Marafice Eye

Ok, now I can be a member, since the card finally arrived last night.


----------



## OMG It's Bob

Wanting to join!









Sapphire 6850 here!


----------



## sniperdude

got a msi 6870 OC twin frozr recently having a small issue with it

it works fine BUT at time using MSI's default AUTO settings (without afterburner fan profile)

the card hits 90-100C under heavy load but the fans are only going at 50%
obviously i can make my own fan profile but my gripe is... why should i have to create a profile to protect the card from overheating?

anoyone else have this card and issue? or is it just me


----------



## Cathal

sapphire 6870
ASUS 6870 OC


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sniperdude;14786517*
> got a msi 6870 OC twin frozr recently having a small issue with it
> 
> it works fine BUT at time using MSI's default AUTO settings (without afterburner fan profile)
> 
> the card hits 90-100C under heavy load but the fans are only going at 50%
> obviously i can make my own fan profile but my gripe is... why should i have to create a profile to protect the card from overheating?
> 
> anoyone else have this card and issue? or is it just me


It's like that with most of them, the default fan profile either sucks or the companies that sell these cards know something we don't. I use MSI afterburner now (was using sapphire's Trixx but when running Xfire the fan profile will only work with one card) but on certain games like BF-BC2 any 3rd party overclocking software has to be disabled or in the middle of the game you will get a lock up. So I have to open the CCC and run the manual fan controls from there and bump my fans up to like 60% to keep the cards in a good temp threshold. I would like to have the cards automatically do it but mine will stay at 20% speed until the card get's up to the danger levels (or what I think is the danger levels, like 75-80 degrees).

Most people say they do this because they want the cards to be silent, but I think they can handle higher temperatures than we think... I guess someone will have to email the manufacture to find out.


----------



## sniperdude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;14787286*
> It's like that with most of them, the default fan profile either sucks or the companies that sell these cards know something we don't. I use MSI afterburner now (was using sapphire's Trixx but when running Xfire the fan profile will only work with one card) but on certain games like BF-BC2 any 3rd party overclocking software has to be disabled or in the middle of the game you will get a lock up. So I have to open the CCC and run the manual fan controls from there and bump my fans up to like 60% to keep the cards in a good temp threshold. I would like to have the cards automatically do it but mine will stay at 20% speed until the card get's up to the danger levels (or what I think is the danger levels, like 75-80 degrees).
> 
> Most people say they do this because they want the cards to be silent, but I think they can handle higher temperatures than we think... I guess someone will have to email the manufacture to find out.


thanks for the reply. i have emailed MSI and will edit my post with what they say.I think their customer service isn't very good but i will keep annoying them till they give a decent reason why they allow gpus to run at 90-100% with only 50% fans running.

anyway heres my dusty soon to be upgraded rig
6870 twin frozr OC


----------



## T3beatz

Yeah, I'm waiting to hear what they say...

Why does Noctua make all their case fans brown and Tan? I hear they are pretty good, but I have an all black with neon green and blue rig, I don't think the brown will set things off the right way. lol

I wan't to get dust filters for mine but I'm to lazy to take the fans back out to put them in. the front one for me is a pain because I have to take stuff out to get to it. So for now I just spray it out once or twice a week with the air.


----------



## seth.i.simmons

Count me in with an HIS Radeon HD 6870. Got a pretty good OC'er too


----------



## OMG It's Bob

Quote: 
   Originally Posted by *T3beatz*   Yeah, I'm waiting to hear what they say...

Why does Noctua make all their case fans brown and Tan? I hear they are pretty good, but I have an all black with neon green and blue rig, I don't think the brown will set things off the right way. lol

I wan't to get dust filters for mine but I'm to lazy to take the fans back out to put them in. the front one for me is a pain because I have to take stuff out to get to it. So for now I just spray it out once or twice a week with the air.  
They're ugly as sin but they're still the best. Here's a tutorial I used to color mine. It's really effective. Best of luck.


----------



## sniperdude

yeah I agree noctua must lose lots of sales due to the ugly colours.

should have used Halfords Flexible Vinyl Paint it actually sinks into the plastic
so even if you scratch so you can't scratch it off

not cheap tho and limited colors


----------



## FedeVi

Here it's mine 6870, count me in:


----------



## T3beatz

I don't think there is anyone monitoring this thread (the thread starter hasn't updated the first page since march) so I don't think you guys have to post your cards.

From his sig rig, he doesn't even own a Radeon HD 6850 or 6870 any more, seems he's switch back over to Nvidia.


----------



## ZeroVision

Got my two 6850's a couple a days ago, testing them abit.


----------



## Warblade31

Hi everyone! I had a question for everyone. I have one XFX 6870 and I was interested in creating a CF set up on my PC. All my info is on my sig but I wanted to know if it was worth buying another 6870 or should I just get 6970? I dont know much so I want to know if its worth it or not. I do a lot of Photoshop, watch movies, and I play simple games like civilization V.

I plan on buying two monitors and creating an Eyefinity set up in the next 3 months. Does anyone have any suggestions on monitors?


----------



## Roll Cam Tide

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Warblade31*


Hi everyone! I had a question for everyone. I have one XFX 6870 and I was interested in creating a CF set up on my PC. All my info is on my sig but I wanted to know if it was worth buying another 6870 or should I just get 6970? I dont know much so I want to know if its worth it or not. I do a lot of Photoshop, watch movies, and I play simple games like civilization V.

I plan on buying two monitors and creating an Eyefinity set up in the next 3 months. Does anyone have any suggestions on monitors?


If all you play is simple games then it wouldn't be worth the money. One 6870 can play about anything out there very well.


----------



## Warblade31

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Roll Cam Tide*


If all you play is simple games then it wouldn't be worth the money. One 6870 can play about anything out there very well.


If I was to play Call of Duty 4 on a single 6870 would it look ok or would two be better? I use to play tons of games but with a wife and kids play time was reduced. I wanted to get my system ready and start playing again later on. So thats why I wanted to get an idea and start saving up to upgrade my system.


----------



## Catscratch

A single 6950/70 might be a better choice for 3 monitor setup. You can go crossfire later and 6970 crossfire is still very powerful.

I would get an MSI 6950 TwinFrozr III thou it's outta stock on newegg. TwinFrozr II is also enough. You can easily OC it on default voltage to 6970 speed. No need to flash it to unlock shaders. 6970 is practically the last step in AMD's gfx architecture. You can't even overclock it because it's already stretched, I saw over 1ghz overclocks and games only gain 3 fps


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Warblade31;14803489*
> If I was to play Call of Duty 4 on a single 6870 would it look ok or would two be better? I use to play tons of games but with a wife and kids play time was reduced. I wanted to get my system ready and start playing again later on. So thats why I wanted to get an idea and start saving up to upgrade my system.


I run mine in crossfire, I gain tons of fps but the game looks the same, with a single 6870 COD 4 runs at high frames as is so the difference will not be hugely noticeable.

Now Crysis, and Crysis 2 on the other hand, I get much better performance with my Xfire setup. Much smoother game play, at higher graphics levels, I can take Crysis 2 up to the enthusiast level and still get over 45+ frames average.

Now if you go with an Eyefinity setup, you would want a little more VRam for future games... all games that are out right now the 6870 can handle just fine Xfired with eyefinity at 1080p. You have a 27" monitor so I would assume your going to get 2 more of that?? If so then yes, you will want to get a card with more VRAM, at least 2gigs.


----------



## kabj06

Add me as a 6870 owner. Mine is a 1 GB model by XFX. Take a look at my sig for proof.


----------



## T3beatz

It says you have a 9870...


----------



## Warblade31

Thanks everyone for your help +rep for all. Ill end up getting the card you suggested a MSI 6950 TwinFrozr III. Hopefully there will be one online when I buy it.


----------



## rajnusker

Hi guys, I am new on this forum. I own a 6870 Hawk. I have game lag problems with the new 11.X drivers. 10.11 drivers reduced the lag to a large extent, but still need some more improvement.. What it is best driver available for a 6870? Thanks


----------



## Raven.7

Quote:



Originally Posted by *rajnusker*


Hi guys, I am new on this forum. I own a 6870 Hawk. I have game lag problems with the new 11.X drivers. 10.11 drivers reduced the lag to a large extent, but still need some more improvement.. What it is best driver available for a 6870? Thanks










ehhh...you need to give us more details.


----------



## drawoh kcirtap

How much would I be able to overclock my XFX 6850 with my current system? I am using MSI afterburner and I don't want to overdo it.


----------



## rajnusker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Raven.7;14891095*
> ehhh...you need to give us more details.


On PC?

Core i5 2500
4GB XMS3 DDR3 1333Mhz
Asus P8H67-M
XFX PRO 550 Core Edition
Windows 7 x64 SP1


----------



## Slow*Jim

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kabj06;14817988*
> add me as a 6870 owner. Mine is a 1 gb model by xfx. Take a look at my sig for proof.


+1


----------



## HereToERADICATE

Add me to the List. XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB

Thanks


----------



## Raven.7

HD 6870 on the mail to pair up with my HD 6850


----------



## iLLGT3

^ I'm going to be doing the same.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rajnusker;14891070*
> Hi guys, I am new on this forum. I own a 6870 Hawk. I have game lag problems with the new 11.X drivers. 10.11 drivers reduced the lag to a large extent, but still need some more improvement.. What it is best driver available for a 6870? Thanks


This is the first I've heard of specific driver releases not working on 6xxx cards. I've updated every single driver since 10.12 and each one just gets better for me.

Also, to OP I've got Crossfire now.


----------



## FedeVi

Please add me to the list. Asus HD 6870.

Validation

Thanks


----------



## Remix65

a year later...

ASUS EAH6870


----------



## SacredChaos

I now have 2 6870's! I am loving it. Scaling at damn near 100% on everything I have tested.


----------



## T3beatz

yeah, my dual 6870's are great... bad thing is the extra heat that is put out...

I was running Crysis 2 yesterday and my cards got up to 80c MAX. that's not horrible, but with a single one I was around 74-75c under full load.

I have to figure out a way to get the heat out quicker.


----------



## Raven.7

There they be!


----------



## Kieran

How would a 6950 compare to a 6850 in crossfire?
Reason being is i'm picking up a new motherboard in the next week (Asus crosshair V Formula) which supports crossfire so i'm wondering whether a 6950 would give me better performance compared to picking up another 6850 and crossfiring them?

I play games such as call of duty black ops, Battle field bad company 2, left 4 dead 2, HAWX, Modern warfare 3 when it is released,battlefield 3 when it is released and maybe crysis 2. I'm sticking with my single monitor for the time being so i'm looking for a card that is cheap but can max out the games listed above while producing playable framerates.


----------



## T3beatz

you should be fine with the Xfire 6850's with the games you listed, and yes dual 6850's will give you better performance than a single 6950, but that comes at a cost (some games don't support Xfire). And if you have the 1gb version of the card, you will have to make sure your games don't cross that threshold. (most games out right now don't)

Your gonna get maybe 10-15 more Fps with the 6950 (single card vs single card) and if you go with the 2gb version you'll have room to go with triple monitors in the future with more support Vram intense games.

Personally I'd just grab another 6850 and see how it works for you. and if you wan't to upgrade in the future I'm sure you could sell them both and grab what you need.


----------



## iLLGT3

Right now I'm torn between xfire 6850/70 and a 2GB 6950.


----------



## T3beatz

My two 6870's rip through pretty much every game right now... I guess BF3 will give them a challenge because I only have the 1gb versions (speculation about how BF3 will eat VRAM on high settings). If I can get over 40FPS at Med-High settings with 4xMSAA I'll be happy.

I'm sure a 6850 paired with a 6870 will be able to take on just as much with no problems.


----------



## smoke420

Warhammer 40k space marine maxed with v-sync never drops below 60 fps in fact my cards dont even go past 35% load or 55c.

Hard Reset maxed out no v-sync between 58 and 33 fps.This must be another console port because when the fps drops there is no change in gameplay no lag or shutter.With this game if I had no software to tell me I wouldn't notice the drop.My cards are fully loaded 96-98 % but temps still haven't broke 60c.Im shore temps will go higher haven't played that long but no game has broke 70c yet.

For all you guys worried about temps my coolers were very reasonably priced and do a great job.Cant beat it for $29.99 each in fact the next best cooler cost almost double the price and is nearly identical in performance.


----------



## drazah

What are the pushing limits of a 6850 as far as overclocking? I have a watercooled block for it and currently running it at 985/1203 @ 1.250v and i was getting a lower Heaven Benchmark score with my card at 1005/1212 @ 1.265


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *drazah;14955838*
> What are the pushing limits of a 6850 as far as overclocking? I have a watercooled block for it and currently running it at 985/1203 @ 1.250v and i was getting a lower Heaven Benchmark score with my card at 1005/1212 @ 1.265


The limits depend on the card, luck of the draw.one of mine is stable past 1000 core the other not even close.True the lower your temps the better your overclock but only to a point and even then it depends on where you start.A bad overclocking card will get better but it wont turn into great overclocker under water.

With good cooling you can go over 1.35v specially if you have a fullcover waterblock.Just watch your vrm temps.

My good card will get to 1030 core before heat and voltage stop me but performance keeps increases until then.Try 1005 core with a little more voltage but keep your memory low.When my core is the problem I get artifacts or driver errors but when its the memory I get a noticeable performance drop so maybe you hit the limit on your vram overclock.

What are your load temps underwater and how much did it improve verses air cooling?


----------



## SightUp

I have a Sapphire HD6870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E 21179-00. Am I cool enough to join your club?


----------



## Phenomanator53

Hi, is this enough proof? the proof that is not a 6850 is its 900mhz core. can i join? it is also a Sapphire.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Phenomanator53;14966380*
> Hi, is this enough proof? the proof that is not a 6850 is its 900mhz core. can i join? it is also a Sapphire.


Wow are you serious?Thats proof you know how to change bios thats about all. That pic shows a overclocked 6850.If someone sold you that as a 6870 you got robbed.all of us here know a 6850 has 960 Stream Processors clearly seen in that pic where the 6870 has 1120.check the name you cant blow smoke up my a$$.lol

For all you guys trying to get added the op only had his 6870 for a short time and rarely comes back to this thread.He has in the past said to pm him you could give it a try.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;14938634*
> Hard Reset maxed out no v-sync between 58 and 33 fps.*This must be another console port* because when the fps drops there is no change in gameplay no lag or shutter.With this game if I had no software to tell me I wouldn't notice the drop.My cards are fully loaded 96-98 % but temps still haven't broke 60c.Im shore temps will go higher haven't played that long but no game has broke 70c yet.


lolwut? Hard Reset is a PC exclusive release.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;14967548*
> lolwut? Hard Reset is a PC exclusive release.


Ok take your word for it.I don't play on consoles so had no reason to check.But I thought it a little weird that it plays so smooth at 30 fps even more strange that I really cant tell when it drops from 58 to 33.console port or not it plays extremely smooth and imho its more fun than deus ex and 40k space marine.


----------



## Riou

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;14967755*
> Ok take your word for it.I don't play on consoles so had no reason to check.But I thought it a little weird that it plays so smooth at 30 fps even more strange that I really cant tell when it drops from 58 to 33.console port or not it plays extremely smooth and imho its more fun than deus ex and 40k space marine.


It is difficult for indie devs to get games released on consoles since that requires being bought by a big publisher like Activision.

Also install the latest 11.8 CAP #4. It is supposed to improve performance in Hard Reset for CFX users.


----------



## drazah

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


The limits depend on the card, luck of the draw.one of mine is stable past 1000 core the other not even close.True the lower your temps the better your overclock but only to a point and even then it depends on where you start.A bad overclocking card will get better but it wont turn into great overclocker under water.

With good cooling you can go over 1.35v specially if you have a fullcover waterblock.Just watch your vrm temps.

My good card will get to 1030 core before heat and voltage stop me but performance keeps increases until then.Try 1005 core with a little more voltage but keep your memory low.When my core is the problem I get artifacts or driver errors but when its the memory I get a noticeable performance drop so maybe you hit the limit on your vram overclock.

What are your load temps underwater and how much did it improve verses air cooling?


My temps now under load are now ~44C constant on a benchmark. In reality playing a game, never goes higher then 41C. With aircooled, my card used to overheat to ~85C and then my drivers would die and reboot. But now that overheating is no longer a problem i pushed my 6850 to about 1000/1220 but i actually had way lower performance and benchmark readings than having my card at 975/1200? Anyone know why?


----------



## Zerogamer22

do i get this club? its a sapphire 6870 i have now.


----------



## T3beatz

your in...


----------



## SightUp

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;14974619*
> your in...


Why am I not in? :S


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SightUp;14974803*
> Why am I not in? :S


your in too.









Guys, again there is no one really monitoring this thread to put you in, the guy who started this thread doesn't own his 6800 card anymore.

your all in...


----------



## Mistfang

i'm in. 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## SightUp

Rgr that!


----------



## Kieran

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;14974840*
> your in too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Guys, again there is no one really monitoring this thread to put you in, the guy who started this thread doesn't own his 6800 card anymore.
> 
> your all in...


So the clubs looking for someone else to maintain it?


----------



## LUZR4LIFE

Here is my AMD 6850 (engineering sample)


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kieran;14975773*
> So the clubs looking for someone else to maintain it?


I guess... there is no one at this time. I guess someone has to PM a mod so that they can take over the thread.


----------



## Kieran

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;14977424*
> I guess... there is no one at this time. I guess someone has to PM a mod so that they can take over the thread.


If no one else wants to take over i would be willing to run the club.
Do you know which mod i would have to PM?


----------



## Astonished

Just got me a pair of Asus 6950's (1gb)

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kieran*


If no one else wants to take over i would be willing to run the club.
Do you know which mod i would have to PM?


No, I'm sure someone on here might be able to point you in the right direction. There must be a contact somewhere.


----------



## ColossusofRhodes

Manufacturer: HIS
Model: HD 6850


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;14980532*
> No, I'm sure someone on here might be able to point you in the right direction. There must be a contact somewhere.


Try Tator Tot. He's a managing editor on OCN. He helped my taking over the Silver Arrow club.


----------



## tonee

Anyone know the difference in these XFX 6850 models?

Part #: HD685XZNFR
Part #: HD685XZNFC


----------



## Remix65

found this thruough google:
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/archive/index.php/t-1059818.html
http://www.kitguru.net/forum/ati-hardware/9524-spot-difference-xfx-hd-6850-a.html

http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/1121199-xfx-6850-versions-not-talking-about.html


----------



## Kieran

Quote:



Originally Posted by *solsamurai*


Try Tator Tot. He's a managing editor on OCN. He helped my taking over the Silver Arrow club.


I PM'd Mootsfox. He told me that i need to PM the creator of this cub, if he agrees he will transfer ownership to me. I'm just waiting for a reply from the creator.


----------



## T3beatz

Cool! good stuff.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tonee*


Anyone know the difference in these XFX 6850 models?

Part #: HD685XZNFR
Part #: HD685XZNFC


Both of my XFX 6850s that I bought back in December and March are ZNFC reference models. They have the same clocks and shader count. I really have no clue. I wouldn't worry too much about it.


----------



## Tokkan

Is it worth Crossfiring 6850's?


----------



## solsamurai

I've been making some changes to my case airflow setup and was wondering what are good idle/load temps for an MSI R6850 Cyclone 1GD5 PE/OC. My apartment is still around 27c during the warmer parts of the day but my current idle temps (39-44) seem too high.


----------



## bnmbnm

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *solsamurai;15007058*
> I've been making some changes to my case airflow setup and was wondering what are good idle/load temps for an MSI R6850 Cyclone 1GD5 PE/OC. My apartment is still around 27c during the warmer parts of the day but my current idle temps (39-44) seem too high.


i have ati 6850 + accelero twin turbo pro cooler and with 27c room temp i have 41 idle so your temp seems fine


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bnmbnm;15007182*
> i have ati 6850 + accelero twin turbo pro cooler and with 27c room temp i have 41 idle so your temp seems fine


Sounds good. Tomorrow I'll check out load temps around the same time and post them here if they seem too high....on that note, what would be too hot for this card? I'm thinking anything above 70 or 80c?


----------



## T3beatz

anything above 80c is getting hot... They say Cards now days can handle the hotter temps, but I like to keep mine below 80 if I can.

Like if you run the cards with the stock fan profile, the temps will get very hot before the fans kick in, and even then they wont go full bore! crazy to me...


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan;15006777*
> Is it worth Crossfiring 6850's?


Hell yes. They scale at about 99%, doubling the performance!


----------



## bnmbnm

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *solsamurai;15007302*
> Sounds good. Tomorrow I'll check out load temps around the same time and post them here if they seem too high....on that note, what would be too hot for this card? I'm thinking anything above 70 or 80c?


it can work normal even around 90c, i'd say above 100c it too hot.

my card, with 27-28c room temp, in games i get around 63c temp but in furmark max temp is 74c, whats really getting hot is vreg temp which hits about 70c in games and 90c in furmark.


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;15008178*
> anything above 80c is getting hot... They say Cards now days can handle the hotter temps, but I like to keep mine below 80 if I can.
> 
> Like if you run the cards with the stock fan profile, the temps will get very hot before the fans kick in, and even then they wont go full bore! crazy to me...


Thanks for the info. Not as worried about temps now.








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz;15008207*
> Hell yes. They scale at about 99%, doubling the performance!


Is that at 16x/16x, 8x/8x or both? My m/b only does 8x CF and I definitely want to grab another 6850 at the end of the year.

*bnmbnm*, vreg temp is something new to me (embarrassing...). I'm not at home to check atm but would something like MSI Afterburner show those temps?


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *solsamurai;15008282*
> Thanks for the info. Not as worried about temps now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is that at 16x/16x, 8x/8x or both? My m/b only does 8x CF and I definitely want to grab another 6850 at the end of the year.
> 
> *bnmbnm*, vreg temp is something new to me (embarrassing...). I'm not at home to check atm but would something like MSI Afterburner show those temps?


I'm running 6850CF right now on x8/x8 and it's legit. The only thing you need to worry about are heat and noise issues. My reference coolers were too loud for when I wanted to watch movies, so I got my TTPs but now my case can't keep up with all that heat being dumped into the middle of my case. Considering 6850CF about matches 580 in performance for <$300 it's mind-blowingly awesome.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bnmbnm;15007182*
> i have ati 6850 + accelero twin turbo pro cooler and with 27c room temp i have 41 idle so your temp seems fine


Really? Just 41 idle? Both my cards idle that low. What are you load temps like? Also, fan speed? I guess mine are running at 100% 24/7.


----------



## bnmbnm

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;15009374*
> Really? Just 41 idle? Both my cards idle that low. What are you load temps like? Also, fan speed? I guess mine are running at 100% 24/7.


in games temp 63c, in furmark 74c
fan speed is auto, at idle 20% but it never more than 50%, RPM cannot be measured there is some bug with this fans

i see you also have twin turbo's, what vreg heatsink did you use?
after many tries i found that original heatsink came with my card much better than AC's,
with AC vreg heatsink my vreg temp was more than 100c in furmark, and when i attach the old vreg heatsink vreg temp never more than 90c


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock;15009374*
> I'm running 6850CF right now on x8/x8 and it's legit. The only thing you need to worry about are heat and noise issues. My reference coolers were too loud for when I wanted to watch movies, so I got my TTPs but now my case can't keep up with all that heat being dumped into the middle of my case. Considering 6850CF about matches 580 in performance for <$300 it's mind-blowingly awesome.


Good to hear on the x8/x8. I have a 140mm intake on my side panel with vented PCI slot covers on the back of the case (that I could remove if needed for better airflow). I have decent positive pressure atm so two Cyclone 6850s should be ok.


----------



## jfuze

What single card is about equal to 2 6850s in CF?


----------



## jimwest

Guess I'll post mine. Add me to the club! lol


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:



Originally Posted by *bnmbnm*


in games temp 63c, in furmark 74c
fan speed is auto, at idle 20% but it never more than 50%, RPM cannot be measured there is some bug with this fans

i see you also have twin turbo's, what vreg heatsink did you use?
after many tries i found that original heatsink came with my card much better than AC's,
with AC vreg heatsink my vreg temp was more than 100c in furmark, and when i attach the old vreg heatsink vreg temp never more than 90c


I use the one that came with the TTP. I've never checked VReg temps, and since I'm not OCing them at all I haven't really worried about it. I'm also not positive that my XFX stock heatsink would fit under it as it was as tall as the card is thick. And now that I'm all out of TIM, I can't do any remounts for awhile until I acquire currencies.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *solsamurai*


Good to hear on the x8/x8. I have a 140mm intake on my side panel with vented PCI slot covers on the back of the case (that I could remove if needed for better airflow). I have decent positive pressure atm so two Cyclone 6850s should be ok.










Yeah, the one thing I wish I had is a side fan. I think you should be good though.









Quote:



Originally Posted by *jfuze*


What single card is about equal to 2 6850s in CF?


Give or take different games' preferences the GTX 580. And considering that's at least $200 more, it's a nice setup.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/302?vs=305


----------



## smoke420

I am also running x2 6850's in xfire .Ive tried both x8\\x8 and x16\\x16 on the same board and x8 had slightly lower scores but I dont think it because of lanes.when running x8 I had x4 gpus and after raising pci-e voltage the scores were the same as x16.

Now cooling .With multiple monitors my top card idles between 44-48c and the card on bottom idles at 36-38c.with only one monitor the top card idles below 40c as well.load temps are great though no game has been able to get these cards past 60c.Most games don't heat them up much at all.even furmark with stock settings no extreme burn struggles to get them past 70c and I waited 15 minutes.There are plenty of ways to keep them cool but side fans do little in this regard.

1.Keep v-sync on..
some people like to brag about fps but if your getting smooth game play anything above 60 is a waste .and in some games like lost planet 2 when in menus you get a crazy 1500 fps and 99% gpu load heating your cards up just like furmark.

2.aftermarket cooling..
They are relatively cheap drop temps a lot and greatly reduce noise.down side they are usually not blowers and dump huge amounts of heat in your case quickly overwhelming case fans.

3.side\\door fans..
they do help to a point for example my cards are 3c cooler with the side on but I am running x4 2000rpm 120mm fans 100% at all times.downside they do add a little noise.

4.back fan..
This a great way to keep things cool.The main issue with the door fans is all they do is mix ambient\\cool air with the heat exhausted from the cards.Adding a fan just below my monitor cables sucking heat out of the case actually helps a lot more than you might think.For example x4 2000 rpm 120mm fans on the door\\side at full speed gives you 3c idle but at load can only help so much because its mixing the same amount of cool air with a lot more heat.Now adding one 2000rpm 120mm fan to the back of the case behind the cards just pulling heat out gives me 5c cooler on the bottom card and 7c cooler on the top and this is at load much more important.There are other great benefits as well this will lower your internal case temps meaning cooler ram ,cpu,psu you name it.People in this thread have reported 5c cooler cpu temps while gaming.My cpu rad is external so I cant say for sure how much your cpu temps will drop but all other temps i have recorded myself. 
hope this helps you guys lower your temps .
and here is a link to some pics of my rig and all its air-cooled goodness.Before you ask yes I have enough fans.lol
http://www.overclock.net/13738417-post3821.html


----------



## larkin

I just bought 2 HD 6850s but then read an article about microstudder right after. I'm pretty sensitive to flicker. Is this something you guys with 6850s have experienced? Does Vsync help alleviate it?

My board is a GA-Z68XP-UD3.

Thanks


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *larkin*


I just bought 2 HD 6850s but then read an article about microstudder right after. I'm pretty sensitive to flicker. Is this something you guys with 6850s have experienced? Does Vsync help alleviate it?

My board is a GA-Z68XP-UD3.

Thanks


I have had flicker issues like with crysis2 but that was the combination of a new game and old drivers.that was addressed in new driver releases.one issue though is screen tearing and that is fixed with enabling v-sync.


----------



## polynomialc

im running 2 - 6870's i would say keep vsync on too, you get no tearing plus it runs without issues for me.

whats everyone's take on Tripple Buffering and crossfire? On or Off?


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I am also running x2 6850's in xfire .Ive tried both x8\\x8 and x16\\x16 on the same board and x8 had slightly lower scores but I dont think it because of lanes.when running x8 I had x4 gpus and after raising pci-e voltage the scores were the same as x16.

Now cooling .With multiple monitors my top card idles between 44-48c and the card on bottom idles at 36-38c.with only one monitor the top card idles below 40c as well.load temps are great though no game has been able to get these cards past 70c.Most games don't heat them up much at all.even furmark with stock settings no extreme burn struggles to get them past 70c and I waited 15 minutes.There are plenty of ways to keep them cool but side fans do little in this regard.

1.Keep v-sync on..
some people like to brag about fps but if your getting smooth game play anything above 60 is a waste .and in some games like lost planet 2 when in menus you get a crazy 1500 fps and 99% gpu load heating your cards up just like furmark.

2.aftermarket cooling..
They are relatively cheap drop temps a lot and greatly reduce noise.down side they are usually not blowers and dump huge amounts of heat in your case quickly overwhelming case fans.

3.side\\door fans..
they do help to a point for example my cards are 3c cooler with the side on but I am running x4 2000rpm 120mm fans 100% at all times.downside they do add a little noise.

4.back fan..
This a great way to keep things cool.The main issue with the door fans is all they do is mix ambient\\cool air with the heat exhausted from the cards.Adding a fan just below my monitor cables sucking heat out of the case actually helps a lot more than you might think.For example x4 2000 rpm 120mm fans on the door\\side at full speed gives you 3c idle but at load can only help so much because its mixing the same amount of cool air with a lot more heat.Now adding one 2000rpm 120mm fan to the back of the case behind the cards just pulling heat out gives me 5c cooler on the bottom card and 7c cooler on the top and this is at load much more important.There are other great benefits as well this will lower your internal case temps meaning cooler ram ,cpu,psu you name it.People in this thread have reported 5c cooler cpu temps while gaming.My cpu rad is external so I cant say for sure how much your cpu temps will drop but all other temps i have recorded myself. 
hope this helps you guys lower your temps .
and here is a link to some pics of my rig and all its air-cooled goodness.Before you ask yes I have enough fans.lol
http://www.overclock.net/13738417-post3821.html


Lots of great info. Thanks!







I have a couple 120mm fans I could try as back exhaust...how did you mount yours?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *solsamurai;15014810*
> Lots of great info. Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a couple 120mm fans I could try as back exhaust...how did you mount yours?


I used zip ties. I really dont want to drill holes for fans because when I get the funds Im going to water cool.

I want a mo-ra3 so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like overkill so what.lol


----------



## jfuze

Would 2 6850s run http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMPSU-550VX-550-Watt-Certified-compatible/dp/B000WU2FGK]on this power supply[/URL]?


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jfuze;15016618*
> Would 2 6850s run on this power supply?


While 550W should be good, I don't know how good that specific model is. I would head over to the PSU section and see what they think about it.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *larkin;15014144*
> I just bought 2 HD 6850s but then read an article about microstudder right after. I'm pretty sensitive to flicker. Is this something you guys with 6850s have experienced? Does Vsync help alleviate it?
> 
> My board is a GA-Z68XP-UD3.
> 
> Thanks


None whatsoever. The only issues with crossfire I've had have either been fixed or are for less popular games with less support. For instance the first witcher had some flickering, but it's also what six years old? DDO just stutters badly because of no crossfire support, and Deus Ex: HR had some Steam overlay flickering but that's been resolved. Issues happen on every multi-card setup, just have to wait for the fix.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;15012967*


Yeah, my cards idle at 45/40 with aftermarket cooling on a hot day. I'm thinking either the card just had too much pre-applied TIM or they're starved for cool air. I have been wanting to mount that fan behind the PCI-e lanes.


----------



## iLLGT3

Would it be possible/Ok to CF a XFX HD6870 2GB card with my current 1GB 6850?

This is the one I'm looking at.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150563

Or should I just buy an identical 6850?


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jfuze;15016618*
> Would 2 6850s run on this power supply?


See this thread for more info.


----------



## Spade616

just got this today







I can finally set the shaders on SC2 to ultra. hahahaha








Sapphire 6870


----------



## iLLGT3

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iLLGT3;15018293*
> Would it be possible/Ok to CF a XFX HD6870 2GB card with my current 1GB 6850?
> 
> This is the one I'm looking at.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150563
> 
> Or should I just buy an identical 6850 or a 6870?


Re-bumping this.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iLLGT3;15018293*
> Would it be possible/Ok to CF a XFX HD6870 2GB card with my current 1GB 6850?
> 
> This is the one I'm looking at.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150563
> 
> Or should I just buy an identical 6850?


It is possible yet while crossfire is activated you will only have 1Gb of video ram available for your system to use, not worth getting the 2gb version of the 6870 for crossfire since 1Gb wont be used. You better off getting a standard 1Gb 6870.


----------



## iLLGT3

ahh

Thanks for the reply. That really sucks too. I guess I'm going to go with a 6870 then.

Cheers.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iLLGT3;15078642*
> ahh
> 
> Thanks for the reply. That really sucks too. I guess I'm going to go with a 6870 then.
> 
> Cheers.


You don't want to do that,if you get a 6870 to go with your 6850 your just going to want another 6870 soon imho.Just get another 6850 and save a little money of sell your 6850 and get a 6950 2gb newegg has them for 249 after mir .
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150550
If you ever decide to go eyefinity the extra ram would help a lot.Not to mention two 6950's in crossfire would be epic.And possibly being able to unlock them to 6970's


----------



## chaics

i've a Gigabyte 6850. put me in the list tooo. thx.

btw, wanna ask, if i want to xfire my 6850, do you guys think my gigabyte odin pro 550watt will be sufficient for it? according to http://www.overclock.net/power-supplies/1045231-phaedrus-quickndirty-psu-calculator.html#post13918387, he stated that 550watt real power psu is enough to xfire 6850.

any one in the club using 550watt psu to xfire 6850??


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *chaics*


i've a Gigabyte 6850. put me in the list tooo. thx.

btw, wanna ask, if i want to xfire my 6850, do you guys think my gigabyte odin pro 550watt will be sufficient for it? according to http://www.overclock.net/power-suppl...l#post13918387, he stated that 550watt real power psu is enough to xfire 6850.

any one in the club using 550watt psu to xfire 6850??


PM Phaedrus for those kind of questions, he's the PSU guru.
But I dont recommend using a 550w, try getting your hands on a 650w or 700w.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *chaics*


i've a Gigabyte 6850. put me in the list tooo. thx.

btw, wanna ask, if i want to xfire my 6850, do you guys think my gigabyte odin pro 550watt will be sufficient for it? according to http://www.overclock.net/power-suppl...l#post13918387, he stated that 550watt real power psu is enough to xfire 6850.

any one in the club using 550watt psu to xfire 6850??


Dont do it trust me.You want to go xfire and that may be enough but just barely.You also have a 990fx board so your going to get a bulldozer im sure.Face it now you have the upgrade bug. Dont wait its always good to start with a good psu .The psu calculator only takes into account minor overclocking as well.If your looking to go for that 5ghz and water cooling 550w is not going to be enough no matter what brand.I don't know where your going with your system but its better to get a good psu now and keep this one as a backup than waiting for it to start having problems and ending up with down time.All im saying is plan ahead.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;15083804*
> psu calculator only takes into account minor overclocking as well.If your looking to go for that 5ghz and water cooling 550w is not going to be enough no matter what brand..


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Phaedrus2129;13918387*
> This "calculator" *assumes* moderate overclocking of GPUs and heavy overclocking of CPUs.


You should really read the whole post.
The question asked was if that PSU can handle Xfire 6850 not if the person who asked the question will need a new PSU to upgrade to a new CPU and OC it.

He will need a new PSU cause that 550w PSU will barely hold the Xfire, but it will hold.
Get atleast a decent 700W PSU for future proofing.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan;15098185*
> You should really read the whole post.
> The question asked was if that PSU can handle Xfire 6850 not if the person who asked the question will need a new PSU to upgrade to a new CPU and OC it.
> 
> He will need a new PSU cause that 550w PSU will barely hold the Xfire, but it will hold.
> Get atleast a decent 700W PSU for future proofing.


I could say the same to you.You should read the hole post.The second sentence
"You want to go xfire and that may be enough but just barely"
answered his/her question.
I agree with you.Im just saying last sentence
"All im saying is plan ahead".
Your saying the same thing I am.I did read the hole post and im so sorry I mixed up minor and moderate but its been a while and I cant remember the hole post word for word.lol But that doesn't change the facts even you said "Get atleast a decent 700W PSU for future proofing".
The point of my post was not to tell him/her there psu is not good enough.The point was to get a solid psu before big upgrades because barely is rarely good enough.The last thing you want to do is buy a shinny new video card and start having psu issues and have to leave the card sitting on the desk waiting for a new psu. avoid that by getting the psu first .Worst case he puts the video card in and the psu goes into protection for overheating/overloading and is never the same again.Im not trying to scare anyone but it happens.


----------



## iLLGT3

Ok, I bought a XFX6850 black edition to crossfire with my normal 6850 but I do have a question..

Will this crossfire bridge that I bought work with my cards?

HIS crossfire bridge


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *iLLGT3*


Ok, I bought a XFX6850 black edition to crossfire with my normal 6850 but I do have a question..

Will this crossfire bridge that I bought work with my cards?

HIS crossfire bridge


Its hard to tell from the pics but it will work if its long enough.according to one of the newegg reviews it should be.

"it can reach far enough to connect 2 pci-x16 slots that are 3 pci slots apart. If the 2 slots that you have your video cards in have more than 2 pci slots in between them, this connector is not long enough for you, you will need to buy the extended connector elsewhere"


----------



## Metalcrack

I'm up for the add


----------



## excoracer

I've got a Sapphire HD6870 FLEX edition 1Gb. I'm late to the club, but I'm here now. Will post pics tonight when i get home from work.


----------



## Markocro100

Got a Sapphire 6870


----------



## Jman11322

I would like to join, I have a XFX 6850
View attachment 231002


----------



## Tokkan

Deleted


----------



## Kieran

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;15001605*
> Cool! good stuff.


Still haven't received a reply from the creator of this thread, might be worth PM'ing him again?


----------



## Kieran

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;15001605*
> Cool! good stuff.


Still haven't received a reply from the creator of this thread, i might PM him again?


----------



## Spade616

guys how are my 6870 temps? ran msi kombustor for like 15mins on these settings, and it didn't go over 74-75c. ambient temp is around 33-35c unlike the much lower ambient temps in 6870 reviews. gpu on stock settings, fan speed 60%. the burn in test is more intense than the KMARK bench yeah?


----------



## mumyoryu

Your temps look good =). A lot better than my 6850s on the stock coolers, haha. They get up to 80-90c on the stock coolers, and my ambient temp is abit lower than yours. I think these cards are good up to 100c+


----------



## Spade616

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mumyoryu;15109800*
> Your temps look good =). A lot better than my 6850s on the stock coolers, haha. They get up to 80-90c on the stock coolers, and my ambient temp is abit lower than yours. I think these cards are good up to 100c+


oh nice.







im just checking around before i overclock it. i cant seem to find a decent overclocking tool though, since amd overdrive and sapphire trixx causes my system to freeze/crash.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spade616;15110009*
> oh nice.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> im just checking around before i overclock it. i cant seem to find a decent overclocking tool though, since amd overdrive and sapphire trixx causes my system to freeze/crash.


MSI Afterburner is the way to go.You can set it to auto overclock when you start a game and you can set custom fan profiles.


----------



## Spade616

okay so i managed to oc it at 980/1050, stock voltages. ran kombustor for 20mins and i noticed some very light artifacting. should i back off or leave it at that? since the artifacts rarely show up anyway. temps didnt go over 75c. im still trying to figure out how to increase volts with afterburner.









edit: finalized my oc at 970/1150 stock volts, just to equal a 6870 Toxic version. according to the review below, at 970/1150, it can perform right next to a 560ti, and even beat it in some games by a hair. dang i love this card!

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=28760&page=1


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spade616;15112761*
> okay so i managed to oc it at 980/1050, stock voltages. ran kombustor for 20mins and i noticed some very light artifacting. should i back off or leave it at that? since the artifacts rarely show up anyway. temps didnt go over 75c. im still trying to figure out how to increase volts with afterburner.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> edit: decided to back off at 970/1050. is oc'ing the vram worth it? i read that on cards as fast as these, you should just focus on the core since vram oc'ing doesnt yield much fps anyway.


If you don't go too far oc'ing v-ram should help performance.read this
http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/633816-how-overclock-your-amd-ati-gpu.html


----------



## Spade616

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;15113641*
> If you don't go too far oc'ing v-ram should help performance.read this
> http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/633816-how-overclock-your-amd-ati-gpu.html


yeap edited my post. i am seriously impressed by this card.









edit: woohoo! successfully oc'ed this card at 1000/1200 @1.28V. topped out at 84c after 30mins of kombustor, no artifacts. temps during the extreme 3Dmark11 test were under 75c. god i love this card.


----------



## ihatelolcats

deleted


----------



## Razi3l

All updated, sorry for being so slow.








If anyone was missed, give me a shout.

Moving on, just to get a general idea, what are the average overclocks you guys are getting at stock, and w/ ~1.3v. Asking the 6870 owners here...

Cheers


----------



## Jras

Just ordered this Sapphire 6870.

  Amazon.com: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB DDR5 DL-DVI-I / SL-DVI-D / HDMI / DP PCI-Express Graphics Card: Electronics
Been deliberating an upgrade for awhile now, just had to jump on this deal.


----------



## XReflection

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Razi3l*


All updated, sorry for being so slow.








If anyone was missed, give me a shout.

Moving on, just to get a general idea, what are the average overclocks you guys are getting at stock, and w/ ~1.3v. Asking the 6870 owners here...

Cheers


I haven't tried pushing it that far, but my core clock is at 930 up from 900 and my memory is 1100 from 1050. Not a huge OC, but its already eating up anything I throw at it so I don't feel the need for higher OC. This is on stock cooling.

Pleaes add me to the member list for a 6870


----------



## T3beatz

Yeah, I don't even OC mine... stock is fine for any game out now, I have Xfire so even when playing BF3 I get over 60+ frames on all High settings outside and around 90 inside, on Ultra I get around 50-55 outside and 70+ inside.

This is with the new Drivers 11.10 preview.


----------



## dadasalam

sapphire 6870 1G 
can i run bf3 on ultra ?







only playable . fps not important


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *dadasalam*


sapphire 6870 1G 
can i run bf3 on ultra ?







only playable . fps not important


My bro has one in his rig...

AMD 965, 60G SSD, and he plays it on UlTRA and 4xAA getting around 27FPS

I toned it down to medium and now his frames are in the 40's.

so you should be good to go.


----------



## Derek1387

Ordered mine Open Box from newegg yeseterday.... Asus HD6870... for $114! Cant wait!


----------



## dadasalam

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;15193097*
> My bro has one in his rig...
> 
> AMD 965, 60G SSD, and he plays it on UlTRA and 4xAA getting around 27FPS
> 
> I toned it down to medium and now his frames are in the 40's.
> 
> so you should be good to go.


maybe the full version run better. More FPS
then i am 1680X1050
what is your resolution?


----------



## T3beatz

On both our rigs we run 1080p... yeah, I think on the final release it should run better... and I don't know what drivers he had installed either (I don't think he has the latest 11.10 preview drivers installed).


----------



## Matt86

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Razi3l;15159804*
> All updated, sorry for being so slow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If anyone was missed, give me a shout.
> 
> Moving on, just to get a general idea, what are the average overclocks you guys are getting at stock, and w/ ~1.3v. Asking the 6870 owners here...
> 
> Cheers


Add me?
http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/850691-official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-a-384.html#post13772565

Unless you need a different GPUZ shot?


----------



## dadasalam

i overclocked my card to 960 / 1180
temp in burin test in furmark will goto 78~80
is it safe or not?
does my 380W power supply hurt the VGA?
i saw another man in this forum that overclcoked to 1000/1250 and no problem
why my card temp is very high?


----------



## Spade616

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dadasalam;15198302*
> i overclocked my card to 960 / 1180
> temp in burin test in furmark will goto 78~80
> is it safe or not?
> does my 380W power supply hurt the VGA?
> i saw another man in this forum that overclcoked to 1000/1250 and no problem
> why my card temp is very high?


im at 1000/1200 and im doing fine. temps dont go over 84c in kombustor and never over 77c in gaming. you should think about upgrading your powersupply though, since youre running an overclocked cpu and gpu.


----------



## dadasalam

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spade616;15198705*
> im at 1000/1200 and im doing fine. temps dont go over 84c in kombustor and never over 77c in gaming. you should think about upgrading your powersupply though, since youre running an overclocked cpu and gpu.


did you over-voltage your card?
with msi after burner?
stock cooler?


----------



## Spade616

Quote:



Originally Posted by *dadasalam*


did you over-voltage your card?
with msi after burner?
stock cooler?


its at 1.28volts, used sapphire trixx version 4.0. 4.2 crashes alot. the sapphire 6870 that i have doesnt use the reference cooler.


----------



## tasospaok123

Got my Gigabyte 6870! 


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Hi, guys and gals.
I was wondering if there was a way to prevent my card from going into power saving mode somehow (you know, reverting the core and mem to 300mhz), I have 11.9 installed along with MSI Afterburner 2.1.0 and overclock to 1020/1188 (stable) and yet when I ask windows 7 to do a Windows Experience Index, my card gets a 6.3 rating, and window states that my graphics card is keeping my score down.
I have an SSD as my primary (6.9 experience index), a Q9550 @ 3.7Ghz (7.4), 8 Gig of DDR2 mem @ 1090Mhz (7.4) but my card is keeping my score at 6.3 and I'm sure that it was higher than that before.
Therefore I can only assume that either the fact that my card is going into "power saving mode" is effecting the scoring process or Microsoft has raised the threshold, to deal with the more powerful cards that are available today and is thus giving me a poorer score, can you tell me what scores you are getting with the Windows Experience Index on your systems.
Thanks in advance and I apologise if this topic has been discussed in previous posts here but I haven't got the time nor the inclination to trawl through 424 pages.
Also has anyone played Deus Ex Human Revolution? It is an epic game and is the reason for me being up at this ungodly hour.


----------



## Young_Master

I just bought sapphire 6850 for $192, at first i want to buy sapphire 5850 Xtreme because the price is around $162 in my country,too bad its out of stock and i have to wait 1 month.







so i bought 6850 instead. But after I searched on google, it turns HD5850 is better in many ways, I don't understand why 6850 price can be more expensive than 5850 xtreme?


----------



## Spade616

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Young_Master*


I just bought sapphire 6850 for $192, at first i want to buy sapphire 5850 Xtreme because the price is around $162 in my country,too bad its out of stock and i have to wait 1 month.







so i bought 6850 instead. But after I searched on google, it turns HD5850 is better in many ways, I don't understand why 6850 price can be more expensive than 5850 xtreme?


aww dude you shouldve waited for the 5850. the 5850 xtreme is priced higher than the 6850 on amazon. so it really depends on where youre getting the card from. but normally, the 5850 xtreme costs more.


----------



## ihatelolcats

i know many of you use msi afterburner to control your 6870s...
however i can't get voltage to work for mine

[ATIADLHAL]
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
AccessibilityCheckingPeriod = 0

and settings are checked except "constant voltage"

what do you think is the problem?


----------



## T3beatz

did you go into settings and check the unlock voltage control?


----------



## onefastgoat

Temporary new member here! Will post pics when its up and running.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Young_Master;15220146*
> I just bought sapphire 6850 for $192, at first i want to buy sapphire 5850 Xtreme because the price is around $162 in my country,too bad its out of stock and i have to wait 1 month.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so i bought 6850 instead. But after I searched on google, it turns HD5850 is better in many ways, I don't understand why 6850 price can be more expensive than 5850 xtreme?


5850 wins to 6850 in DX9/10
6850 wins to 5850 in DX11


----------



## Point Blank Rob

Tokkan do you have the benchs to do that?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Point Blank Rob;15248119*
> Tokkan do you have the benchs to do that?


guru3d 68xx series benches when released(old drivers)

This isnt the best example because its using release drivers, couldnt find any recent benchs of the cards.


----------



## Prpntblr95

Please add me


----------



## T3beatz

@Prpntblr95
looks good, lota wires floating around in there...lol


----------



## welly321

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;15248928*
> @Prpntblr95
> looks good, lota wires floating around in there...lol


lol ya that looks like my 1st build


----------



## T3beatz

same here, at first I didn't care about wire management, then on the last build I started looking at other peoples rigs online and caught the wire management bug. lol, it makes your rig look so much better.

maybe Prpntblr95 is not done yet... I don't run my wires until I get everything set right and all my test are done.


----------



## Prpntblr95

Fella's don't worry bout it









This is from when I first built it 3 months back, since then I have added several things, gutted the case and dremmel so the PSU cables go out the back, SATA cables go out the back, everything is cleaned up









Also put in a Cooler Master Hyper 212+

Those pics are off my Flickr and I was posting from school. I'll try and get pics up tonight of what it looks like after this family dinner and the cops leave...

I'm not sure if you can see this but here is a link to my Facebook that has pics of when I first built it to current of what it is now

Pics are hurrr


----------



## welly321

So what kinda performance are you guys getting on metro 2033 dx 11? I wanna make sure im not bottlenecked by my cpu. Im getting 30 to 35 fps on normal setting 1080p dx 11


----------



## Digiko

msi 6870 hawk user here


----------



## Insert coin

Hi all, and sorry for my (eventual) bad english.

On june I have bought an Asus HD6850 DirectCU V2, this version comes with two 6 pin connectors instead of 1 but I have read on the net that it can be still powered by 1 6-pin, so, what's the meaning of the other connector?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Insert coin;15258728*
> Hi all, and sorry for my (eventual) bad english.
> 
> On june I have bought an Asus HD6850 DirectCU V2, this version comes with two 6 pin connectors instead of 1 but I have read on the net that it can be still powered by 1 6-pin, so, what's the meaning of the other connector?


Overclocking potential


----------



## Derek1387

So, I am having an issue with my 6870... it is reading -57C temps in all programs... GPUZ. Hardware Monitor, CCC, everything. Card is working just fine, but temps... I dont know. Any ideas?


----------



## welly321

Strange. Sounds like a sensor defect. I would rma it ? Try afterburner see what that says for temps and if you can try the card in another computer.


----------



## rdr09

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Derek1387*


So, I am having an issue with my 6870... it is reading -57C temps in all programs... GPUZ. Hardware Monitor, CCC, everything. Card is working just fine, but temps... I dont know. Any ideas?


what is your fan setting?


----------



## Derek1387

stock settings, Auto.

My problem is its an Open Box from Newegg... card works great... BUT, temps are funky.


----------



## rdr09

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Derek1387*


stock settings, Auto.

My problem is its an Open Box from Newegg... card works great... BUT, temps are funky.


i can't see the temp but the stock volt is a little higher than mine (.97). is there a way to lower volts using msi ab. i use trixx.

try setting your fan at manual 50%. see if you can stand the noise. adjust it further until you see your temp go down. my load temp is 74C but is OC. 65C when not. adding a side fan if possible would help, too. blowing to it.

like you said, it is open box hopefully your are still in the window to return it.


----------



## Derek1387

...temps arent high. They are reading below 0. I checked the card with an actual temp gun and they are fine. I am just concerned with issues later on. I contacted Newegg and they setup an RMA, but hopefully I can find a suitable card in the mean tmie. Im just bummed out now.

Yeah, temps are showing NEGATIVE

All programs, GPUz, Afterburner, CCC, all say -57C.... so it probably is just a sensor.


----------



## rdr09

my bad. you're fine, then. call asus they might be able to help.


----------



## Derek1387

*******. I may do that then


----------



## Derek1387

You guys think I should just deal with it or try and get it replaced?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Derek1387*


You guys think I should just deal with it or try and get it replaced?


Run Kombuster on it and tell us the max temp if you dont mind..


----------



## Derek1387

Will do when I get home...but how will it read tenps if it can't even do it corre tly now?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Derek1387*


Will do when I get home...but how will it read tenps if it can't even do it corre tly now?


Nvm, you got the RMA process already being done...


----------



## Derek1387

I have it going, but I told them I won't follow thru unless I find a replacement card in the next two days


----------



## saber101

has anyone used the accelero s1 rev 2 passive heatsink for the 6870
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vg...s1-rev.-2.html
i want to know the temps


----------



## welly321

Is 6870 crossfire performance equal to a 580? Also has anyone ran into issues with crossfire and a intel cpu? Im debating upgrading to a 6970 and use my 6870 in my other rig or just going crossfire 6870.


----------



## T3beatz

6870's Xfired is better than a single 580... and that's stock VS Stock. overclocked they probably will be better also.

There are benches all over the net proving this.

the negative side to this is.. not all games utilize Xfire, (most of the newer ones do).


----------



## Grimuri

I am now an owner of an XFX HD 6870 1GB.

I got rid of the 6790 that had been giving me gray screen crashes.

This 6870 is a monster compared to the 6790. I'm surprised my power supply can handle it.

Has any overclocked the XFX ZHFC model with much success?


----------



## spinejam

MSI 6870 TFII OC:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## spinejam

*xfire MSI 6870 TFII OC:*





Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## Hotchi69

Xfx 6850


----------



## Spade616

man i just saw this card today. its so freakin sexy i wish i wouldve found out this one before i bought my sapphire 6870.


----------



## Grimuri

Here's my screenshot proof of HD 6870 ownership.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *saber101;15275478*
> has anyone used the accelero s1 rev 2 passive heatsink for the 6870
> http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/24/accelero-s1-rev.-2.html
> i want to know the temps


honestly i don't understand what makes that better than the stock cooler. if you have spare thermal paste you might take off the shroud on your card and look at what's there


----------



## drBlahMan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spade616;15324224*
> man i just saw this card today. its so freakin sexy i wish i wouldve found out this one before i bought my sapphire 6870.


*EEEWW to the light-blue**!*







Would of been much better if the shroud was *BLUE* but still somewhat transparent IMO


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *saber101;15275478*
> has anyone used the accelero s1 rev 2 passive heatsink for the 6870
> http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/24/accelero-s1-rev.-2.html
> i want to know the temps


I guess it's ok if your going for complete silence but beyond that its trash and your temp are going to go up.This is a link of a Thermalright Spitfire passive vs stock cooling ,and cooling for the accelero s1 rev 2 is about the same maybe a little better but not much.

http://www.overclock.net/11458931-post39.html

If you want quiet all aftermarket coolers are a lot better than stock.And if you plan to add fans to the accelero that just defeats the purpose and there are better and cheaper options.Bang for buck the coolers I have are by far the best.for something that cools better you will pay at least double the price.I have two of these and cant hear them at any fan speed.
http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4974361&CatId=4027

There are other options check out this thread.
http://www.overclock.net/ati-cooling/850451-6800-series-aftermarket-cooling-thread.html


----------



## Thrasher1016

Powercolor may not be where it's at, but I can't complain!










Thanks! 
My first club!









-Thrasher


----------



## bogey1337

Hi guys, im planning to get either 6850 or 6870.. Ive checked my retailer here in my country and here's their price.

171$ for 6850
196$ for 6870

Now, which one do you think has better price/performance? Also, will a 6850 able to handle bf3 high settings on 1600 x 900? Im on a tight budget so im cant fully jump on a 6870 if a 6850 would cut it.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## T3beatz

Price vs performance the 6850 wins... you can overclock the 6850 to just about the stock 6870's specs.


----------



## diogo_cme

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;15367142*
> Price vs performance the 6850 wins... you can overclock the 6850 to just about the stock 6870's specs.


Specially if you get the MSI Cyclone version, which is IMO the best 6850 - and not because I have one!









Joining the club - here's my proof.


----------



## bogey1337

Hmmm interesting... Unfortunately.. the only available ones here in my retailer is the sapphire non reference model.. uhm.. regarding oc, any voltage increase necessary?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bogey1337;15367590*
> Hmmm interesting... Unfortunately.. the only available ones here in my retailer is the sapphire non reference model.. uhm.. regarding oc, any voltage increase necessary?


Not unless your trying some insane OC's.
I got mine stable without adding voltage at 920/1120 iirc
Now running 90/1100 just cause i prefer easy numbers


----------



## bogey1337

Nice! Thanks guys. 6850 for me then.


----------



## jadenx2

i just crossfired 6870 both sapphire and the msi twin frozr

how does overclocking work with crossfired cards? this is my first time having more than just one card :S


----------



## T3beatz

if you use MSI afterburner just go into settings and check the box that says something about syncing the overclocks.


----------



## jbb817

Hello everyone. I plan to post my verification later today to join, but I have a quick question for now. I'm thinking about buying a second 6870 to go crossfire (I also need to buy a new power supply with 4x pci-e, so suggestions there would be nice). My motherboard only has x16/x4 bandwidth on the pci-e slots though. Does anyone here have experience with this kind of setup? I'm especially worried about potential microstuttering problems. In particular, I'd like to run games like Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3 maxed at 1920x1080 and right now my fps dips into the mid 20s on both games (well the beta for BF3 at least). If I could stay at least above 30 I'd be happy.


----------



## toyz72

i really doubt the x4 slot will really be a big performance loss. as fas as psu's go, i would say going with a good 750w like antec,corsair,ect. some will argue the all you need is a 650w, but from my experience with a hx650w, i got pretty hot. i decided to jump up to a 750w to give me more headroom and peace of mind.


----------



## diogo_cme

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tokkan*


Not unless your trying some insane OC's.
I got mine stable without adding voltage at 920/1120 iirc
Now running 90/1100 just cause i prefer easy numbers










Same settings here: 920/1120 without any voltage tweaks. Works on both CCC and Afterburner.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jadenx2;15368037*
> i just crossfired 6870 both sapphire and the msi twin frozr
> 
> how does overclocking work with crossfired cards? this is my first time having more than just one card :S


You could just sync the two cards in msi afterburner.
On the other hand you may want to overclock them separately to find out if one overclocks better than the other.
For instance one of my cards is 1000 core stable with a little voltage bump and the other has trouble getting past 900 no matter what voltage.So what I do is run the higher overclocker as my main card for games that dont support xfire .I set MSI AB to push both cards to there max overclock when a 3d app is started so if the program supports xfire they both run at 900 but if it doesnt the main card runs at 1000.Best part is once its all setup it works automatically.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;15370524*
> You could just sync the two cards in msi afterburner.
> On the other hand you may want to overclock them separately to find out if one overclocks better than the other.
> For instance one of my cards is 1000 core stable with a little voltage bump and the other has trouble getting past 900 no matter what voltage.So what I do is run the higher overclocker as my main card for games that dont support xfire .I set MSI AB to push both cards to there max overclock when a 3d app is started so if the program supports xfire they both run at 900 but if it doesnt the main card runs at 1000.Best part is once its all setup it works automatically.


Ya know... You can leave one of the cards at 1Ghz core and the other at 900Mhz core while playing in Crossfire games... The card wont downclock or anything


----------



## rdr09

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *toyz72;15368712*
> i really doubt the x4 slot will really be a big performance loss. as fas as psu's go, i would say going with a good 750w like antec,corsair,ect. some will argue the all you need is a 650w, but from my experience with a hx650w, i got pretty hot. i decided to jump up to a 750w to give me more headroom and peace of mind.


toyz, do you mind showing off a bigger image of your avatar - updated with the xfire?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tokkan*


Ya know... You can leave one of the cards at 1Ghz core and the other at 900Mhz core while playing in Crossfire games... The card wont downclock or anything










I do but I said they run 900 in xfire because the card thats clocked higher doesn't load as high .Say I run heaven 2.5 the card at 900 will hit 98% load but the other card will get to more like 90%. Although you can run the cards at different speeds im pretty sure you get equal performance being the card with higher clocks doesn't get pushed as hard.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


I do but I said they run 900 in xfire because the card thats clocked higher doesn't load as high .Say I run heaven 2.5 the card at 900 will hit 98% load but the other card will get to more like 90%. Although you can run the cards at different speeds im pretty sure you get equal performance being the card with higher clocks doesn't get pushed as hard.


For what I know ATi/AMD crossfire has gone flexible.
GPU's using the same arch can be Xfired without caring about its speed/shaders.
Example:6850 Xfired with a 6870 or 6950 with 6970...
Dont have a personal experience on the clocks but what you say might be correct... atleast it makes sense.
Im gonne Xfire my 6850 monday, was it worth it smoke?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tokkan*


For what I know ATi/AMD crossfire has gone flexible.
GPU's using the same arch can be Xfired without caring about its speed/shaders.
Example:6850 Xfired with a 6870 or 6950 with 6970...
Dont have a personal experience on the clocks but what you say might be correct... atleast it makes sense.
Im gonne Xfire my 6850 monday, was it worth it smoke?


Was it worth it hell yes I started with xfire.At the time of my purchase I was always planning on a multi-card setup.The thing is I like others always said im going to get this card and xfire latter but never did somthing better always came along.so this time I waited until I could afford to get them both at the same time.I had a lot of time my last card was a gtx260 maxcore and played all games at 1080p with medium setting so no rush.I researched for a long time to find what Im always looking for, best bang for buck and I found the 6850 but this time I was set on two.The fact that they scale at 90 percent was a huge bonus.For you thats the most important part since you already have one, but dont take my word for it look at the reviews its amazing.I got both of them for under $400 and they beat a 5970 and it was $1000 at the time.

Nearly 90% scaling, power consumption not bad at all, performance has gotten even better with new drivers, awesome stock but are great overclockers you can't beat it .


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Was it worth it hell yes I started with xfire.At the time of my purchase I was always planning on a multi-card setup.The thing is I like others always said im going to get this card and xfire latter but never did somthing better always came along.so this time I waited until I could afford to get them both at the same time.I had a lot of time my last card was a gtx260 maxcore and played all games at 1080p with medium setting so no rush.I researched for a long time to find what Im always looking for, best bang for buck and I found the 6850 but this time I was set on two.The fact that they scale at 90 percent was a huge bonus.For you thats the most important part since you already have one, but dont take my word for it look at the reviews its amazing.I got both of them for under $400 and they beat a 5970 and it was $1000 at the time.

Nearly 90% scaling, power consumption not bad at all, performance has gotten even better with new drivers, awesome stock but are great overclockers you can't beat it .


Cool to see you satisfied








Hope the same happens to me, I already paid my 2nd 6850 just waiting on it








My 1st was open box so it was cheap, in total I've spent 300$ in these two.


----------



## jbb817

Thanks toyz.I guess I'll wait for the full release of bf3 to see how things look and I'll probably spring for a second 6870/new power supply then. From all the benchmarks I've seen it looks like the 6870 in xfire should be pretty awesome. Hopefully I don't encounter any micro stuttering.

Also, I'd like to be added to the owner's list. The specific model is XFX HD-687A-ZDFC.


----------



## T3beatz

I love my 6870's, they play any game on ultra settings with over 60FPS. I paid less than 300 for both of them I found them on ebay for $145 each with free shipping and brand new with 3 free games!


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jbb817;15373824*
> Thanks toyz.I guess I'll wait for the full release of bf3 to see how things look and I'll probably spring for a second 6870/new power supply then. From all the benchmarks I've seen it looks like the 6870 in xfire should be pretty awesome. Hopefully I don't encounter any micro stuttering.
> 
> Also, I'd like to be added to the owner's list. The specific model is XFX HD-687A-ZDFC.


You dont need a new power supply for an xfire 6870.
700w is enough


----------



## bogey1337

So i went to the store and guess what? No 6850! They have the toxic version though, which is much expensive than a 6870. So yeah, got me a 6870 instead. Will post tomorrow woot! The card ia way bigger than my 5770O_O. So, side question for 6870 owners. Hows your min fps on bf3? =)


----------



## T3beatz

single card with all high settings I was getting around 40... that's with 4xAA, no motion blur, no HBAO.


----------



## dadasalam

hi friends i have tested my graphic today on different settings

my cpu clock @ stock 3.4GHZ

Dirt 3 @ highest and ultra setting with 4X AA @1680X1050 Full Screen
Stock Voltage and Clocks 41 FPS and on 1000/1200 @ 1.28V 45FPS

it shows that about 10% it is effective . why? it is very low difference with burning the graphic with this setting

and when i switch to 1680X1050 but windows goes to 80 FPS
why?

why the rate is very low (10%) ?


----------



## bogey1337

Quote:



Originally Posted by *T3beatz*


single card with all high settings I was getting around 40... that's with 4xAA, no motion blur, no HBAO.


nice! I only have 1600x900 rez though. Might get better min. (hopefully) New board and ram coming tommorrow. I hope my 555 unlocks! Thanks t3!


----------



## Spade616

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bogey1337;15380893*
> So i went to the store and guess what? No 6850! They have the toxic version though, which is much expensive than a 6870. So yeah, got me a 6870 instead. Will post tomorrow woot! The card ia way bigger than my 5770O_O. So, side question for 6870 owners. Hows your min fps on bf3? =)


im getting an average of 30-35 fps with everything on ultra at 1080p. even when it goes down to the 20s, its still playable for me.


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bogey1337;15381042*
> nice! I only have 1600x900 rez though. Might get better min. (hopefully) New board and ram coming tommorrow. I hope my 555 unlocks! Thanks t3!


Oh, well you should fair better than me then, I run 1080... that 40 was about Average, sometimes it would be higher and sometimes a little lower, (it never dipped below 30fps). with dual cards I was getting 55-60+ fps (this is on Caspian with stock cards and with un-optimized drivers and an un-optimized game).


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *T3beatz*


Oh, well you should fair better than me then, I run 1080... that 40 was about Average, sometimes it would be higher and sometimes a little lower, (it never dipped below 30fps). with dual cards I was getting 55-60+ fps (this is on Caspian with stock cards and with un-optimized drivers and an un-optimized game).


I saw your screenshots... Do you have the 2Gb version of the 6870 xfired or the 1Gb version?


----------



## Thrasher1016

Quote:



Originally Posted by *T3beatz*


Oh, well you should fair better than me then, I run 1080... that 40 was about Average, sometimes it would be higher and sometimes a little lower, (it never dipped below 30fps). with dual cards I was getting 55-60+ fps (this is on Caspian with stock cards and with un-optimized drivers and an un-optimized game).


BF3 beta?

/Jealous









-Thrasher


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan;15382053*
> I saw your screenshots... Do you have the 2Gb version of the 6870 xfired or the 1Gb version?


This is with the 1gb versions... Also if you look at the screen shots the GPU's were not running at 99% usage when optimized the frames should increase a tad.

The Mem should be devided by 2, for some reason MSI Afterburner shows the total mem used from both cards or something.

*@Thrasher1016* yes the screens were from the beta.









Also, some people were saying that DX11 wasn't fully implemented in the beta... I'm not sure, I guess I'll have to wait and see in 5 days.


----------



## Jras

EDIT: Sorry wrong thread


----------



## diogo_cme

I'm getting the infamous amdkmdap (display stopped working and recovered) error....not when gaming and the card is not overheating. I can play my games without any problem, make benchmarks and pass o OCCT test with zero errors, so my guess is that I'm having a underclock issue. It happens when I'm using my music/audio production softwares, and I try to load a module, pc freezes for a couple of seconds and bang, "displayed stopped working...".

Been browsing around for days and trying all sorts of fixes with no luck - the last shot is a bios update.

Did anyone experience this issue?


----------



## bnmbnm

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme;15385103*
> I'm getting the infamous amdkmdap (display stopped working and recovered) error....
> 
> Been browsing around for days and trying all sorts of fixes with no luck - the last shot is a bios update.
> 
> Did anyone experience this issue?


i had this problem, been using bf3 driver about a week all worked good and suddenly it started making "driver crashed & recovered problem" the solution is to install 11.9 drivers


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme;15385103*
> I'm getting the infamous amdkmdap (display stopped working and recovered) error....
> 
> Been browsing around for days and trying all sorts of fixes with no luck - the last shot is a bios update.
> 
> Did anyone experience this issue?


Common OC error.
Your GPU OC is unstable.


----------



## diogo_cme

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan;15385186*
> Common OC error.
> Your GPU OC is unstable.


Nope, it is not. I've updated my 1st post with more info.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme;15385242*
> Nope, it is not. I've updated my 1st post with more info.


Your using sound through HDMI?


----------



## diogo_cme

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan;15385479*
> Your using sound through HDMI?


Nope...only a single lcd monitor through DVI.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bnmbnm;15385177*
> i had this problem, been using bf3 driver about a week all worked good and suddenly it started making "driver crashed & recovered problem" the solution is to install 11.9 drivers


This. I rolled back to 11.9 and it seems fine, at least my most needed apps are now running. Lucky me that all I didn't had any resource-demanding jobs this week, so my old core2duo laptop saved my ass....

Now I hope 11.10 WHQL comes out fine next week...or that 11.9 handles BF3, which is most unlikely given ati's recent past.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme;15388808*
> Nope...only a single lcd monitor through DVI.
> 
> This. I rolled back to 11.9 and it seems fine, at least my most needed apps are now running. Lucky me that all I didn't had any resource-demanding jobs this week, so my old core2duo laptop saved my ass....
> 
> Now I hope 11.10 WHQL comes out fine next week...or that 11.9 handles BF3, which is most unlikely given ati's recent past.


I never used Beta drivers, 11.9 working perfectly on me.
Btw if you payed close attention to the BF3 thread you'd see that AMD already has a download link for the 11.10 WHQL which will be live when BF3 launch's(atleast thats what the guys at bf3 thread said)


----------



## diogo_cme

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan;15391778*
> I never used Beta drivers, 11.9 working perfectly on me.
> Btw if you payed close attention to the BF3 thread you'd see that AMD already has a download link for the 11.10 WHQL which will be live when BF3 launch's(atleast thats what the guys at bf3 thread said)


Thanks for the tip mate, I really hope the WHQL works properly...


----------



## Amhro

eey, finally, glad to join this thread








with Powercolor HD 6870



























im so happy!


----------



## dadasalam

what is the max clock on 6870? i have over clocked it to 1000/1200


----------



## Spade616

Quote:



Originally Posted by *dadasalam*


what is the max clock on 6870? i have over clocked it to 1000/1200


ive seen some guys get it up to 1300/1200. dunno how stable that is though.


----------



## Heedo_yuy

Gigabyte 6870OC xfire


----------



## NuclearSlurpee




----------



## rohin_adalja

hi, if u own XFX 6870 (HD-687A-ZNFC) can u pleeasee please do a favour and upload the original bios of the card? I flashed a modded one, and the backup of original got corrupted. thank you


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Heedo_yuy;15402333*
> Gigabyte 6870OC xfire


CASE... Wind tunnel inspired! nice, lol


----------



## tasospaok123

A Very happy owner of a Gigabyte 6870!


Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

And i now realize that i need to dust my computer....


----------



## Dropshock

For those of you with BC2 AND Crysis 2, and a 6870, ho wmcuh FPS you usually get?


----------



## tasospaok123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dropshock;15409884*
> For those of you with BC2 AND Crysis 2, and a 6870, ho wmcuh FPS you usually get?


In Crysis 2 @1680x1050,all Maxed, DX11, High-Res Textures and everthing @985/1100 i usually get around 30-40 FPS
BC2, 1680x1050, all Maxed 8xAA, i get 55-70FPS.


----------



## Dropshock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tasospaok123;15409945*
> In Crysis 2 @1680x1050,all Maxed, DX11, High-Res Textures and everthing @985/1100 i usually get around 30-40 FPS
> BC2, 1680x1050, all Maxed 8xAA, i get 55-70FPS.


Do you have any estimate on how well it would do on 1440x900?


----------



## bogey1337

Tried BFBC 2. 2 Cores are on 99% and 88% respectively. GPU usage never reached 70 Percent. 3.7 GHZ not enough?







( 
FPS: 30- 70 fps. Starting mission. 1600 x 900. I should unlock this chip, shouldn't I?


----------



## Fr0sty

add me in for two msi 6870 Twin Frozr II


----------



## jadenx2

im running a 6870 twin frozr II and im getting idle temps of mid 40s, and load temps of mid-high 80s. is this normal?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *bogey1337*


Tried BFBC 2. 2 Cores are on 99% and 88% respectively. GPU usage never reached 70 Percent. 3.7 GHZ not enough?







( 
FPS: 30- 70 fps. Starting mission. 1600 x 900. I should unlock this chip, shouldn't I?


If you can, raise the resolution.that should put more load on the cards and less on the cpu.You could also raise the graphic settings it should do the same thing


----------



## ihatelolcats

two reasons i dislike the 6870:
bios is locked
no double precision math

regretting my purchase now


----------



## toyz72

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*


two reasons i dislike the 6870:
bios is locked
no double precision math

regretting my purchase now


cant get super performance for $200


----------



## ihatelolcats

super performance that the 3870 had
lol


----------



## drBlahMan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*


two reasons i dislike the 6870:
bios is locked
no double precision math

regretting my purchase now


*3* reasons why I like the 6870...

The price








Can run the majority of games exceptionally well on 1920x1080








Nice OCer









I don't regret my purchase


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *drBlahMan*


*3* reasons why I like the 6870...

The price








Can run the majority of games exceptionally well on 1920x1080








Nice OCer









I don't regret my purchase










I agree with this... Also stack another one on top of it and the scaling is great!


----------



## Spade616

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*


two reasons i dislike the 6870:
bios is locked
no double precision math

regretting my purchase now


why would you need to change the bios? (im assuming this is for oc'ing purposes?)

why i like mine:
it was cheap
oc's just fine (though to me, the risk:benefit ratio of running the card at over 1000 core isnt worth it anymore)
plays everything i throw at it at full settings with no lag at 1080p(even bf3 beta at ultra)

but srsly i hate how laggy the amd catalyst control panel is. every click takes about half a second to register which is a bit annoying. with the nvidia control panel, everything was very responsive.


----------



## FireAroundTheBrim

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*


two reasons i dislike the 6870:
bios is locked
no double precision math

regretting my purchase now


I love my 6870 ran every game I played at max settings and ran the BF3 *alpha* great.


----------



## Burzumaske

I am running 6850 in crossfire mode,it was worth the purchase and any game I have ran like Crysis 2 on ultra quality has been running great.


----------



## rdr09

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jadenx2*


im running a 6870 twin frozr II and im getting idle temps of mid 40s, and load temps of mid-high 80s. is this normal?


they are kinda high for a single card. are your fan settings in auto? are these stock readings?

i have a different brand but my load temp never goes over 75C oc and benching. you have a good case but you might want to check its airflow.


----------



## daman246

my sapphire 6870 are ice cold they never go past 60C on auto fan profile lol


----------



## Buska103

I sold my HIS 6870, you can remove me from the second list. My MSI 6850s are still running strong though!


----------



## iLLGT3

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Burzumaske*


I am running 6850 in crossfire mode,it was worth the purchase and any game I have ran like Crysis 2 on ultra quality has been running great.


Same here. I've got an XFX 6850 Black Edition and a standard XFX HD 6850 crossfired and I am impressed.









EDIT: This is my first computer I've ever built and I told myself when I started building it that I would not run 2 gfx cards. At the time, I didn't see a point but after you get started, you become addicted and can't stop.


----------



## drBlahMan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *iLLGT3*


At the time, I didn't see a point but after you get started, you become addicted and can't stop.


Totally understand where you're coming from







I'm trying to stick with my current GPU setup (_see sig_) but I'm soooo tempted to ditch the 9800GT & buy a 2nd 6870 for some XFire action


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *drBlahMan;15415413*
> Totally understand where you're coming from
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying to stick with my current GPU setup (_see sig_) but I'm soooo tempted to ditch the 9800GT & buy a 2nd 6870 for some XFire action


If you can dont think twice do it.I had a GTX260 for physX and it helps a tiny bit in a tiny bit of games.mostly you get better cpu scores in vantage that no one uses anymore.The way these cards scale your pretty much going to double your performance if you go xfire and not just in benchmarks but almost all of the new good games.


----------



## tasospaok123

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *daman246;15415049*
> my sapphire 6870 are ice cold they never go past 60C on auto fan profile lol


Mine idles @ 27c and loads @ 62-63c and never above with the fan barely hearable. I love this card.


----------



## bogey1337

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;15411152*
> If you can, raise the resolution.that should put more load on the cards and less on the cpu.You could also raise the graphic settings it should do the same thing


Sadly, 1600 x 900 is the best my monitor can muster. Everything is on Max. HBAO on, 8x AA and 16x AF. GPU usage still sits 60 - 70 percent tops while my dual cores @ 3.7 is already crying. Damn.. Coming from a 5770, i think I underestimated the power of this card.


----------



## Erper

hi guys, i have problem with 11.9 drivers...
everything was fine till 2 hours ago...
when i plug in ipod touch my screen shrinks and cant change it back unless i reinstall drivers and keep it without it...
any suggestions for it....

EDIT:

FIXED

Open Catalyst control center > My VGA Displays > Image Adjustements (VGA Display) > And then where is says "synchronization" press - or + to see if the screen changes


----------



## jadenx2

i have my 6870s in crossfire, and im averaging mid-80s temp. while playing BF3. is this normal or too high?


----------



## TurboPanda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jadenx2;15438547*
> i have my 6870s in crossfire, and im averaging mid-80s temp. while playing BF3. is this normal or too high?


thats a little high do you have your fan profiles set up on afterburner i honestly dont let mine get over 70c


----------



## Heazy

Does anyone else have problems with the system freezing on BFBC2? I have a Twin Frozr 6870 and it freezes the system (no BSOD, just picture freeze). I've heard this can be related to Punkbuster and crappy new AMD Drives


----------



## jadenx2

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TurboPanda;15438590*
> thats a little high do you have your fan profiles set up on afterburner i honestly dont let mine get over 70c


no but i have them at a fixed speed, cause one fan is alot louder than the other. however they are very close to each other on my mobo because i have a mid-tower, so i don't have much room.


----------



## Erper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Heazy;15438623*
> Does anyone else have problems with the system freezing on BFBC2? I have a Twin Frozr 6870 and it freezes the system (no BSOD, just picture freeze). I've heard this can be related to Punkbuster and crappy new AMD Drives


its definetly latest 11.9 drivers... cause i had problems too... read last post from me on this page... weird...


----------



## Heazy

I'm going to put my head through a wall if this Punkbuster/11.9 driver issue affects BF3 too


----------



## TurboPanda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jadenx2;15438638*
> no but i have them at a fixed speed, cause one fan is alot louder than the other. however they are very close to each other on my mobo because i have a mid-tower, so i don't have much room.


i would set the bottom fan to a higher setting so the heat rises and the bottom card being cooler would potentially "cool" the top most card or if anything pull the side cover off and put a small fan blowing into them if you dont have a side fan on your cover already


----------



## jadenx2

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TurboPanda;15439137*
> i would set the bottom fan to a higher setting so the heat rises and the bottom card being cooler would potentially "cool" the top most card or if anything pull the side cover off and put a small fan blowing into them if you dont have a side fan on your cover already


already have the side fan going... playing BF3 now and still averaging mid 80s... so that's too high/risky then? im thinking about getting a full-tower soon


----------



## TurboPanda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jadenx2;15439298*
> already have the side fan going... playing BF3 now and still averaging mid 80s... so that's too high/risky then? im thinking about getting a full-tower soon


do you have them OC? if so i would go back to stock and that should help your temps. whats your ambient temp ? or i would just crank them up to 100% fan usage and crank bf3 sound on high and problem solved


----------



## jadenx2

im stock on both cards. my ambient temp is 23-25c.

fan noise is an issue for me, though.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jadenx2;15439460*
> im stock on both cards. my ambient temp is 23-25c.
> 
> fan noise is an issue for me, though.


If you have an extra fan you should add one to the back.read this
http://www.overclock.net/15012967-post4186.html
skip to number 4 if you like.


----------



## Spade616

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jadenx2*


i have my 6870s in crossfire, and im averaging mid-80s temp. while playing BF3. is this normal or too high?


what are your ambient temps? anyway that is too high since mine loads at 75c and my ambient is about 35c.


----------



## bogey1337

So hows the fps on bf3 guys?


----------



## Heazy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bogey1337;15445245*
> So hows the fps on bf3 guys?


45-60FPS on "High" settings for me. Only slightly overclocked GPU.


----------



## bogey1337

Nice..







1920x1080 right? Multiplayer i assume?


----------



## Romanrp

Anyone crossfiring the cards on BF3?


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Romanrp;15446279*
> Anyone crossfiring the cards on BF3?


Mine will, I have yet to install the game, didn't have the time, I'll post some more screens once I get every thing stable.


----------



## jadenx2

i played it with crossfire, it looked and played great. had to mess around with the drivers to get rid of the stuttering, afterward i had most settings on ultra.


----------



## Acefire

When I find my camera I will post pic of my pic. I'm sure I'm the only one with crossfire 6870's underwater!


----------



## jadenx2

how is the XFX 6870? gonna have to RMA my MSI card unfortunately.


----------



## T3beatz

Played the campaign earlier today and with my dual Sapphire 6870's stock clocks, I was getting well over 60fps... These are my settings in the pics... if you look at the times you can see when I upped them a bit.

It's crazy, the more I upped my settings the less GPU I used??? the game still ran smooth. With everything Ultra and Vsync on I was getting solid 60fps (vsync limeted I guess).


----------



## T3beatz

A couple more showing my ultra settings, also in CC I turned on triple buffering for OpenGL settings. Also all the pics are compressed in order to upload them. So guys with dual 6870's should have no problems running this game... I'll try and get some single card pics up later.


----------



## jadenx2

what drivers are you using?


----------



## T3beatz

I'm using 11.10 preview... the ones that were released for the beta...


----------



## smoke420

im getting 60fps everything maxed but motion blur off(hate it)but a lot of freezing with 11.9(rage driver) and 11.10 preview gave me trouble with rage or some other game (can't remember) so I will wait for the official driver .


----------



## T3beatz

Yeah, and people were saying that you will need dual 580's!! lol yeah right, I paid less than 300 for my GPU's and I can run this game on ultra and still get 60FPS. The bad thing is if I have 4xaa turned on when everything else is up my VRAM does fill up a bit. (this is with windows aero running in the back ground also), but once I crank it down to 2xAA all is good and I get smooth gameplay all the way and can't tell the difference!

I just played some Co-op with a buddy of mine and it is Awesome! I hope they come out with some DLC's for that game mode also.


----------



## arrow0309

Need help








Crossfire's not workin' and the game crashed within Rage @11.10 preview 3 and Cap3 (11.9). Should I stick to the 11.9 Rage, update the game only or both?


----------



## bogey1337

Lots of people having problems with xfire were fixed by just installing 11.10 preview 3 without cap3.


----------



## Heazy

For some reason I can't get my 2nd monitor to be recognized with ATI cards (Both 6950 and 6870). Is there something about ATI and dual-display that I don't know about? It worked fine on my Nvidia 9800GTX+


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Heazy;15458786*
> For some reason I can't get my 2nd monitor to be recognized with ATI cards (Both 6950 and 6870). Is there something about ATI and dual-display that I don't know about? It worked fine on my Nvidia 9800GTX+


Its the same for me .what I had to do was connect the 19 inch first start-up the pc then plug in my 22 inch.after that no problems so you should only have to do it once.that was a year ago cant believe I remembered that.
let me know if it works.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bogey1337;15458150*
> Lots of people having problems with xfire were fixed by just installing 11.10 preview 3 without cap3.


Won't work, allready updated the game too and still cf's missing completely. For now, I'll play with one 6870 only.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;15458133*
> Need help
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crossfire's not workin' and the game crashed within Rage @11.10 preview 3 and Cap3 (11.9). Should I stick to the 11.9 Rage, update the game only or both?


In rage crossfire does not work but its not needed you can get 60fps on one card.just make sure your using the 11.9(rage driver)its not the same as the original 11.9..AMD screwed up..get it from 3dguru.com here is a link..
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=351811

EDIT:11.10 preview v3 is supposed to work for bf3 and rage im going to give it a shot


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


In rage crossfire does not work but its not needed you can get 60fps on one card.just make sure your using the 11.9(rage driver)its not the same as the original 11.9..AMD screwed up..get it from 3dguru.com here is a link..
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=351811

EDIT:11.10 preview v3 is supposed to work for bf3 and rage im going to give it a shot


As the matter of facts I'm getting solid 60 fps with a single card and 11.10 preview v3, everything maxed and with a gpu load below 60%. I think cf is not needed at all.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309;15460076*
> As the matter of facts I'm getting solid 60 fps with a single card and 11.10 preview v3, everything maxed and with a gpu load below 60%. I think cf is not needed at all.


what kind of performance are you getting in bf3


----------



## Heazy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


Its the same for me .what I had to do was connect the 19 inch first start-up the pc then plug in my 22 inch.after that no problems so you should only have to do it once.that was a year ago cant believe I remembered that.
let me know if it works.


Unfortunately this did not work









Googling the question just leads me to a ton of people having the same problem with the bottom DVI port not working (and no real fixes other than getting an HDMI to DVI converter).

To make sure I understood you correctly, I:

Turned off computer, left 19" Monitor on top DVI port
Turn computer on, plugged in 21" Monitor to bottom DVI port

still doesnt detect


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Heazy*


Unfortunately this did not work









Googling the question just leads me to a ton of people having the same problem with the bottom DVI port not working (and no real fixes other than getting an HDMI to DVI converter).

To make sure I understood you correctly, I:

Turned off computer, left 19" Monitor on top DVI port
Turn computer on, plugged in 21" Monitor to bottom DVI port

still doesnt detect


Ya thats how I did it .worked for me.


----------



## T3beatz

Well, My crossfire in MP was not working properly last night... I have not tried it again today, I just used one card with High settings and was getting 45-50+ fps, 2xaa 16xAF no motion blur, and ssao lighting.

with crossfire enabled the screen would just flicker very badly, sometimes it would stop, but it would start back up again. I have to try some things today, this is just on MP, in SP everything works fine. I wonder what would cause this?


----------



## Heazy

Man I just started playing on my 19" on its max resolution 1400x1200 or whatever..... I feel like I'm experiencing a whole new game. 100FPS on Ultra settings. Smooth as hell, looks amazing. Maybe I could get used to a 19" Monitor again lol


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


what kind of performance are you getting in bf3


Doesn't have it yet, I'll let you know soon.


----------



## Kieran

Quote:



Originally Posted by *T3beatz*


Played the campaign earlier today and with my dual Sapphire 6870's stock clocks, I was getting well over 60fps... These are my settings in the pics... if you look at the times you can see when I upped them a bit.

It's crazy, the more I upped my settings the less GPU I used??? the game still ran smooth. With everything Ultra and Vsync on I was getting solid 60fps (vsync limeted I guess).


That's great to know. I'm planning to upgrade my GPU at christmas, got enough for either crossfire 6870's or one 6970. Might just go with the crossfire 6870's now that i know that it can run BF3 at ultra settings.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *T3beatz*


Well, My crossfire in MP was not working properly last night... I have not tried it again today, I just used one card with High settings and was getting 45-50+ fps, 2xaa 16xAF no motion blur, and ssao lighting.

with crossfire enabled the screen would just flicker very badly, sometimes it would stop, but it would start back up again. I have to try some things today, this is just on MP, in SP everything works fine. I wonder what would cause this?


What drivers and caps are you using?


----------



## T3beatz

Well at first I was using the first release of the 11.10 preview drivers, I just switched over to the 11.10 ver3 drivers and its doing the same thing. On a single card everything is fine, but when I run crossfire the screens flicker, the game is smooth but its like one of those flicker things at a party, I'm glad I'm not epileptic.

I guess I can try the 11.9 ones and see if that helps??

Again, everything was fine on SP, and in CO-OP, but once I tried to run MP all things went down hill, now all modes are doing the same thing.

MSI afterburner has got to be showing some false numbers in Xfire, on Ultra settings with everything on my game is running smooth (with the flickering) but it shows that my cards are using on 40% most of the time?? If I figure the problem out I'll let you all know.


----------



## Tenacity

Can I join?


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

*Battlefield 3 set on Ultra, 35 fps but really playable, no stuttering with a smooth feeling. Ati drivers rule, I heard nvidia drivers suck ATM.
Anyways BF3 looks like a good FPS only time will tell I suppose, but having played Deus ex Human Revolution for the last two months, it'll take a while to adjust to it.
RTO.*


----------



## diogo_cme

Quick question: what CCC settings are you guys using? Since BF3 is DX11, I was wondering if it suffer from the same tesselation issues that plagued Crysis2...


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash;15506428*
> *Battlefield 3 set on Ultra, 35 fps but really playable, no stuttering with a smooth feeling. Ati drivers rule, I heard nvidia drivers suck ATM.
> Anyways BF3 looks like a good FPS only time will tell I suppose, but having played Deus ex Human Revolution for the last two months, it'll take a while to adjust to it.
> RTO.*


Ya I get similar performance with one card but crossfire is still having problems.I get random game freezes and there not quick im talking five second freezes thats completely unplayable.Ive tried the newest 11.10 preview version 3 and 11.9 cap3 .
If anyone has BF3 working in crossfire some help please.And please make sure its working because Ive noticed the game starts in windowed mode and quickly changes to full screen and turns off crossfire in the process .I usually alt/tab out of the game and back to it and crossfire starts up and I get around 60fps but then the game starts to freeze.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme;15507978*
> Quick question: what CCC settings are you guys using? Since BF3 is DX11, I was wondering if it suffer from the same tesselation issues that plagued Crysis2...


I dont know yet, Crysis 2 suffered cause you were rendering tesselated water that wasnt even visible, untill now no1 complained about the way that BF3 is made so I guess that its either no1 cared to check yet or its all ok.
Well im doing pretty well on it with my 6850 crossfire... But for some reason since yesterday(when I installed 11.10 preview3 and caps 4) they dont run at 3D clocks lol


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420;15508141*
> Ya I get similar performance with one card but crossfire is still having problems.I get random game freezes and there not quick im talking five second freezes thats completely unplayable.Ive tried the newest 11.10 preview version 3 and 11.9 cap3 .
> If anyone has BF3 working in crossfire some help please.And please make sure its working because Ive noticed the game starts in windowed mode and quickly changes to full screen and turns off crossfire in the process .I usually alt/tab out of the game and back to it and crossfire starts up and I get around 60fps but then the game starts to freeze.


Try 11.10 ver 3 and CAP4 that might do the trick... I worked for me until my bottom card started crapping out on me, now I have to try and send it back to Sapphire for the warrenty. I've only had it for about 4-5 months.


----------



## Jagged_Steel

Greetings to my BARTs LE siblings, from a "little brother" 6790 owner! Is calling this card a "6700" series the worst naming regiment ever or what? It should have been called a 6830 or something similar, but oh well, some marketing guy decided to group them with the 6700s. Not to mention the confusion between 6790 and 6970- that is endless fun with typos in forums.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jagged_Steel*


Greetings to my BARTs LE siblings, from a "little brother" 6790 owner! Is calling this card a "6700" series the worst naming regiment ever or what? It should have been called a 6830 or something similar, but oh well, some marketing guy decided to group them with the 6700s. Not to mention the confusion between 6790 and 6970- that is endless fun with typos in forums.










You my dear friend, are correct.
6790 is a Barts core so I dont know why in hell did AMD name it 6790...
Would make alot more sense if it were 6830








They changed the name scheme on the 6000 series so...


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T3beatz;15509481*
> Try 11.10 ver 3 and CAP4 that might do the trick... I worked for me until my bottom card started crapping out on me, now I have to try and send it back to Sapphire for the warrenty. I've only had it for about 4-5 months.


+1
Thanks cap4 did the trick solid 60fps on bf3 ultra settings everything maxed but motion blur off.(hate it)
cards are clocked at 970/1125
temps have maxed at 63c .The a/c is turned off.


----------



## CaptainIcy

Can I have in?

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB
I have overclocked it a little.



Also, since BF3 has been a discussion above&#8230; I only get around 45 fps average (max is 60+ but only when there's no action) with drops as low as 24 with everything at high except shadows (low) and motion blur turned off, 0xAA, 4xAF at 1440x900. Even with everything on low it still drops to <35 once in a while.
I've been using a program called Dxtory to cap my fps at 35 so I can play it without any spikes.

Is my CPU bottlenecking it? Is this normal for a 6870? (especially overclocked?)
I'm using the latest 11.10 preview drivers.

Specs are in my signature.


----------



## kromar

Quote:



Originally Posted by *CaptainIcy*


Can I have in?

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB
I have overclocked it a little.



Also, since BF3 has been a discussion aboveâ€¦ I only get around 45 fps average (max is 60+ but only when there's no action) with drops as low as 24 with everything at high except shadows (low) and motion blur turned off, 0xAA, 4xAF at 1440x900. Even with everything on low it still drops to <35 once in a while.
I've been using a program called Dxtory to cap my fps at 35 so I can play it without any spikes.

Is my CPU bottlenecking it? Is this normal for a 6870? (especially overclocked?)
I'm using the latest 11.10 preview drivers.

Specs are in my signature.


hmm seems a bit strange with that resolution that the fps still drops on low. maybe try a stable driver and see if you get the same problem


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *CaptainIcy*


Can I have in?

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB
I have overclocked it a little.



Also, since BF3 has been a discussion aboveâ€¦ I only get around 45 fps average (max is 60+ but only when there's no action) with drops as low as 24 with everything at high except shadows (low) and motion blur turned off, 0xAA, 4xAF at 1440x900. Even with everything on low it still drops to <35 once in a while.
I've been using a program called Dxtory to cap my fps at 35 so I can play it without any spikes.

Is my CPU bottlenecking it? Is this normal for a 6870? (especially overclocked?)
I'm using the latest 11.10 preview drivers.

Specs are in my signature.


something is wrong you should get a solid 30fps and above settings maxed out at that res. try uninstalling your drivers running driver sweeper and reinstalling 11.10 preview version 3


----------



## Tokkan

To all those running crossfire for BF3 and facing problems do this:
Uninstall all drivers and sweep them.
Install 11.10 preview 3
Restart into safe mode
Regedit> search for enableulps> change all the values to 0
Restart normally
Install Cap4
Restart again.

I bought a 2nd 6850 at the same time I pre-ordered BF3, its been giving me nothing but headaches.
Spent atleast 20h's trying to get them work in Crossfire, since I would only get artifacts/crash's/bsod's.
Even tested them both solo..
After installing 11.10 preview 3 and caps4 and doing the regedit fix I can finally game atlast!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tokkan*


To all those running crossfire for BF3 and facing problems do this:
Uninstall all drivers and sweep them.
Install 11.10 preview 3
Restart into safe mode
Regedit> search for enableulps> change all the values to 0
Restart normally
Install Cap4
Restart again.

I bought a 2nd 6850 at the same time I pre-ordered BF3, its been giving me nothing but headaches.
Spent atleast 20h's trying to get them work in Crossfire, since I would only get artifacts/crash's/bsod's.
Even tested them both solo..
After installing 11.10 preview 3 and caps4 and doing the regedit fix I can finally game atlast!


why did you have to disable upls?
It only gives me problem with unofficial overclocking enabled.check to see if its on because that will cause all the problems you mentioned.well not the artifacts but the bsod and crashing.so if you have unofficial overclocking enabled and you dont overclock past 1000/1250 you dont need it so turn it off and leave upls on because it reduces minimum temps a lot.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *smoke420*


why did you have to disable upls?
It only gives me problem with unofficial overclocking enabled.check to see if its on because that will cause all the problems you mentioned.well not the artifacts but the bsod and crashing.so if you have unofficial overclocking enabled and you dont overclock past 1000/1250 you dont need it so turn it off and leave upls on because it reduces minimum temps a lot.


this was happening on stock, no OC on the cards. 
also im not worried with min temps lol


----------



## bogey1337

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CaptainIcy;15511280*
> Can I have in?
> 
> SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB
> I have overclocked it a little.
> 
> 
> 
> Also, since BF3 has been a discussion above&#8230; I only get around 45 fps average (max is 60+ but only when there's no action) with drops as low as 24 with everything at high except shadows (low) and motion blur turned off, 0xAA, 4xAF at 1440x900. Even with everything on low it still drops to <35 once in a while.
> I've been using a program called Dxtory to cap my fps at 35 so I can play it without any spikes.
> 
> Is my CPU bottlenecking it? Is this normal for a 6870? (especially overclocked?)
> I'm using the latest 11.10 preview drivers.
> 
> Specs are in my signature.


Strange.. You should be getting more fps. I get dips to 35fps only and only on intense situations (2 tanks exploding in front of me followed by a firefight between 3-4 people) and this is usually caused by my cpu bottleneck. Everything on high. Shadows and effects Ultra. No AA. SSAO on. 1600x900 resolution. You might want to try using the 11.10 preview 3 drivers.

Edit: Also, your Quad should be enough. I doubt its the cause of the bottleneck.


----------



## T3beatz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CaptainIcy;15511280*
> Can I have in?
> 
> SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB
> I have overclocked it a little.
> 
> 
> 
> Also, since BF3 has been a discussion above&#8230; I only get around 45 fps average (max is 60+ but only when there's no action) with drops as low as 24 with everything at high except shadows (low) and motion blur turned off, 0xAA, 4xAF at 1440x900. Even with everything on low it still drops to <35 once in a while.
> I've been using a program called Dxtory to cap my fps at 35 so I can play it without any spikes.
> 
> Is my CPU bottlenecking it? Is this normal for a 6870? (especially overclocked?)
> I'm using the latest 11.10 preview drivers.
> 
> Specs are in my signature.


Turn off Dxtory... run everything on High or Ultra, 2xAA, NO AO (ambient occlusion), 16xAF, AApost on HIGH, vsync on... 11.10 ver 3 preview driver, disable windows desktop composition, in compatibility settings from the BF3 main executable file in properties.

That should give you a good bost in FPS and have great graphics, with these settings my card is cool, usually in the 60's even when running at 95+% usage.

I'm not runny Xfire right now because my bottom card is starting to crap out, salt and pepper all over the place when it's installed... time to RMA.


----------



## Jagged_Steel

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tokkan*


You my dear friend, are correct.
6790 is a Barts core so I dont know why in hell did AMD name it 6790...
Would make alot more sense if it were 6830








They changed the name scheme on the 6000 series so...


Yes, it was a big mistake grouping them with the 6700s. I bet some poor souls have bought a 6790 and tried to Crossfire it with a 6770. Not going to work. Might even cause damage. The 6790s will actualy CF with a 6850/70, but not the 6700s. They should at least have made this perfectly clear so people don't try to incorrectly CF them with the wrong cards. I plan on getting another 6790 during the Christmas season return /Open Box bonanza and go for Crossfire, but I might just grab a 6850/70 if I see one for $100ish and use it for my primary/single card GPU and the 6790 for the slave GPU.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jagged_Steel*


Yes, it was a big mistake grouping them with the 6700s. I bet some poor souls have bought a 6790 and tried to Crossfire it with a 6770. Not going to work. Might even cause damage. The 6790s will actualy CF with a 6850/70, but not the 6700s. They should at least have made this perfectly clear so people don't try to incorrectly CF them with the wrong cards. I plan on getting another 6790 during the Christmas season return /Open Box bonanza and go for Crossfire, but I might just grab a 6850/70 if I see one for $100ish and use it for my primary/single card GPU and the 6790 for the slave GPU.










Do it like a boss! Get a 6870 X2! TriFire that sucker


----------



## Jagged_Steel

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tokkan*


Do it like a boss! Get a 6870 X2! TriFire that sucker

















LOL, I like the way you think. But I have limited my computer hobby expenditures to "about a hundred dollars" now and then, so the 6790 is where I landed. Right now the single 6790 handles everything I can throw at it . The heaviest graphics in any game I have right now is the battle portions of Napoleon : Total War, and this runs smooth as honey with 6,000 plus unit battles and Ultra settings. I am going to Crossfire just for grins I guess, and I know I can find an open box 6790 for less than a $100 and maybe a 6850 for around that as well, so I might go that route if the right item comes up when I am in the buying mood.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jagged_Steel*


LOL, I like the way you think. But I have limited my computer hobby expenditures to "about a hundred dollars" now and then, so the 6790 is where I landed. Right now the single 6790 handles everything I can throw at it . The heaviest graphics in any game I have right now is the battle portions of Napoleon : Total War, and this runs smooth as honey with 6,000 plus unit battles and Ultra settings. I am going to Crossfire just for grins I guess, and I know I can find an open box 6790 for less than a $100 and maybe a 6850 for around that as well, so I might go that route if the right item comes up when I am in the buying mood.


Im not gonna call your card by its branded name anymore but what it really is, and the low end of the Barts core with its shaders cutdown has probably only less 10% performance tops?
I do know that my Barts(6850) can score better than some Barts XT(6870) so I will have no doubt that the same can happen with a Barts LE(6790)
Id like to welcome you to post some benchmarks on this thread: 68xx series Overclockers Club
I kno, I kno it says 68xx series but please humor me, Id love to see how that GPU behaves








And it would be good for you also since you could see if it is worth paying extra for the performance increase you may or may not see/get.


----------



## Mazda6i07

Can someone give me a 100% stable overclock for my pair of Sapphire XFire'd 6870's? Thanks


----------



## GsxR1000Ryda

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mazda6i07;15548603*
> Can someone give me a 100% stable overclock for my pair of Sapphire XFire'd 6870's? Thanks


I have both my cards running at 1000/1200 with a 1.3v. Cards creep in the low 70's at full usage and fans spinning at 50% each. Gets loud but luckily I game with head phones.


----------



## Mazda6i07

Thanks for the clocks, hopefully mine can handle it hah

Edit: Artifact's like a mother! That's definitely not going to work!


----------



## kelvintheiah

got my sapphire 6850 1gb 3d version for about $160. xD


----------



## Moheevi_chess

Just purchased, in please!!








Attachment 237165


----------



## RWayne

Joining the 6870 club and Overclock.net. I am now a ASUS HD6870 DirectCU Owner! Very happy with it so far. The ASUS DirectCU cooling system works great. I have yet to see it go over 57c under load and the card is absolutely silent.










The packaging is probably the best I have ever seen. Nice THICK foam totally encases the card. Gave me peace of mind knowing it was protected well in transit to my house.










My Specs: AMD Phenom II 965 x 4 CPU @ 3.4 GHz, ASUS M4A87TD, 8 Gigs of GSKILL Ripjaw Ram, Samsung 1TB SATA 3.0 GB/s 7200 hard drive, Corsair TX650W PSU, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

BENCHMARKING RESULTS:
Average FRAPS @ 1680 x 1050 (Very High Settings), AMD Catalyst Version 11.8

Batman Arkham Asylum: 58 fps
NFS Hot Pursuit: 56 fps
HAWX 2: 59 fps
Empire Total War: 55 fps
COD Black Ops (Multi-player): 57 fps

Star Craft II Wings of Liberty:
33 fps* Ultra Settings
44fps* High Settings
82fps* Medium Settings

I am happy with the benchmarks. The only surprise was Star Craft 2 as I expected higher results. But the game still looks great on medium settings.


----------



## Hallock

Overclocked and running sweet!!!


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:



Originally Posted by *CaptainIcy*


Can I have in?

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB
I have overclocked it a little.



Also, since BF3 has been a discussion above&#8230; I only get around 45 fps average (max is 60+ but only when there's no action) with drops as low as 24 with everything at high except shadows (low) and motion blur turned off, 0xAA, 4xAF at 1440x900. Even with everything on low it still drops to <35 once in a while.
I've been using a program called Dxtory to cap my fps at 35 so I can play it without any spikes.

Is my CPU bottlenecking it? Is this normal for a 6870? (especially overclocked?)
I'm using the latest 11.10 preview drivers.

Specs are in my signature.


Well my native res is 1920x1080 and with everything maxed out my fps drops as low as 22fps, but the game still runs smooth and is very playable, it must have something to do with the game engine because I can't think of another game that worked properly at those fps.
You didn't mention weather BF3 was playable or not, I have the same CPU as you do, all be it with a 30% higher frequency, but it does just fine. However if its just fps that's important to you then lower some of your settings, but the way I see it, if it runs smooth and is visually satisfactory then jobs a goodun.


----------



## savage1987

Help me









I have my system running happily enough right now with a single 6870, but a mystery problem is stopping me from running my second 6870 successfully.

http://overclock.net/amd-motherboard...ard-blame.html

Please help me, I am getting close to pulling the system down to send the motherboard back for testing.

I didn't buy almost $3000 worth of PC to have it not work properly from the get-go.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,
Sam


----------



## smoke420

Quote:



Originally Posted by *savage1987*


Help me









I have my system running happily enough right now with a single 6870, but a mystery problem is stopping me from running my second 6870 successfully.

http://overclock.net/amd-motherboard...ard-blame.html

Please help me, I am getting close to pulling the system down to send the motherboard back for testing.

I didn't buy almost $3000 worth of PC to have it not work properly from the get-go.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,
Sam


hate to say it but sounds like somthing is wrong with your motherboard.the only way to get the cards to run at x16 is to use the first and third slot.so if the first slot doesnt work im not sure what you can do.check you bios and check to see if there is a way to disable it with jumpers on the board.The first slot is usually the main one so I doubt it but good luck.


----------



## DB006

This is my 24/7 overclock (will do more) on my XFX Black Edition 6870, reference.
Looking for another so I can CF these


----------



## Lauvan

Sapphire 6850 1GB, on its way in post! can't wait!


----------



## eltocliousus

Got a single 6870 myself and looking to crossfire at christmas once I get my 1090T + board, quick question, any chance of overclocking at all on reference cards? It's an XFX reference design and I plan to get a 2nd reference just so they look purdy in my case, reference cards always look sexy.
I get 80-85c on load on the intensive games, seems safe to go a little higher (mid 90's?) with overclocking, just wanted to confirm, heard these things can go upto 125c and not break a sweat.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eltocliousus;15596688*
> Got a single 6870 myself and looking to crossfire at christmas once I get my 1090T + board, quick question, any chance of overclocking at all on reference cards? It's an XFX reference design and I plan to get a 2nd reference just so they look purdy in my case, reference cards always look sexy.
> I get 80-85c on load on the intensive games, seems safe to go a little higher (mid 90's?) with overclocking, just wanted to confirm, heard these things can go upto 125c and not break a sweat.


Man you temps are high already you can overclock but I would not raise voltage unless your planning on better cooling.125c is crazy im sure if you run these cards over 100c for any length of time its not going to last long.Also crossfire is going to raise your temps a lot more so be aware of that.I would suggest instead of getting another reference card get the cheapest one you can find and getting aftermarket coolers this way they will look great ,match,run cooler,and with a lot less noise.Im using two aftermarket coolers and there great.My cards are overclocked from790\1000 to 970\1125 and I raised the voltage and both cards still stay in the low 60's while gaming and make no noise.


----------



## eltocliousus

Is my current overclock on this reference card (975 - 1175), is 80-85c strange for a reference card at all?
63c idle with two monitors (forced full memory clock due to the monitors).


----------



## kromar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eltocliousus;15597357*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is my current overclock on this reference card (975 - 1175), is 80-85c strange for a reference card at all?
> 63c idle with two monitors (forced full memory clock due to the monitors).


the idle temps seem a bit high otherwise it looks good.

how did you get opencl enabled? have you installed a special driver or anything else?


----------



## eltocliousus

I have no idea, just have normal 11.10.
I lowered the memory to 1175 as my screen started distorting, seemed to have fixed it, why does this happen? Not enough voltage? It definitely wasn't overheating.


----------



## kromar

i dont know, i had the same problem with high ram clocks, looked like overheating to me but only happened ingame and not during stresstesting with furmark/occt

edit: aboit the driver, do you remember if you did a clean install lately or did you just express install newer drivers over old ones?


----------



## eltocliousus

I did a clean install to 11.9 as I was getting openGL issues, but 11.10 was just installed over 11.9.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kromar;15598161*
> i dont know, i had the same problem with high ram clocks, looked like overheating to me but only happened ingame and not during stresstesting with furmark/occt
> 
> edit: aboit the driver, do you remember if you did a clean install lately or did you just express install newer drivers over old ones?


occt furmark kombuster etc consume in max 200mb vram
wanna stress the gpu for stability? install uningine. leave it doing a loop on uningine, ive also had memory clocks that were stable at occt etc but werent while gaming...
this happens cuz occt and the others mainly stress out the core and not the vram


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eltocliousus;15596688*
> Got a single 6870 myself and looking to crossfire at christmas once I get my 1090T + board, quick question, any chance of overclocking at all on reference cards? It's an XFX reference design and I plan to get a 2nd reference just so they look purdy in my case, reference cards always look sexy.
> I get 80-85c on load on the intensive games, seems safe to go a little higher (mid 90's?) with overclocking, just wanted to confirm, heard these things can go upto 125c and not break a sweat.


Instead of an oc 6870 crossfire you should better do a lot of oc with your cpu otherwise you'll get severely cpu limited in cf (with any 775 quadcore).








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan;15598348*
> occt furmark kombuster etc consume in max 200mb vram
> wanna stress the gpu for stability? install uningine. leave it doing a loop on uningine, ive also had memory clocks that were stable at occt etc but werent while gaming...
> this happens cuz occt and the others mainly stress out the core and not the vram


I confirm, my old Gigabyte reference didn't get any higher than 1140 on memory. Do some serious gaming session to proove you're stable.


----------



## XReflection

Can you please add me?

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

XFX 6870


----------



## Xun1ng

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DB006;15591205*
> This is my 24/7 overclock (will do more) on my XFX Black Edition 6870, reference.
> Looking for another so I can CF these


Is your black edition the version with samsung or elpida memory?

Hello, here entering the HD6870 with two beautiful XFX Cards!










I wish I could set the voltage my self, but it's locked even in Trixx.
I Benched them already @ 965-1150 as you can see here:


----------



## Carlos Hilgert Ferrari

I think i have golden chips here.

My both 6850 can handle 940/1150 at stock volts.

Pretty impressive tbh.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari;15615717*
> I think i have golden chips here.
> 
> My both 6850 can handle 940/1150 at stock volts.
> 
> Pretty impressive tbh.


Thats golden?
iirc all 6850 owners managed to do atleast that







atleast both of mine do that
I can get my 6850's at 1Ghz core with a lil voltage bump


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Carlos Hilgert Ferrari;15615717*
> I think i have golden chips here.
> 
> My both 6850 can handle 940/1150 at stock volts.
> 
> Pretty impressive tbh.


Thats golden?
iirc all 6850 owners managed to do atleast that







atleast both of mine do that
I can get my 6850's at 1Ghz core with a lil voltage bump
If you lower the memory a bit you can prolly push the core a lil more, your on the limits of the 6850 memory chip. That is the max I've seen stable memory wise, and when you try to bring the core up with the memory at that level you start seeing artifacts and ull think they are caused by the core which they arent, they usually caused by the mem.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

My ASUS 6870 is stable @ 1020/1190/1.3v using MSI Afterburner. Idol temp 56c @ 37% and 75c @ 58% under load and is almost inaudiable over case fans.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash;15617290*
> My ASUS 6870 is stable @ 1020/1190/1.3v using MSI Afterburner. Idol temp 56c @ 37% and 75c @ 58% under load and is almost inaudiable over case fans.


Yea these cards with a good case can handle them selfs pretty well, I had 2 case fans broken and my window fan was the crappy stock fan... Did so much noise that I had it always turned down. Changed it this friday for a Noiseblock XL1 which is absolutely silent at 100%, its throwing air onto the GPU's and replaced my broken HDD fan which was also throwing air to the GPU's.
I basicly only hear my HDD's cause the rest of the system is absolutely silent.


----------



## Slow*Jim

My XFX does 1000/1150 all day on stock voltage (1.174v)


----------



## Xun1ng

How can I see if my cards use Elpida Chips?









EDIT: I'm asking 'cause I want to change voltages and I can't, I tried to put a Asus bios on one of my cards and the card didn't even boot, so I guess it's 'cause they have Elpida Memory's, instead of samsung memorys, is there any bios that allows voltage tweak, using Elpida Chips?


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Slow*Jim*


My XFX does 1000/1150 all day on stock voltage (1.174v)


Wow that's rediculous. I got 2 bad XFX chips I guess. Needs about 1.274v for 930mhz/1100.


----------



## Derek1387

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*


My ASUS 6870 is stable @ 1020/1190/1.3v using MSI Afterburner. Idol temp 56c @ 37% and 75c @ 58% under load and is almost inaudiable over case fans.


What are you using to adjust the voltage on these cards??? I cant seem to unlock the voltage control on my Assus 6870s


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Ok, I am going to give you the solution to all your problems, I would like a bit of credit for this because it wasn't easy to find it in the first place.
To enable over voltage in MSI Afterburner you need to edit a reg file in the MSI Afterburner directory, but to do this you need to log into the administrator account, you begin by searching in startup for: secpol.msc

In "Local Policies>Security Options" Enable: Accounts Administrator Account Status
Log out and log back in as admin.

Alternatively:
Run CMD as administrator and type:
"net user administrator /active:yes" to enable
And "net user administrator /active:no" to disable

Once logged into the administrator account find the MIS Afterburner main directory and edit the MSIAfterburner.cfg file located in the installation directory of AfterBurner (typically Program Files (x86) MSI Afterburner):

You need to alter the following:

Seek UnofficialOverclockingEULA field, open it in notepad, and add following text:
I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
Set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 to keep PowerPlay active (may not work on old ASICs), 2 to traditionally disable PowerPlay or to 0 to temporary disable unofficial overclocking path

I know it sounds like a lot of bother to do this but in truth it is pretty easy when you know how.
I tried Smart Doctor (ASUS' solution to overclocking) which was unstable and unreliable, Trixx (Sapphires attempt at graphics card control) which didn't work at all with my card, Riva Tuner which was far too complicated and finally I tried to edit the Bios on my card but was unsuccessful (however looking back I'm glad I didn't succeed as it is a risky thing to attempt and can turn your pretty cool card into a door stop) but as far as graphics card overclocking goes, MSI Afterburner is the mutts nuts, and as a bonus, once this method is applied, you will have the ability to take the core clock over the 1000MHz restriction.

Good luck to you all, feedback would be whole heartedly welcome.


----------



## dadasalam

i am 6870 and 1000/1200 stable @ 1.28
superb one 
is there any challenger to me with higher clocks ?


----------



## Xun1ng

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*


Ok, I am going to give you the solution to all your problems, I would like a bit of credit for this because it wasn't easy to find it in the first place. 
To enable over voltage in MSI Afterburner you need to edit a reg file in the MSI Afterburner directory, but to do this you need to log into the administrator account, you begin by searching in startup for: secpol.msc

In "Local Policies>Security Options" Enable: Accounts Administrator Account Status
Log out and log back in as admin.

Alternatively:
Run CMD as administrator and type:
"net user administrator /active:yes" to enable
And "net user administrator /active:no" to disable

Once logged into the administrator account find the MIS Afterburner main directory and edit the MSIAfterburner.cfg file located in the installation directory of AfterBurner (typically Program Files (x86) MSI Afterburner):

You need to alter the following:

Seek UnofficialOverclockingEULA field and add following text:
I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
Set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 to keep PowerPlay active (may not work on old ASICs), 2 to traditionally disable PowerPlay or to 0 to temporary disable unofficial overclocking path

I know it sounds like a lot of bother to do this but in truth it is pretty easy when you know how.
I tried Smart Doctor (ASUS' solution to overclocking) which was unstable and unreliable, Trixx (Sapphires attempt at graphics card control) which didn't work at all with my card, Riva Tuner which was far too complicated and finally I tried to edit the Bios on my card but was unsuccessful (however looking back I'm glad I didn't succeed as it is a risky thing to attempt and can turn your pretty cool card into a door stop) but as far as graphics card overclocking goes, MSI Afterburner is the mutts nuts, and as a bonus, once this method is applied, you will have the ability to take the core clock over the 1000MHz restriction.

Good luck to you all, feedback would be whole heartedly welcome.


I'll try that as soon I arrive home, if that works for me I will be very apreciated. Thanks mate


----------



## Spade616

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dadasalam;15630548*
> i am 6870 and 1000/1200 stable @ 1.28
> superb one
> is there any challenger to me with higher clocks ?


thats really a normal overclock for a 6870.(see mine) i havent seen a 6870 not reach 1000 core on over 1.27volts.


----------



## mltms

i reach 990 core 1160 mem in stock volt
my card dont have volt controler


----------



## Xun1ng

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spade616*
> 
> thats really a normal overclock for a 6870.(see mine) i havent seen a 6870 not reach 1000 core on over 1.27volts.


That would be great for me, but I cant even set my own voltage.
MSI Afterburner doesnt let me, and trixx shows me the voltage, but I cant set it, my cards number are: HD-687A-ZDFC

CanAnyone help me pls? I would love to play with this girls.


----------



## Spade616

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xun1ng*
> 
> That would be great for me, but I cant even set my own voltage.
> MSI Afterburner doesnt let me, and trixx shows me the voltage, but I cant set it, my cards number are: HD-687A-ZDFC
> CanAnyone help me pls? I would love to play with this girls.


you have to unlock msi afterburner to enable the voltage tweaking.(this goes for all non-msi cards i think) here is a guide: http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=182403

havent tried it myself since sapphire trixx is what i use.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xun1ng*
> 
> That would be great for me, but I cant even set my own voltage.
> MSI Afterburner doesnt let me, and trixx shows me the voltage, but I cant set it, my cards number are: HD-687A-ZDFC
> CanAnyone help me pls? I would love to play with this girls.


Dude, Check out my MSI Afterburner Voltage Solution on page 445. All you need to know!!


----------



## Kieran

Just bought battlefield 3, getting about 30fps with the above settings in single player mode, think i will have lower my graphics settings when i play multiplayer.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kieran*
> 
> 
> Just bought battlefield 3, getting about 30fps with the above settings in single player mode, think i will have lower my graphics settings when i play multiplayer.


Or you can crossfire your 6850 and get around 60fps at max settings.

Quick question I have about $300 to spend on my rig how should i spend it? Im thinking eyefinity or water cooling.I know $300 is probably not going to be enough for water cooling both cards but I could save a little more.


----------



## Kieran

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Or you can crossfire your 6850 and get around 60fps at max settings.
> Quick question I have about $300 to spend on my rig how should i spend it? Im thinking eyefinity or water cooling.I know $300 is probably not going to be enough for water cooling both cards but I could save a little more.


I am thinking about buying another 6850, just not sure whether to do that or whether to sell it and upgrade to something like the 6870x2 or a 6970. Another option is to wait until the 7000 series comes out. When i had a go at the multiplayer part of the game i got about 21fps.

In terms of what you should buy i would suggest eyefinity if you can find 2 additional monitors in your price range. I would say go for watercooling if you your CPU or GPU temperatures are getting too high, limiting your ability to overclock any further or if you want your PC to be quieter. You are able to fit a 360mm radiator in your case.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kieran*
> 
> I am thinking about buying another 6850, just not sure whether to do that or whether to sell it and upgrade to something like the 6870x2 or a 6970. Another option is to wait until the 7000 series comes out. When i had a go at the multiplayer part of the game i got about 21fps.
> In terms of what you should buy i would suggest eyefinity if you can find 2 additional monitors in your price range. I would say go for watercooling if you your CPU or GPU temperatures are getting too high, limiting your ability to overclock any further or if you want your PC to be quieter. You are able to fit a 360mm radiator in your case.


If you can get a good deal like the same price as a 6850 go for the 6870's in crossfire but I think thats more trouble than its worth.performance wise crossfire 6850 vs 6870 is too close to go through the trouble of trying to sell your 6850 for a good price imo.I would say get another 6850 and pretty much double your performance.Now If you can afford it shore a 6970 is the best way to go.Its a much better card and more expandable meaning you can run more than two down the line if you want.7000 series who knows im sure they will be great but how long can you wait.lol

My temps are fine I have aftermarket coolers on everything but my ram.I bought my ram for looks so im not going to cover up the led's.lol
Really I think water cooling is overkill for my current system but I just want to put my first custom loop together.Ok I guess watercooling can wait for the next time I win at the casino.But now I have to find monitors that match my acer H213H wish me luck.


----------



## Jras

Should be receiving my 6870 today and am already thinking about getting another one for Crossfire. I usually run my q6600 at 3.2, would my processor be bottlenecking a 6870 setup?


----------



## manitox

its a good idea crossfire radeon 6850 X4 PCI-E 2.0 whit my phenom II X4 @ 4.0ghz just for Battefield 3, i will play at 1080p all max out.


----------



## Xun1ng

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> Dude, Check out my MSI Afterburner Voltage Solution on page 445. All you need to know!!


Unfortunally, I think HD-687A-ZDFC codes are non reference, crap!

I've made all of those thing and I still don't see the voltages.


----------



## pcenvy88

I have the Sapphire 6850

does CPU-Z work?

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2094793


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pcenvy88*
> 
> I have the Sapphire 6850
> does CPU-Z work?
> http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2094793


All I can say is, download it and see.


----------



## pcenvy88

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> All I can say is, download it and see.


No, I'm asking if I use CPU-z will you verify me? Or does it have to be GPU-Z? I provided the link for verification..... just want to be in the group!


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pcenvy88*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> All I can say is, download it and see.
> 
> 
> 
> No, I'm asking if I use CPU-z will you verify me? Or does it have to be GPU-Z? I provided the link for verification..... just want to be in the group!
Click to expand...

CPU-Z (Central Processing Unit) is for your processor, GPU-Z (Graphics Processing Unit) is for your graphics card, I dont think CPU-Z is going to do it, besides, your link doesn't show anything about your GPU.

Hope this helps.


----------



## pcenvy88

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> CPU-Z (Central Processing Unit) is for your processor, GPU-Z (Graphics Processing Unit) is for your graphics card, I dont think CPU-Z is going to do it, besides, your link doesn't show anything about your GPU.
> Hope this helps.


I understand what CPU and GPU stands for.. however... CPU-Z shows what the GPU type is on the left hand side half way down. Says Sapphire Radeon HD 6850. Check my link again cause its there.

Hope this helps.









Actually re read the post and I'll just do what club owner prefers...


----------



## granno21

Hey guys, can you add me to the list? I have an XFX 6870


----------



## Gorre

Hey, Please Add me. Gigabyte HD 6850 Overclocked


----------



## pcenvy88

Read the first post on what you need to get on the list... it says you need a screen shot with notepad and your username present....


----------



## PsySc0rpi0n

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## diogo_cme

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *manitox*
> 
> its a good idea crossfire radeon 6850 X4 PCI-E 2.0 whit my phenom II X4 @ 4.0ghz just for Battefield 3, i will play at 1080p all max out.


Is this a question or a fact? I'd like to know that too.....but I don't think 4x PCI-E 2.0 will be a problem.


----------



## pcenvy88

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme*
> 
> Is this a question or a fact? I'd like to know that too.....but I don't think 4x PCI-E 2.0 will be a problem.


X4 6850? why?


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Yeah tried the same, installed the last 11.11 from catalyst, and no solution to this wierd fact. While crossfire is active i run msi afterburner to check fps and gpus load, once on bf3 the numbers start to get crazy and show that only 1 cpu its getting all duty while the other turns idle, i pres alt+tab and then all monitoring software suddenly start to show that xfire is working normal but once i get to bf3 again the same strange odd starts to happen all over, What the hell? this is nonsense. What's up with the drivers???, ill try by uninstalling bf3 and installing once more, but im pretty sure it wont work!. Whats up with the software industry?? and AMD drivers support, please can you both get an apointment and get together discuss on creating better drivers for a fine gaming experience, for christ sake!.


----------



## pcenvy88

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> Yeah tried the same, installed the last 11.11 from catalyst, and no solution to this wierd fact. While crossfire is active i run msi afterburner to check fps and gpus load, once on bf3 the numbers start to get crazy and show that only 1 cpu its getting all duty while the other turns idle, i pres alt+tab and then all monitoring software suddenly start to show that xfire is working normal but once i get to bf3 again the same strange odd starts to happen all over, What the hell? this is nonsense. What's up with the drivers???, ill try by uninstalling bf3 and installing once more, but im pretty sure it wont work!. Whats up with the software industry?? and AMD drivers support, please can you both get an apointment and get together discuss on creating better drivers for a fine gaming experience, for christ sake!.


msi AB is a joke. Took me 3 months to figure out that the program was creating crashes for BC2... I wouldn't use it to monitor anything while gaming... try doing without... but yeah AMD drivers are a joke. mine are FINALLY working right


----------



## T3beatz

Yeah, I found out AB was causing crashes in BC2 after about one week... everyone was saying it was PB and Realtek audio... nope, it was MSI AB for me.


----------



## Lifeshield

Thinking of getting a 6850 as one of my HD5770s died on me yesterday (so it's better than one HD5770 & I can CrossFireX it later when I get more cash). Which model is best? I have been looking at the XFX Black Edition and the Sapphire as they are the two cheapest I have found in the UK yet at £120 each respectively.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lifeshield*
> 
> Thinking of getting a 6850 as one of my HD5770s died on me yesterday (so it's better than one HD5770 & I can CrossFireX it later when I get more cash). Which model is best? I have been looking at the XFX Black Edition and the Sapphire as they are the two cheapest I have found in the UK yet at £120 each respectively.


In amazon.co.uk for 15 more pounds you can get the XFX 6870, its a boost over the 6850. You should consider it. Anyway I got Sapphire model of 6850 in Xfire and they are cool.


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> In amazon.co.uk for 15 more pounds you can get the XFX 6870, its a boost over the 6850. You should consider it. Anyway I got Sapphire model of 6850 in Xfire and they are cool.


Sapphire make good stuff, go for it. Between cross of 6850's and 6870's theres little difference, the 6870's xfired can manage higher resolutions thats all (Nice 1920x1080 gaming). Think on how much money are u willing to spend. Good luck.


----------



## Lifeshield

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Lifeshield*
> 
> Thinking of getting a 6850 as one of my HD5770s died on me yesterday (so it's better than one HD5770 & I can CrossFireX it later when I get more cash). Which model is best? I have been looking at the XFX Black Edition and the Sapphire as they are the two cheapest I have found in the UK yet at £120 each respectively.
> 
> 
> 
> In amazon.co.uk for 15 more pounds you can get the XFX 6870, its a boost over the 6850. You should consider it. Anyway I got Sapphire model of 6850 in Xfire and they are cool.
Click to expand...

It's an extra £20 as there's a £5 P&P charge on it. It's on the wrong end of my budget as I'm having to lean more towards £100 than £150 (plus I'm not the one paying for it).

I hear the 6850s overclock really well aswell. I'm leaning toward the XFX as it's the Black Edition.

I'm also looking at a used 5870 aswell though I'm not really sure how a single one of those stacks up against a single 6850/6870.


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lifeshield*
> 
> It's an extra £20 as there's a £5 P&P charge on it. It's on the wrong end of my budget as I'm having to lean more towards £100 than £150 (plus I'm not the one paying for it).
> 
> I hear the 6850s overclock really well aswell. I'm leaning toward the XFX as it's the Black Edition.
> 
> I'm also looking at a used 5870 aswell though I'm not really sure how a single one of those stacks up against a single 6850/6870.


Well its on you. the 6870 its the remake of te 5870, they are pretty the same on performance, the 6870 should be better just for a step. The 6850 its a good option if u don't mind enabling all the filters and high settings in games. Just my 2 cents. Anyway its depends on you. Good Luck.


----------



## axipher

If you have any plans to crossfire down the road, just go with a 6850, but for a single card solution, I would recommend a 6870


----------



## Dropshock

Can I join if my 6870 is still in the shipping process?


----------



## Lifeshield

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Lifeshield*
> 
> It's an extra £20 as there's a £5 P&P charge on it. It's on the wrong end of my budget as I'm having to lean more towards £100 than £150 (plus I'm not the one paying for it).
> 
> I hear the 6850s overclock really well aswell. I'm leaning toward the XFX as it's the Black Edition.
> 
> I'm also looking at a used 5870 aswell though I'm not really sure how a single one of those stacks up against a single 6850/6870.
> 
> 
> 
> Well its on you. the 6870 its the remake of te 5870, they are pretty the same on performance, the 6870 should be better just for a step. The 6850 its a good option if u don't mind enabling all the filters and high settings in games. Just my 2 cents. Anyway its depends on you. Good Luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I went with the 6870 in the end. Managed to win the wife around.


----------



## Dropshock

Actually the 5870 is equal to a 6950 in performance, as the 5850 is equal to the 6870, so basically, if you got a 5870 for the same price as a 6870, you would get the better bang for your buck.


----------



## Lifeshield

To be honest any of them is better than one HD5770 and either way I can CrossFireX it later. I have comparable performance with just one card to what I had so I'm happy with that.


----------



## kelvintheiah

sapphire 6850 1gb here. =))


----------



## Davayy

Can someone tell me why i recieved an SLI bridge with my HD6870?


----------



## Lifeshield

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davayy*
> 
> Can someone tell me why i recieved an SLI bridge with my HD6870?


SLI or CrossFireX? :O

CrossFireX bridges normally get bundled in with alot of AMD cards.


----------



## rdr09

Mix up at the plant.


----------



## Davayy

Definetly an SLI bridge







, i was thinking it must have been that, on sapphires end im guessing. Either way, i don't particularly care as im not running 2 cards.


----------



## Kosai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davayy*
> 
> Definetly an SLI bridge
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> , i was thinking it must have been that, on sapphires end im guessing. Either way, i don't particularly care as im not running 2 cards.


Looool we need to pics, I want to see this wow.

Should make it a demotivational poster xD


----------



## Lifeshield

Lol epic mixup. Stick it on Ebay, or give it away on OCN as a freebie, hehe.


----------



## Jonnykiv

I got my 6870. Ordered on Thursday at work, and arrived Friday morning at 9:30am. Upgrading from a Sapphire 5770 Vapor-X to this is a drastic jump. Just need to get myself a new motherboard now for potentially cross firing this card. Does anyone have any overclocking results they would like to share? How does it fare in games that you play compared to your previous card. Drastic improvement in fps and eye candy. I'm able to run Crysis now on Very High with 2x AA and getting between 35-40 fps, which i though was a big improvement from running on Medium and no AA on my 5770. Only cost £124.99 before VAT and P&P.


----------



## Dropshock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jonnykiv*
> 
> I got my 6870. Ordered on Thursday at work, and arrived Friday morning at 9:30am. Upgrading from a Sapphire 5770 Vapor-X to this is a drastic jump. Just need to get myself a new motherboard now for potentially cross firing this card. Does anyone have any overclocking results they would like to share? How does it fare in games that you play compared to your previous card. Drastic improvement in fps and eye candy. I'm able to run Crysis now on Very High with 2x AA and getting between 35-40 fps, which i though was a big improvement from running on Medium and no AA on my 5770. Only cost £124.99 before VAT and P&P.


How'd you get yours so fast? I ordered my 6870 last Wednesday and it's coming tomorrow.


----------



## axipher

Mines at 1000/1100, I can to 950/1200 though as well. I can't seem to get a high core and high MEM haha. But I get much better frames from a higher clock.


----------



## Dropshock

Did I make the right choice in getting the XFX HD 6870? The Sapphire one would be the same price with promo and rebates as the XFX on with rebates, (I got it for $150).

I hear that the XFX one doesn't come with any accessories (Like a CrossfireX bridge or such), and has sketchy RMAs. While Sapphire has horrible customer support, but good during RMAs (I think?) and the Sapphire one comes with all the accesories.


----------



## dklic6

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dropshock*
> 
> Did I make the right choice in getting the XFX HD 6870? The Sapphire one would be the same price with promo and rebates as the XFX on with rebates, (I got it for $150).
> I hear that the XFX one doesn't come with any accessories (Like a CrossfireX bridge or such), and has sketchy RMAs. While Sapphire has horrible customer support, but good during RMAs (I think?) and the Sapphire one comes with all the accesories.


My XFX rebate hasn't been sent since I ordered in June if that tells you anything. The key code I got for Call to Pripyait or something worked even though the game was not very enjoyable to play.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dropshock*
> 
> Did I make the right choice in getting the XFX HD 6870? The Sapphire one would be the same price with promo and rebates as the XFX on with rebates, (I got it for $150).
> I hear that the XFX one doesn't come with any accessories (Like a CrossfireX bridge or such), and has sketchy RMAs. While Sapphire has horrible customer support, but good during RMAs (I think?) and the Sapphire one comes with all the accesories.


Good luck , I will never buy another xfx product.I have 9600gso and the fan died in less than a year and a xfx motherboard(750a nforce) that also died in less than a year It had a horse shoe shaped burn the vrm's fried.As far as im concerned all they did was make there warranty longer to bring back customers but I will never go back.But like I said good luck there quality has to be better it couldn't get any worse.lol


----------



## T3beatz

I have a 9600gso, in the box, and I can't give it away! lol... I tried posting it on ebay for like 20 bucks free shipping and no bites...









Now I have two Sapphire 6870's and one is going bad, I have to RMA it after a couple months (overclocked only like 5% for a day).


----------



## Dropshock

Well, received the XFX HD 6870 today. Can't open the box today until all the other parts come (This Wednesday). Hope I can still get added as I have the card unopened?


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dropshock*
> 
> Well, received the XFX HD 6870 today. Can't open the box today until all the other parts come (This Wednesday). Hope I can still get added as I have the card unopened?


I must say thats a nice piece of gaming rig, congrats, its seems you are very patience. Beatiful. Now enjoy it!.


----------



## Spartan805

Is this for any 6850 or just REFERENCE DESIGN?


----------



## Spade616

hey guys, im wondering what the stock voltage on pre-overclocked 6870's are. specifically those factory overclocked at 970-980 core. maybe some of you can help me out. thanks!


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spade616*
> 
> hey guys, im wondering what the stock voltage on pre-overclocked 6870's are. specifically those factory overclocked at 970-980 core. maybe some of you can help me out. thanks!


Hi there, it depends on the manufacturer, for example msi r6870 hawk comes factory oced with 30mhz+ on the core. They all mantain same voltage values. MSI comes with more room for playing with the voltages, I think its the best for ocing.


----------



## Slow*Jim

Mine was 1.174 (XFX)


----------



## Andstraus

Can I join please!


Xfx 6870 Black Edition.


----------



## octiny

Can I join?!


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *octiny*
> 
> 
> 
> Can I join?!


That is so clean


----------



## smoke420

For all you guys wanting to get added to the list make sure you follow the rules.

- Include your card model and manufacturer in the post
- Post a screen shot with GPU-z with your OCN username visible in notepad, or a pic of the card.

@ Andstraus im not sure that pic will do as it could be any reference card.

Once thats done your going to have to PM the Thread starter as he no longer has a 6870 and rarely comes back this thread without being asked.


----------



## octiny

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> That is so clean


Thanks!


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *octiny*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> That is so clean
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks!
Click to expand...

No problem


----------



## Dublin_Gunner

Sapphire Toxic HD 6870


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dublin_Gunner*
> 
> Sapphire Toxic HD 6870


Nice








Where did you get that skin for the Msi AB?


----------



## arrow0309

Gonna show you guys my recent "cooling" upgrade (that involves mostly my old Gigabyte 6870 reference)








I just can't get better than this


----------



## SightUp

I am looking to overclock my 6870. The model number is in my rig info. Someone in another thread told me to download Trixx. I got that. But don't really know what to do. That person said to use Trixx for disabling ULPS, up my voltage to 1.2V. Then, using CCC, set it to 1000/1100. Thoughts on this plan?


----------



## Dad2David

Here is mine !



Here is a shot of the real thing in my Phantom!



Please add me on!


----------



## Dad2David

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SightUp*
> 
> I am looking to overclock my 6870. The model number is in my rig info. Someone in another thread told me to download Trixx. I got that. But don't really know what to do. That person said to use Trixx for disabling ULPS, up my voltage to 1.2V. Then, using CCC, set it to 1000/1100. Thoughts on this plan?


Read this great guide created by coffeejunky - *How To: Overclock Your AMD / ATi GPU*, before you do anything!

If you have done this before, this might seem basic to you, but it is a very detailed and useful resource! Also read the thread - How To: Adjust your Fan-Curve in MSI Afterburner, if you are worried about the cooling in your case!


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Hi there I want to get in to the club:thumb:


----------



## nvidiamd

Hi everyone,

Please add me to the club as well


----------



## Dublin_Gunner

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Dublin_Gunner*
> 
> Sapphire Toxic HD 6870
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where did you get that skin for the Msi AB?
Click to expand...

TY









Got the skin from a thread on Guru3D (in the AB forum)
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=343552


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

HI there, anyone here experiencing bf3 bad performance on crossfire 6870s setup?. I have only 1 gpu doing the task, the secondary is idle. I play on Ultra, 1920x1080, if i play on Ultra 1360x760 both gpus are 99%, but when I switch to a resolution higher than 1360x760, only 1 card gets full load. My CATALYST is 11.11b + cap4 (11.9), I think the drivers aren't the main problem here. Crysis and Crysis 2, MFW3 also Skyrim are doing pretty well. THIS IS REALLY WEIRD...


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> HI there, anyone here experiencing bf3 bad performance on crossfire 6870s setup?. I have only 1 gpu doing the task, the secondary is idle. I play on Ultra, 1920x1080, if i play on Ultra 1360x760 both gpus are 99%, but when I switch to a resolution higher than 1360x760, only 1 card gets full load. My CATALYST is 11.11b + cap4 (11.9), I think the drivers aren't the main problem here. Crysis and Crysis 2, MFW3 also Skyrim are doing pretty well. THIS IS REALLY WEIRD...


Try updating to 11.11b, for my single 6870 i got terrible performance on 11.11c or just plain 11.11. b seems to fix these issues, it also fixes BF3 crossfire issues, along with skyrim and rage.


----------



## frazboyz101

Hell yea for 6870's!!!

So its a msi 6870.


----------



## dark_fighter

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Gonna show you guys my recent "cooling" upgrade (that involves mostly my old Gigabyte 6870 reference)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just can't get better than this


what heat sinks kit did you use?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Gonna show you guys my recent "cooling" upgrade (that involves mostly my old Gigabyte 6870 reference)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just can't get better than this


I'm using stock on my 6870 Hawk, but may i ask why did you remove it's shroud?
Also i had no idea 5870 coolers fit a 6870, only reference i take it?

Nice overclock on both btw









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dark_fighter*
> 
> what heat sinks kit did you use?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> 
> Hi there I want to get in to the club:thumb:


Lucky bast... I've got one of those MSI Hawks, and i have to put up with a 6850 Cyclone as a second card. I can't get hold of a Hawk in Australia








Well without paying almost $300

EDIT: So i don't need to provide a pic?
Sweet, you must have seen another post in another thread then i take it


----------



## dark_fighter

matt-matt why are you quoting me instead of arrow0309, who originally posted the photos? oO


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dark_fighter*
> 
> matt-matt why are you quoting me instead of arrow0309, who originally posted the photos? oO


Oh, i didn't realize, my bad. Fixed it now!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dublin_Gunner*
> 
> TY
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got the skin from a thread on Guru3D (in the AB forum)
> http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=343552


Thanks! I've chosen the good lookin' acqua skin








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dark_fighter*
> 
> what heat sinks kit did you use?


I've stuck an original Accelero Xtreme's (5870) bundled heatsink to the memory upside and used pieces from the VR005 kit (couldn't find the VR001) to the rest








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I'm using stock on my 6870 Hawk, but may i ask why did you remove it's shroud?
> Also i had no idea 5870 coolers fit a 6870, only reference i take it?
> 
> _*... cut ...*_


I don't know, maybe to get a bit of more airflow since I have very little clearance between the two video cards, the temps in full load are maybe lower 2-3°C now; the hawk's cooler is however pretty noisy (for me) when you reach 75-76°C









Yes, on the reference 6870's even without the vrm heatsinks:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd6870-hd6850-crossfirex_2.html#sect0



I've found the cooler on an italian forum in a bran new state and used to pay half the price of the Accelero Xtreme Plus








The 5870 cooler (dead silent), however I'm pretty sure would fit the Hawk, even maintaining its cooling (black) backplate (with enough cooling for the memory & vrm this way)


----------



## macarule

My HIS Radeon 6870 ICEQ X Turbo X with a nice GELID ICY VISION


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Thanks! I've chosen the good lookin' acqua skin
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've stuck an original Accelero Xtreme's (5870) bundled heatsink to the memory upside and used pieces from the VR005 kit (couldn't find the VR001) to the rest
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know, maybe to get a bit of more airflow since I have very little clearance between the two video cards, the temps in full load are maybe lower 2-3°C now; the hawk's cooler is however pretty noisy (for me) when you reach 75-76°C
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, on the reference 6870's even without the vrm heatsinks:
> http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd6870-hd6850-crossfirex_2.html#sect0
> 
> I've found the cooler on an italian forum in a bran new state and used to pay half the price of the Accelero Xtreme Plus
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The 5870 cooler (dead silent), however I'm pretty sure would fit the Hawk, even maintaining its cooling (black) backplate (with enough cooling for the memory & vrm this way)


Heh, i messaged MSI and they told me that removing the cooler will void the warranty. But in the way it was written it didn't sound like he understood much English (or it was translated).
Yeah, the 5870 cooler is ALOT. I don't want to buy it, i was just interested! And yes, once the MSI gets past 60-70% it starts to get really loud. But the temps only drop like 1c from 65 to 100% fan. So just make a fan curve.

My mobo has ALOT of gap between the cards, so i should be right. If i'm not i can put the 6850 on top as the cooler is the older style heatsync approach, which is dead silent apparently


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Heh, i messaged MSI and they told me that removing the cooler will void the warranty. But in the way it was written it didn't sound like he understood much English (or it was translated).
> Yeah, the 5870 cooler is ALOT. I don't want to buy it, i was just interested! And yes, once the MSI gets past 60-70% it starts to get really loud. But the temps only drop like 1c from 65 to 100% fan. So just make a fan curve.
> My mobo has ALOT of gap between the cards, so i should be right. If i'm not i can put the 6850 on top as the cooler is the older style heatsync approach, which is dead silent apparently


Don't you worry about that, the 4 screws that you have to remove only, don't have any seal.
Simply remove the main cooler only and install a better one (even the Gelid or the AC Twin Turbo II)








Don't underestimate the Zalman VF3000 (any model since you need the main cooler only). I used to mod my Gigabyte reference before, and the temps are pretty the same with the Accelero Xtreme.

http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/3360#post_12958686

Btw, allready modified the fan curve with AB (did a lot of times in the past, simply forgot to pay attention anymore), thanks!


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Don't you worry about that, the 4 screws that you have to remove only, don't have any seal.
> Simply remove the main cooler only and install a better one (even the Gelid or the AC Twin Turbo II)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't underestimate the Zalman VF3000 (any model since you need the main cooler only). I used to mod my Gigabyte reference before, and the temps are pretty the same with the Accelero Xtreme.
> http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/3360#post_12958686
> Btw, allready modified the fan curve with AB (did a lot of times in the past, simply forgot to pay attention anymore), thanks!


Nice!








Still i think leaving it will be good, the stock coolers pretty great for what i need (card wont go past 990mhz unless i pump loads of voltage)
And even so, 70c for OCCT is REALLY good it dumps out heaps of heat into my case however.
Gaming it never passes 60-65c. Anyway if i'm going to go for custom cooling it'll probably be on my new 6850









Also am i able to join this club?
Look in my default galleries, or on the 6870 overclockers lounge. I've got my 6870 open in GPU-Z overclocked and with my username!


----------



## WIGILOCO

First time OC my 6870, straight to 950/1125 and furmark & 3dmark11 stable. Can I go higher with no voltage raising? How to raise the voltage if needed? Furmark max temps were 86C now.


----------



## Dublin_Gunner

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*
> 
> First time OC my 6870, straight to 950/1125 and furmark & 3dmark11 stable. Can I go higher with no voltage raising? How to raise the voltage if needed? Furmark max temps were 86C now.


86c is too high. You need to adjust your fan. Mine doesn't go above 60c.

Depending on your card, MSI Afterburner may allow you to adjust the voltages. Its will certainly allow you to adjust the clocks and fan.

You will not know how high your particular chip will go, they are all different, you'll just have to try raise it bit by bit and see if its stable.

However, sort out the temperatures first, its getting way too hot.


----------



## Ken1649

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*
> 
> First time OC my 6870, straight to 950/1125 and furmark & 3dmark11 stable. Can I go higher with no voltage raising? How to raise the voltage if needed? Furmark max temps were 86C now.


Try this;


Download and install latest MSI Afterburner 2.2.0 Beta 9. From the settings select unlock voltage. http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=2816


To have a higher clocks limit, do the unofficial overclocking. This is how to do it. http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=338906


----------



## WIGILOCO

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dublin_Gunner*
> 
> 86c is too high. You need to adjust your fan. Mine doesn't go above 60c.
> Depending on your card, MSI Afterburner may allow you to adjust the voltages. Its will certainly allow you to adjust the clocks and fan.
> You will not know how high your particular chip will go, they are all different, you'll just have to try raise it bit by bit and see if its stable.
> However, sort out the temperatures first, its getting way too hot.


Thanks for reply. I use the automatic fan control by CCC and it works good. My load temps did not rise, still on the 80-83C max while playing BF3.
OC seems stable too, no artifacts or crashing in heavy bf3 action


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WIGILOCO*
> 
> Thanks for reply. I use the automatic fan control by CCC and it works good. My load temps did not rise, still on the 80-83C max while playing BF3.
> OC seems stable too, no artifacts or crashing in heavy bf3 action


86c still is a wee bit too high.
Is this a reference card? Afterburner SHOULD be able to do voltage


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

I must say from reading different posts that Im getting worried about crossfirex scalability on AMD platforms. Many AMD users and Intel users say that crossfirex performs better on Intel chipsets. Is that true?, Im really worried because I can see my benchmarks are not throwing the results I wanted to see. What do you know about this issue?. Im thinking on selling my cross config and buying a good and strong single amd gpu, and second nvidia dedicated for physx. HELP!!!, whats better?.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> I must say from reading different posts that Im getting worried about crossfirex scalability on AMD platforms. Many AMD users and Intel users say that crossfirex performs better on Intel chipsets. Is that true?, Im really worried because I can see my benchmarks are not throwing the results I wanted to see. What do you know about this issue?. Im thinking on selling my cross config and buying a good and strong single amd gpu, and second nvidia dedicated for physx. HELP!!!, whats better?.


I don't know, i'd just keep them. Do they play all the games you want?
What speed are the lanes you're running them at? 8/8? If so i can test your theory on my core 2 quad in a GPU benchmark once i get my 6850 (they should be about the same performance)
I also had a 9800GT for PhysX for a bit, it was terrible. Heated up my whole case, and made so much noise. Fan profiles didn't work either, so i'm selling that.

But as i said, i'd just keep them and save the money for when you need it.

Also the fact that i never used it, i don't think i ever even had all the hacked drivers installed properly :s


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> I must say from reading different posts that Im getting worried about crossfirex scalability on AMD platforms. Many AMD users and Intel users say that crossfirex performs better on Intel chipsets. Is that true?, Im really worried because I can see my benchmarks are not throwing the results I wanted to see. What do you know about this issue?. Im thinking on selling my cross config and buying a good and strong single amd gpu, and second nvidia dedicated for physx. HELP!!!, whats better?.


They scale just fine on amd platforms check it yourself. disable xfire and run some benchmarks then compare them to your xfire scores.In some cases the intel chip is going to outperform the amd chips but thats just because there usually better more expensive chips at higher clocks.If your only problem is benchmarks then overclock more.Get better cooling and push everything a little harder or my personal favorite run way too much voltage and insane clocks and go for suicide runs.lol


----------



## Andstraus

Repost just in case I messed up originally. Xfx 6870 Black Edition


----------



## skaterat

please add me to the club. Hope that I dont have to put a pic of the actual GPU, cause I cant do that till chirstmas


----------



## biscuit96

O hai,
Sapphire 6870


----------



## kkbob33

Add me please:


----------



## Overclockname

Hi all,

Did a search for this problem in this thread using different search terms but did not come up with anything.

Installed the drivers for my XFX HD Radeon 6870 yesterday. After doing so, immediately started getting lots of small square different color artifacts, and the display would freeze followed by going blank. After coming back on a balloon note pops up saying "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered." It would do this even if I was simply navigating or moving around windows, or on the web. I was not even playing a game

I have basically nothing on this computer yet (new first build) so I did a reinstall of Windows 7 to get a "fresh" start. I also followed, per advice from XFX support, their guide to "ATI driver installation troubleshooting" which included running "driver sweeper" to get rid of all the old driver. Reinstalled all my drivers (mobo, etc.) and the newest GPU driver 11.12 from the AMD website (as before). I thought everything was alright. I ran windows experience and got a 7.8 with no issues popping up while doing it. Later on I restarted the computer to download and run some more "aggressive" test programs and started to get the same old problems as before, except with a lot fewer artifacts.

This card is not overclocked (had no intentions of doing that) and I have changed no settings in catalyst. More info if it helps: Corsair HX850 PSU, only the one graphics card, Asus p8z68-v pro/gen3 MOBO with the latest Bios update, intel i7 2600k with zero overclocking or any changes like that yet.

Any ideas? XFX has not responded to my messages on the progress of my troubleshooting yet.....


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Overclockname*
> 
> Hi all,
> Did a search for this problem in this thread using different search terms but did not come up with anything.
> Installed the drivers for my XFX HD Radeon 6870 yesterday. After doing so, immediately started getting lots of small square different color artifacts, and the display would freeze followed by going blank. After coming back on a balloon note pops up saying "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered." It would do this even if I was simply navigating or moving around windows, or on the web. I was not even playing a game
> I have basically nothing on this computer yet (new first build) so I did a reinstall of Windows 7 to get a "fresh" start. I also followed, per advice from XFX support, their guide to "ATI driver installation troubleshooting" which included running "driver sweeper" to get rid of all the old driver. Reinstalled all my drivers (mobo, etc.) and the newest GPU driver 11.12 from the AMD website (as before). I thought everything was alright. I ran windows experience and got a 7.8 with no issues popping up while doing it. Later on I restarted the computer to download and run some more "aggressive" test programs and started to get the same old problems as before, except with a lot fewer artifacts.
> This card is not overclocked (had no intentions of doing that) and I have changed no settings in catalyst. More info if it helps: Corsair HX850 PSU, only the one graphics card, Asus p8z68-v pro/gen3 MOBO with the latest Bios update, intel i7 2600k with zero overclocking or any changes like that yet.
> Any ideas? XFX has not responded to my messages on the progress of my troubleshooting yet.....


Welcome to OCN!

Have you tried using the previous driver for your GPU? What are the temps on the GPU? Did you make sure your m/b onboard video is disabled in the BIOS? What about any Crossfire settings? This one might sound silly but your monitor is connected to the video cards DVI/VGA and not the m/b's?

Hope you find a solution soon!







The first build is always quite an adventure.









When you have the time use Rigbuilder to add you system to your sig so you don't have to type that info every time.


----------



## TurboPanda

i would like to be added to the club please


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Overclockname*
> 
> Hi all,
> Did a search for this problem in this thread using different search terms but did not come up with anything.
> Installed the drivers for my XFX HD Radeon 6870 yesterday. After doing so, immediately started getting lots of small square different color artifacts, and the display would freeze followed by going blank. After coming back on a balloon note pops up saying "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered." It would do this even if I was simply navigating or moving around windows, or on the web. I was not even playing a game
> I have basically nothing on this computer yet (new first build) so I did a reinstall of Windows 7 to get a "fresh" start. I also followed, per advice from XFX support, their guide to "ATI driver installation troubleshooting" which included running "driver sweeper" to get rid of all the old driver. Reinstalled all my drivers (mobo, etc.) and the newest GPU driver 11.12 from the AMD website (as before). I thought everything was alright. I ran windows experience and got a 7.8 with no issues popping up while doing it. Later on I restarted the computer to download and run some more "aggressive" test programs and started to get the same old problems as before, except with a lot fewer artifacts.
> This card is not overclocked (had no intentions of doing that) and I have changed no settings in catalyst. More info if it helps: Corsair HX850 PSU, only the one graphics card, Asus p8z68-v pro/gen3 MOBO with the latest Bios update, intel i7 2600k with zero overclocking or any changes like that yet.
> Any ideas? XFX has not responded to my messages on the progress of my troubleshooting yet.....


This sounds like a driver conflict or bad card or both. First solsamurai is right even though your card is new the cooler may not be seated well so check temps. With a fresh install of windows, driver conflict is unlikely but definitely try a older driver.Also I took a quick look at your motherboard and it has pci-e 3.0 although it is backwards compatible you may want to check you bios and see if you can select 2.0 and as said by solsamurai make sure your onboard video is disabled.If you have another card try it as well because if it works you may have RMA your new one..

If you get it fixed make sure you post how as it could help the next person.Good luck.


----------



## Overclockname

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *solsamurai*
> 
> Welcome to OCN!
> Have you tried using the previous driver for your GPU? What are the temps on the GPU? Did you make sure your m/b onboard video is disabled in the BIOS? What about any Crossfire settings? This one might sound silly but your monitor is connected to the video cards DVI/VGA and not the m/b's?
> Hope you find a solution soon!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first build is always quite an adventure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When you have the time use Rigbuilder to add you system to your sig so you don't have to type that info every time.


solsamurai and smoke420 thanks for the responses.

When I first downloaded drivers I had initially installed the older 11.11 version, which had the issues. I ran "check for updates" on the catalyst and found that there was 11.12 so I downloaded that. Still had problems. Thats when I "nuked" everything and started over. Afterwards, only downloaded 11.12 but still have the issues.

Yep, the monitor is connected to the GPU, not the mobo.

To check temps: is that a separate program to download, or is it found on my system somewhere (catalyst etc)? Putting my hand near it I feel just very slight increase in temp. both fans are running on the gpu.

Supposedly the mobo will automatically use/give priority to the gpu when there is one installed. I thought I had verified this in bios before to be sure but I will recheck. I have done nothing in catalyst for crossfire. I"ll check to be sure its not on.

I'll check on the bios for pci 2.0 setting to see if it helps. Unfortunately no other card to try, but I did remove the current card and re-installed to see if that was an issue (without power of course







).

Thanks guys.

Not very impressed witth XFX support so far......They initially answered my first message pretty quick, but as I have been sending message updates (3) after doing what they suggested I have not received any responses...


----------



## smoke420

To check temps just go to CCC (Catalyst Control Center) click performance than AMD overdrive.


----------



## JAMZ87SS

New guy here. I'm salivating reading this thread. I'm waiting for the big brown truck , and it is killing me... I've always been an AMD guy , and for some reason I have been stuck on Nvidia cards. My wifes charming cat puked in my HAF case and fried my msi 560 twin frozr. I ordered 2 msi R6870 twin frozr's to replace it . Hopefully I'll have some pic's up soon of my new crossfire setup to join the club. This is my first go with AMD GPU's ...I can't wait.


----------



## axipher

I'm really gonna miss you guys when my 7970 comes in... I already said in another topic that my 6870 (1 GHz capable) with Zalman VF3000A will be going up for sale here on OCN, so any potential members should watch out for that come January 10th.


----------



## Jras

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> I'm really gonna miss you guys when my 7970 comes in... I already said in another topic that my 6870 (1 GHz capable) with Zalman VF3000A will be going up for sale here on OCN, so any potential members should watch out for that come January 10th.


Im looking to get another 6870 when the prices go down (hopefully) by the end of January. It will have to come from Amazon though as I have Amazon credit.


----------



## macarule

Decent overclock i think







cant get much out of pre OC'ed cards


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Decent overclock i think
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> cant get much out of pre OC'ed cards


You should be hable to get 1Ghz out of that, if you stopped cause it started showing artifacts lower the Memory clock to the Stock(1150Mhz) and try to raise the core and check for artifacts again.
If you stopped cause you reached the limit where you needed voltage or cause of temperatures well you did a nice job and no point on risking if you dont feel safe.
Anyway its a really nice overclock!


----------



## Dublin_Gunner

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Decent overclock i think
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> cant get much out of pre OC'ed cards


My Sapphire Toxic games 24/7 on 1000/1200.

You probably need a little more voltage.


----------



## macarule

Whats the safe voltage range on air?


----------



## Ken1649

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Whats the safe voltage range on air?


On stock cooler, you can not push it very far even the voltage allows you to go higher. It's safe if your fulload temperature are below 70~75C.


----------



## Dublin_Gunner

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Whats the safe voltage range on air?


Really depends on the temp of your card, but I can go 1.3v no problem.


----------



## macarule

well i have a GELID icy vision, and my temps atm are around 70-72 voltage is 1.231


----------



## axipher

I tried mine again last night, even at stock core, I can't get memory over 1075 without crashing in FFXIV, so I'm stuck at 1000/1050. The 1 GHz core is nice though


----------



## Overclockname

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> To check temps just go to CCC (Catalyst Control Center) click performance than AMD overdrive.


Checked my temp via "overdrive" and it was between 39-40 C at 29% fan speed and 0% activity. I manually bumped up the fan speed to 100% for awhile and it went to 38 C. How are those temps for being idle?

I also checked that bios was set to use the PCIe/PCI for the primary boot graphics. I even shut down, removed gpu, restarted and verified in device driver that the intel onboard graphics was being used. I shutdown again, reinstalled gpu, started up and verified in device manager that the AMD driver now showed in use.

After having reinstalled windows, uninstalled drivers and used driver sweeper, reinstalled drivers etc. I'm at a loss on the software side. It's taken me about 6 minutes to write this post 'cause it keeps "stopped responding and has recovered."


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> well i have a GELID icy vision, and my temps atm are around 70-72 voltage is 1.231


That seems a little hot .It takes 15 mins of furmark to reach 70c with 970/1140 clocks and 1.21 and 1.26 voltage on both cards.
Stock for my 6850's is 790/1000.

Those GELID icy vision coolers are overpriced I spent $29 for my coolers and there down to $15 each. link
http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4974361&CatId=4027

I dont know about your case ventilation but a fan at the back of you case will improve temps a lot.read this and there is a link to some pics at the end.
http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/4180#post_15012967

@Overclockname With the drastic steps you've taken it seems more and more likely there's a RMA in your future.artifacts at idle temps with no overclock and you reinstalled your os sounds like a bad card..At this point its hard to see how you could have a software problem.I mean if the drivers are the only thing on your computer then what could the conflict be. According to AMD The Catalyst driver requires Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to be installed. So you could try getting your windows updates


----------



## Overclockname

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> @Overclockname With the drastic steps you've taken it seems more and more likely there's a RMA in your future.artifacts at idle temps with no overclock and you reinstalled your os sounds like a bad card..At this point its hard to see how you could have a software problem.I mean if the drivers are the only thing on your computer then what could the conflict be. According to AMD The Catalyst driver requires Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to be installed. So you could try getting your windows updates


Yep. Windows 7 (came with SP1), anti virus, and Drivers for the mobo are the only things on this comp. as of right now and I still can't get the gpu to work . I had already run windows update (when I reinstalled windows) and installed everything available except the windows AMD driver prior to downloading the most current 11.12 gpu driver. When that didn't work either I even downloaded and tried to run it with the windows AMD driver and no-go.

I just uninstalled the AMD drivers (yet again, + driver sweeper) and tried the version 10.12 that was on the cd that came with the gpu and it didn't work (was acutally worse, totally froze the system up connecting to this website). I have probably taken 100,000 hours of life off of my SSD with all this installing/uninstalling/reinstalling...









Like you mentioned, I just RMA'd it for a new one. I'm not gonna waste any more time trying to figure this out after everything I have done (and followed XFX support recommendation to a "T"). Three different versions of the gpu driver wouldn't work. Hopefully a new card will do the trick. I would hate to think that AMD Drivers are so soft and delicate that they can't run on a computer with almost nothing on it. They aren't, are they....?? Should Nvidia be in my future instead?

I'm wondering if I should even use a graphics card at this point. The intel graphics for the cpu (i7 2600k) /mobo are pretty good. Looks better than the 7.5 year old computer this is replacing. Although I doubt they will keep up with a game..... LOL









Thanks


----------



## Andstraus

Roflcopter FAIL!

<----This guy XD I linked my Cu-Z instead of Gpu-Z


----------



## macarule

Quote:


> That seems a little hot .It takes 15 mins of furmark to reach 70c with 970/1140 clocks and 1.21 and 1.26 voltage on both cards.
> Stock for my 6850's is 790/1000.
> 
> Those GELID icy vision coolers are overpriced I spent $29 for my coolers and there down to $15 each. link
> http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4974361&CatId=4027
> 
> I dont know about your case ventilation but a fan at the back of you case will improve temps a lot.read this and there is a link to some pics at the end.
> http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/4180#post_15012967


ill show you how i have my fans positioned:









im going to be upgrading my fans soon as the stock Fractal ones suck lol








my ambient is about 25-28C


----------



## macarule

i think i might need a re-seat because im like hitting 80c after 1 mins of burn in in FUR mark!









*edit:* i now max out at 66c with the core at 1000Mhz


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Hi there can I join XD, got hybrid physx working, ty to you all.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> That seems a little hot .It takes 15 mins of furmark to reach 70c with 970/1140 clocks and 1.21 and 1.26 voltage on both cards.
> Stock for my 6850's is 790/1000.
> Those GELID icy vision coolers are overpriced I spent $29 for my coolers and there down to $15 each. link
> http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4974361&CatId=4027
> I dont know about your case ventilation but a fan at the back of you case will improve temps a lot.read this and there is a link to some pics at the end.
> http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/4180#post_15012967
> 
> 
> 
> ill show you how i have my fans positioned:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> im going to be upgrading my fans soon as the stock Fractal ones suck lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> my ambient is about 25-28C
Click to expand...

Man that thing is clean.
Now that I got a good look at the inside. I dont think you can fit a fan in back so better fans is a really good idea most importantly exhaust most people try to get as much cool\ambient air in but i find its much more important to get the hot air out.especially with these aftermarket coolers as they dump huge amounts of heat in your case at load.Even with all my fans(I have a lot some say too many lol) there was a hot spot just above my cards at load and the door fans were just circulating that heat, getting everything else hot.
















now overkill
















With all that I still wasn't happy with my interior case temps at load .








after adding this fan my case temps stay the same as my ambient . This lowered cards temps 5c on top and 7c on the bottom .For you I'd say a -5c drop in cpu temps while gaming as well as better card temps.


----------



## macarule

looks like ill just be heading for better fans, 2 140mm intake, 2-3 140mm exhaust, 1 rear 120mm exhaust basically just fill every spot with a fan


----------



## Rik756

Hey all,

Just upgrade my system (see rig below) and ran my first bench. Score wasn't great (P3580 3DMarks) but something that puzzled me is what the engine and GPU clock are showing. 3DMark showed them to be 100 / 150 as did AMD Vision (I don't use it- just now noticed it was installed actually) and it shows the same thing.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2410727

I bought the GV-R685OC-1GD which is supposed to be factory OC'd to 820 / 4200. (Chipset: Radeon HD6850 Engine Clock: 820 MHz Video Memory: 1GB DDR5 Memory Clock: 4200 MHz)

Am I reading something wrong, is something actually wrong or what???









I'm using a beta driver from Guru but BF3 seems to run fine on ultra and Fallout 3 and New Vegas both ran fine on Ultra too. I'm just confused by the numbers.

Thanks,
Rik


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rik756*
> 
> Hey all,
> Just upgrade my system (see rig below) and ran my first bench. Score wasn't great (P3580 3DMarks) but something that puzzled me is what the engine and GPU clock are showing. 3DMark showed them to be 100 / 150 as did AMD Vision (I don't use it- just now noticed it was installed actually) and it shows the same thing.
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2410727
> I bought the GV-R685OC-1GD which is supposed to be factory OC'd to 820 / 4200. (Chipset: Radeon HD6850 Engine Clock: 820 MHz Video Memory: 1GB DDR5 Memory Clock: 4200 MHz)
> Am I reading something wrong, is something actually wrong or what???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm using a beta driver from Guru but BF3 seems to run fine on ultra and Fallout 3 and New Vegas both ran fine on Ultra too. I'm just confused by the numbers.
> Thanks,
> Rik


Lol what you are seeing is the gpu not being used going to 2D clocks. My 6850's also do that, one stays at 100/150 while the other at 300/300.
Thats their 2D clocks, unless its a game they will stay at that clock.


----------



## Rik756

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Rik756*
> 
> Hey all,
> Just upgrade my system (see rig below) and ran my first bench. Score wasn't great (P3580 3DMarks) but something that puzzled me is what the engine and GPU clock are showing. 3DMark showed them to be 100 / 150 as did AMD Vision (I don't use it- just now noticed it was installed actually) and it shows the same thing.
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2410727
> I bought the GV-R685OC-1GD which is supposed to be factory OC'd to 820 / 4200. (Chipset: Radeon HD6850 Engine Clock: 820 MHz Video Memory: 1GB DDR5 Memory Clock: 4200 MHz)
> Am I reading something wrong, is something actually wrong or what???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm using a beta driver from Guru but BF3 seems to run fine on ultra and Fallout 3 and New Vegas both ran fine on Ultra too. I'm just confused by the numbers.
> Thanks,
> Rik
> 
> 
> 
> Lol what you are seeing is the gpu not being used going to 2D clocks. My 6850's also do that, one stays at 100/150 while the other at 300/300.
> Thats their 2D clocks, unless its a game they will stay at that clock.
Click to expand...

Ok- that makes sense I suppose but I would think that the benchmark would read it as such. That would explain why games run ok. I just had this faint hope that I really was that low and some how had a LOT of headroom to increase settings LOL!

Thanks for the clarification.

Rik


----------



## regal

My HD6850 HDMI works fine when plugged directly into my LCD TV, but if I connect it to my home theater receiver's HDMI input I get nothing, either the receiver or the card doesn't recognize that there is a connection. Is there any work arounds for this (the receiver is a Marantz SR5002 HMDI v1.1.)


----------



## Ken1649

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *regal*
> 
> My HD6850 HDMI works fine when plugged directly into my LCD TV, but if I connect it to my home theater receiver's HDMI input I get nothing, either the receiver or the card doesn't recognize that there is a connection. Is there any work arounds for this (the receiver is a Marantz SR5002 HMDI v1.1.)


Your receiver is not compatible with the card HDMI 1.4a, your receiver is HDMI 1.1.


----------



## Spartan805

Anyone running x16/x4 6850s? Just got a new 1080P 23" Monitor and well it seems a bit choppy(BF3 MP). ?, is this due to a CPU(1055T @ 3.5GHz) bottleneck or x4 pcie slot?


----------



## Ken1649

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spartan805*
> 
> Anyone running x16/x4 6850s? Just got a new 1080P 23" Monitor and well it seems a bit choppy(BF3 MP). ?, is this due to a CPU(1055T @ 3.5GHz) bottleneck or x4 pcie slot?


The stutter or micro-sturtter is unavoidable if the cards are running at x16/x4 or x8/x4. Your CPU has notuhing to do with the stutter.


----------



## Skylead

Just got the Sapphire 6850 today and threw it in my new rig. Cannot get it to work, tested with my old card and a friends (NVIDIA 7800 GT and NVIDIA 250 GTS) and it worked just fine. I started thinking it was definitely a problem with my card until I tossed it into one of the other rigs and it worked no problem (Asus board). Does anyone know whats wrong/how to fix? I am out of ideas (have tried resetting cmos and triple checked the power)

Specs:
ASRock p67 Extreme4 Gen3
4x4 Gigs 1600 ram
i5-2500k, 3.3 GHz


----------



## regal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ken1649*
> 
> Your receiver is not compatible with the card HDMI 1.4a, your receiver is HDMI 1.1.


Nope all I ended up doing was rebooting the computer and the receiver picked up the card.


----------



## diogo_cme

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spartan805*
> 
> Anyone running x16/x4 6850s? Just got a new 1080P 23" Monitor and well it seems a bit choppy(BF3 MP). ?, is this due to a CPU(1055T @ 3.5GHz) bottleneck or x4 pcie slot?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ken1649*
> 
> The stutter or micro-sturtter is unavoidable if the cards are running at x16/x4 or x8/x4. Your CPU has notuhing to do with the stutter.


I don't think its a bandwidth issue, I think it is a game issue.


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme*
> 
> I don't think its a bandwidth issue, I think it is a game issue.


Just that?, can´t be a bandwith issue. Look I have crossfire set on 2 lanes x16!, and I get microstuttering too. Its something related to drivers and hardware on its infancy. But the problem is that it can´t be fixed because its something supposed to happen on multigpu set ups. Read this article, I know it is a little long but it will give you a whole new idea about this issue and multi gpu solutions and how you should measure performance.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/21516

ENJOY!.


----------



## Tdawg2k10

*MODS please delete*


----------



## Matt-Matt

Got a 6850/6870 combo here, both from MSI.

The 6870 hawk can only do 970/1050 or so.
The 6850 can do 970/1100 (Haven't tried any further).

Anyway, temps are maxing at 73c for both cards on a very hot day!









Mind you, i had to add more case fans to keep the temps from 90c :s


----------



## Dublin_Gunner

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme*
> 
> I don't think its a bandwidth issue, I think it is a game issue.


I think its a driver issue. Actually, I'd bet my house its a driver issue.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Got a 6850/6870 combo here, both from MSI.
> The 6870 hawk can only do 970/1050 or so.
> The 6850 can do 970/1100 (Haven't tried any further).
> Anyway, temps are maxing at 73c for both cards on a very hot day!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mind you, i had to add more case fans to keep the temps from 90c :s


Ouch, that's not great. My 6870 Toxic does 1000/1200 for gaming no problem. Gets to about 1050 core for benching (haven't really pushed it further). Never goes above 70c.


----------



## thenutty1

Quote:


> I think its a driver issue. Actually, I'd bet my house its a driver issue.


I would bet it's neither. I think it is a 1GB VRAM limitation @ 1080p and high AA/AF settings. It's trying to use more RAM than is on your card, which is killing your FPS. Let me guess, his previous monitor was not 1080p, correct?
Quote:


> Anyone running x16/x4 6850s? Just got a new 1080P 23" Monitor and well it seems a bit choppy(BF3 MP)


----------



## Greg0986

Waste of money upgrading from 2 reference 6870's to 2 7970's with aftermarket coolers? My current cards get hot quick which results in a much louder fan...


----------



## Dublin_Gunner

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thenutty1*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> I think its a driver issue. Actually, I'd bet my house its a driver issue.
> 
> 
> 
> I would bet it's neither. I think it is a 1GB VRAM limitation @ 1080p and high AA/AF settings. It's trying to use more RAM than is on your card, which is killing your FPS. Let me guess, his previous monitor was not 1080p, correct?
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone running x16/x4 6850s? Just got a new 1080P 23" Monitor and well it seems a bit choppy(BF3 MP)
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

He never stated what settings, only the resolution.

I have things ultra / high with a single 6870 and don't have the issue, so i'd doubt its vram (unless he's maxing mesh and textures with AA)


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dublin_Gunner*
> 
> He never stated what settings, only the resolution.
> I have things ultra / high with a single 6870 and don't have the issue, so i'd doubt its vram (unless he's maxing mesh and textures with AA)


With MSAA/AA on more then 2x you will kill the VRAM. Other then that you should be running it medium-high easily. My limitation for BF3 is my CPU. I need more raw clockspeed methinks


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!


----------



## arrow0309

*_____________________________GOOD YEAR 2012________________________*


----------



## chanster

I'm in!

XFX 6870 1GB


----------



## macarule

Welcome!








Nice OC! I wish mine could go over 1ghz core but thats the max mine can go in after burner


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Welcome!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice OC! I wish mine could go over 1ghz core but thats the max mine can go in after burner


You need to enable unoffical overclocking in afterburner. Google for how to do this!


----------



## ihatelolcats

i got mad at the fan on my card so i took it off and rubber banded a yate loon 120mm to it, controlled with a motherboard header using speedfan. it gets to 75C now which is kind of hot but worth it for the noise level


----------



## arrow0309

Just made some fan changes (sticked to tha new Noctua F12 on my D14, other minor changes), how do you guys see my "in case" airflow?


----------



## FragZero

Downgraded from a 570 GTX to a 6870 1GB last week ( was going to be dual 470 gtx but one card did not work...)

Great performance in The Old Republic @ 1920x1080, nothing to complain about - really happy with the card!

But now i'm tempted to go eyefinity offcourse >< i can get 3x dell 20" 1600x900 = 4800x900 really cheap (86 euros each) and i have an active DP => DVI adapter somewhere.

Think a single 6870 will be able to power 4800x900 in less demanding games?

Seems like 4800x900 does not offer a lot more pixels then 2560x1600 (4320000 vs 4096000 or 5% more). I'm not expecting BF3 Ultra or anything - just an enjoyable gaming experience would be nice


----------



## macarule

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> You need to enable unoffical overclocking in afterburner. Google for how to do this!


didnt seem to work for me









I got it









+1 rep


----------



## Ken1649

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> You need to enable unoffical overclocking in afterburner. Google for how to do this!
> 
> 
> 
> didnt seem to work for me
Click to expand...

Download MSI Afterburner 2.2.0 Beta 9 http://downloads.guru3d.com/-MSI-Afterburner-2.2.0-Beta-9-download-2816.html

Then enable "unofficial overclocking", follow the instructions here http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=338906


----------



## macarule

my newest overclock


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> didnt seem to work for me
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I got it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> +1 rep










Good luck and happy overclocking!

Thanks for the rep btw!


----------



## diogo_cme

One quick question for the CF users, specially the ones with 6850s: how is BF3 doing under CF?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme*
> 
> One quick question for the CF users, specially the ones with 6850s: how is BF3 doing under CF?


If you look at my sig rig you'll see my specs.
I'm getting bottle-necked however! Running the second card gives me a few extra FPS however.

My CPU sits at around 95-98% usage and my RAM sits on about 60%. So really a fast quad core is needed.
But with a single card i was limited by the graphics card, so you may be alright with getting a second.
Heck, these are so cheap now even if it gives you no gain in BF3 it doesn't really matter 'cause it does in ALOT of other games. I'm getting double the FPS in Dirt 3 from going from 1 to 2 cards.

Your only problem is to have at least 8x/8x and the heat.. I have good spacing on my board so i only gained about 5-6c under full load.


----------



## diogo_cme

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> If you look at my sig rig you'll see my specs.
> I'm getting bottle-necked however! Running the second card gives me a few extra FPS however.
> My CPU sits at around 95-98% usage and my RAM sits on about 60%. So really a fast quad core is needed.
> But with a single card i was limited by the graphics card, so you may be alright with getting a second.
> Heck, these are so cheap now even if it gives you no gain in BF3 it doesn't really matter 'cause it does in ALOT of other games. I'm getting double the FPS in Dirt 3 from going from 1 to 2 cards.
> Your only problem is to have at least 8x/8x and the heat.. I have good spacing on my board so i only gained about 5-6c under full load.


Yeah, that CPU is totally bottlenecking you - a friend of mine with that same CPU and a 6870 can't get close to my rig's performance (i5-2500 + 6850). I'd really like to run BF3 with ultra settings, but I'm affraid of the VRAM issues. Running it with the "high" preset takes around 900mb on the big maps (according to Afterburner) and I'm curious to see how a 68XX CF setup handles that.


----------



## OverClocker55

Amd 6870 better than my old GTS 450?


----------



## diogo_cme

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *OverClocker55*
> 
> Amd 6870 better than my old GTS 450?


Yes.


----------



## OverClocker55

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme*
> 
> Yes.


ok i play at 60fps on low with the gts 450 1920x1080p. would i be able to play at high or ultra at 60fps? thanks







+rep


----------



## macarule

with my HD6870 i play on ultra with all AA on 2x and i get 35-40FPS and on high i get 40-50 FPS with AA on


----------



## OverClocker55

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> with my HD6870 i play on ultra with all AA on 2x and i get 35-40FPS and on high i get 40-50 FPS with AA on


Thanks


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *diogo_cme*
> 
> Yeah, that CPU is totally bottlenecking you - a friend of mine with that same CPU and a 6870 can't get close to my rig's performance (i5-2500 + 6850). I'd really like to run BF3 with ultra settings, but I'm affraid of the VRAM issues. Running it with the "high" preset takes around 900mb on the big maps (according to Afterburner) and I'm curious to see how a 68XX CF setup handles that.


Yeah, i plan to upgrade soonish.. I've got other games i play that use it anyway!


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Just made some fan changes (sticked to tha new Noctua F12 on my D14, other minor changes), how do you guys see my "in case" airflow?


As i can see your are an airflow madness guy and really cares about temperatures. Yes im pretty close to you in that case. Your case is to small as I can see all things are really getting thick there. You should think on investing in a new case with a enough room to spare. Well you gave me some ideas to mod my case anyway, specially that cooler on the back pci bays, thats a good idea I've never thought of. I must try that one. Good luck, hope you've got nice temps.


----------



## VoidByte

in.

AMD 6870 XFX


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> As i can see your are an airflow madness guy and really cares about temperatures. Yes im pretty close to you in that case. Your case is to small as I can see all things are really getting thick there. You should think on investing in a new case with a enough room to spare. Well you gave me some ideas to mod my case anyway, specially that cooler on the back pci bays, thats a good idea I've never thought of. I must try that one. Good luck, hope you've got nice temps.


You're wrong!
I'm "an airflow madness guy" becouse I *do care* about temperatures.
I won't worry about 'em, they're low enough. The last temp I was getting to improve (switcing from P12 to F12 push fan on my D14) was the cpu temp. I've manage to get (record) a max core of 55°C (at 4.2 Ghz, daily) on gaming session during TESV Skyrim (I was getting up to 60°C before).








Yeah, I'd even like a case upgrade but this is another story, I just don't need it righ now. I'm allways monitoring the room temp and inside case temp and they're the same even at low-medium fan speeds adjusting them as required.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> As i can see your are an airflow madness guy and really cares about temperatures. Yes im pretty close to you in that case. Your case is to small as I can see all things are really getting thick there. You should think on investing in a new case with a enough room to spare. Well you gave me some ideas to mod my case anyway, specially that cooler on the back pci bays, thats a good idea I've never thought of. I must try that one. Good luck, hope you've got nice temps.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Just made some fan changes (sticked to tha new Noctua F12 on my D14, other minor changes), how do you guys see my "in case" airflow?


your case size does limit you somewhat.I think I got you beat though.Im cheating as its a rare cool morning here in Florida.lol

cpu overclock 3.0 to 3.8 .both graphics cards overclocked 790/1000 to 850/1050 they will do alot better but this is my auto overclock with afterburner to keep voltage down. It also turned off my custom fan profile so when I ran heaven 2.5 to show load temps my fans dropped to 25% instead of raising so the cards should run even cooler.
























































All fans at max rpm except graphics card coolers my fan controller took a dump.I didn't think two fans per channel was too much but I was wrong.lol


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> your case size does limit you somewhat.I think I got you beat though.Im cheating as its a rare cool morning here in Florida.lol
> 
> cpu overclock 3.0 to 3.8 .both graphics cards overclocked 790/1000 to 850/1050 they will do alot better but this is my auto overclock with afterburner to keep voltage down. It also turned off my custom fan profile so when I ran heaven 2.5 to show load temps my fans dropped to 25% instead of raising so the cards should run even cooler.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All fans at max rpm except graphics card coolers my fan controller took a dump.I didn't think two fans per channel was too much but I was wrong.lol


I've still got my top fan.. But i've got the side fan off. At the moment i've got it inside the case for the graphics cards! But it gets in the way a bit, do you think i'd be better off moving it to the top bays?

Seeing as my RAM runs hot..


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I've still got my top fan.. But i've got the side fan off. At the moment i've got it inside the case for the graphics cards! But it gets in the way a bit, do you think i'd be better off moving it to the top bays?
> Seeing as my RAM runs hot..


If your talking about the 230mm fans then yes the one at the top bays does a lot more for for internal temps.It makes the whole front of your case an intake and its more effective then you might think.the one on the bottom does more cooling hard drives then video cards. Its push pull 230mm fans on my many Terabytes of storage as I still have the fan in the front behind the coolermaster name.I traded the red led fan for a all black one my brother was happy to do the trade as his system is red(same case) .The 230mm is great for that but not as effective blowing on the cards.If you have an extra fan the one on the back is the best for keeping internal case temps down for me not to mention keeping the cards cool.My cpu rad is externally mounted and does not effect my case temps so my video cards where the number one thing heating up my case.Adding that fan will do wanders for your case temps especially at load when it counts.with my current set up my ram is barely warm its overclocked and overvolted and just warm enough that you can tell its on.This is also a ram thing personally I think the slower clock and tighter timing of ddr2 made it perform better than ddr3 unless you buy some really high dollar ddr3.But one place it does shine is ddr3 runs at lower voltage, higher clocks and lower temps and is cheaper to make.you may have to get a dedicated ram cooler.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> your case size does limit you somewhat.I think I got you beat though.Im cheating as its a rare cool morning here in Florida.lol
> 
> *... cut ...*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All fans at max rpm except graphics card coolers my fan controller took a dump.I didn't think two fans per channel was too much but I was wrong.lol


I like your blue fans since is my favorite colour as a Gigabyte fan however I only have premium quality fans (most of them). Sadly these top 140mm NB are the only blue fans (but without the lights) that I have for now.











If I change my mind, what would you recommend me as a top quality 120mm or 140mm blue led fan?


----------



## macarule

@Smoke420,

How loud is your pc?
















Looks like it runs nice and cool though


----------



## kabj06

Add me as an HIS IceQ X 6850 owner.


----------



## tensionz

Finally upgraded my 8800GT to a Sapphire 6850 1GB. The first one had artifacts but the replacement one will be in today, hope it works out!


----------



## DUpgrade

I like the Puss in Boots at the bottom there. Had to look at it a bit to figure out what that was.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> @Smoke420,
> How loud is your pc?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like it runs nice and cool though


I don't have a DB meter anymore so its hard to say.Its not silent but my fans are pretty good so all you hear is air moving and the hum of my h50 pump.Noise was an issue but after I got rid of my stock gpu coolers its fine.Its way more quiet than an overclocked 6850 at load if that helps.My fan controller took a dump but truthfully it was more about the glowing blue knobs then actually slowing down the fans they stayed at 100% even then.I watch movies,play games, and do research with this pc the only thing I have trouble doing is sleeping but that has more to do with the front power and hard drive lights.The cathodes I can turn off but the power led is nearly blinding if your eyes are adjusted to the dark.Its quiet enough to read but when im gaming and watching movies my Harman Kardon receiver (also with blue accents) is all I hear.Although it makes the same amount of noise regardless of load thinks to my gpu coolers.


----------



## kabj06

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DUpgrade*
> 
> I like the Puss in Boots at the bottom there. Had to look at it a bit to figure out what that was.


I call it the computer's spirit. I named the computer Shnayavich because I had a cat named that. I also had a cat named Shnayvetchen (they were siblings). When I completely overhaul this rig, I'll call it Shnayvetchen.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I like your blue fans since is my favorite colour as a Gigabyte fan however I only have premium quality fans (most of them). Sadly these top 140mm NB are the only blue fans (but without the lights) that I have for now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If I change my mind, what would you recommend me as a top quality 120mm or 140mm blue led fan?


Im sorry but there are way to many fans out there to say one is best.When looking for fans I was looking for air movement vs. noise but I also wanted a fan with decent static pressure for my rad and blue led's at a good price.I went with the coolermaster R4's because they are great all around fans and look great to me.People say not to get sleeve fans to mount horizontally but I have had no problems in well over a year.Stay away from Silenx they are silent but move no air at all, fine if you just want the lights though.
Scythe GentleTyphoon great fans but I think they lean more towards silent than air movement.great but I can deal with a little more noise for a little more air.
Noctua also great fans that put a lot R&D into keeping them silent but they move a good amount of air at the same time.But and this is a big BUTT they are the ugliest most unattractive thing you can put in a case what were they thinking.They look so bad you have to ask yourself if that ugly brown color is necessary for good air flow.lol I wander how many people wont get them even though there one of the best on the market just because of the color.As a matter of fact there's a thread just about taking them apart and painting them.lol


----------



## Overclockname

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> @Overclockname With the drastic steps you've taken it seems more and more likely there's a RMA in your future.artifacts at idle temps with no overclock and you reinstalled your os sounds like a bad card..At this point its hard to see how you could have a software problem.I mean if the drivers are the only thing on your computer then what could the conflict be. According to AMD The Catalyst driver requires Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to be installed. So you could try getting your windows updates


Well.....knock on wood, I have installed my new (replacement) 6870 graphics card along with the newest drivers (11.12) and so far I have not gotten any of my previous issues.







By this time before, I would have frozen and recovered at least 5 times simply writing this post.

So the moral of my story looks to be: new card to replace bad one.

Is there a "praying" emoticon (or whatever they're called)??


----------



## PsYcHo29388

Gigabyte GV-R685OC-1GD Owner here.


----------



## bmgjet

2X 6850 Sapphire
One from NOV 2010.
2nd one bought this Christmas which was made OCT 2011.

Quite a few differences between them such as the new one if you up its voltage then you cant change the clocks anymore.
So max I can overclock it is to 970mhz then apply the voltage. Any higher then 970 and it crashes windows since I cant change the voltage first.
Old card did 1ghz easily and 1.1ghz with a bit of pushing.
Memory on both cards will only do 1150mhz then I get worse performance and over 1200mhz it has random glitches in games.

But I normally run 938mhz core stock voltage and 1100mhz memory. Temps with furmark get 79-82c. BF3 im getting 74c. Both cards stay with in 3C of each other under load.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Im sorry but there are way to many fans out there to say one is best.When looking for fans I was looking for air movement vs. noise but I also wanted a fan with decent static pressure for my rad and blue led's at a good price.I went with the coolermaster R4's because they are great all around fans and look great to me.People say not to get sleeve fans to mount horizontally but I have had no problems in well over a year.Stay away from Silenx they are silent but move no air at all, fine if you just want the lights though.
> Scythe GentleTyphoon great fans but I think they lean more towards silent than air movement.great but I can deal with a little more noise for a little more air.
> Noctua also great fans that put a lot R&D into keeping them silent but they move a good amount of air at the same time.But and this is a big BUTT they are the ugliest most unattractive thing you can put in a case what were they thinking.They look so bad you have to ask yourself if that ugly brown color is necessary for good air flow.lol I wander how many people wont get them even though there one of the best on the market just because of the color.As a matter of fact there's a thread just about taking them apart and painting them.lol


Man, you're driving me crazy with your R4 blue fans. In fact there are no better 120mm blue led performance fans like the Sickle Flow R4's and I do like 'em a lot.








What do you mean _"People say not to get sleeve fans to mount horizontally"_? However I'll need to replace some vertical fans only.
Next step, gonna get 4 R4's, two for the cpu cooler and the other two as lower intake fans; lets see where could I find them since there aren't plenty of them everywhere








One last question: would my Kaze Master rheo manage to pilot two fans/channel joined through a Y splitter? And what is their lowest speed rpm when downvolted?
Thanks









PS: You're right about those Noctua's, _"they are the ugliest most unattractive thing you can put in a case"_


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Man, you're driving me crazy with your R4 blue fans. In fact there are no better 120mm blue led performance fans like the Sickle Flow R4's and I do like 'em a lot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What do you mean _"People say not to get sleeve fans to mount horizontally"_? However I'll need to replace some vertical fans only.
> Next step, gonna get 4 R4's, two for the cpu cooler and the other two as lower intake fans; lets see where could I find them since there aren't plenty of them everywhere
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One last question: would my Kaze Master rheo manage to pilot two fans/channel joined through a Y splitter? And what is their lowest speed rpm when downvolted?
> Thanks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS: You're right about those Noctua's, _"they are the ugliest most unattractive thing you can put in a case"_


I had no way of checking there rpm when connected to my old fan controller.
I read somewhere that sleeve fans make noise and fail sooner then ball-bearing fans when mounted horizontally although I have no such problems.
R4's are
Rated Voltage: 12 VDC
Current (Ampere): 0.35A ± 10%
so you should be able to run 2 if your controller has at least 1amp per channel.Now what I can tell you for sure is my cheap but pretty fan controller with 2 (R4's) per channel made this loud electrical hum then a pop and my pc died and my psu went into protection mode.I thought for sure my psu blew up but it was just the second channel to go out on my controller but this one went in spectacular fashion.Needless to say I didn't wait for the last 2 channels to go ripped it out and all is fine now.
This will be my next fan controller, they are old but 30w per channel so hopefully it can handle them.
http://www.sunbeamtech.com/PRODUCTS/RHK-EX/Rheobus-Extreme.html


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> I had no way of checking there rpm when connected to my old fan controller.
> I read somewhere that sleeve fans make noise and fail sooner then ball-bearing fans when mounted horizontally although I have no such problems.
> R4's are
> Rated Voltage: 12 VDC
> Current (Ampere): 0.35A ± 10%
> so you should be able to run 2 if your controller has at least 1amp per channel.Now what I can tell you for sure is my cheap but pretty fan controller with 2 (R4's) per channel made this loud electrical hum then a pop and my pc died and my psu went into protection mode.I thought for sure my psu blew up but it was just the second channel to go out on my controller but this one went in spectacular fashion.Needless to say I didn't wait for the last 2 channels to go ripped it out and all is fine now.
> This will be my next fan controller, they are old but 30w per channel so hopefully it can handle them.
> http://www.sunbeamtech.com/PRODUCTS/RHK-EX/Rheobus-Extreme.html


+1
I think I can handle that.
Btw, nice rheobus the sunbeamtech one


----------



## smoke420

Thanks for the rep


----------



## 240mike

just took my validation photo

XFX 6870 1gb single fan.


----------



## Diamondhead

Ok... I'll join the party.








XFX 6850 stock voltage.


Cheers


----------



## kabj06

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diamondhead*
> 
> Ok... I'll join the party.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> XFX 6850 stock voltage.
> 
> Cheers


Try going for 1.1 GHz on that! I "only" (I hyphenate only because these are 775 at stock) was able to get mine to 985 on 1.3 volts


----------



## Diamondhead

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kabj06*
> 
> Try going for 1.1 GHz on that! I "only" (I hyphenate only because these are 775 at stock) was able to get mine to 985 on 1.3 volts


I've tried, and unfortunately the laws of diminishing returns crash my party.








1.149 volts is stock, and I can run this card at 975 MHz.
If I want to see 1000MHz core I have to raise the voltage to 1.212 volts.
The highest I've had this card stable is 1015 MHz at 1.3 volts.
I've decided the performance gain wasn't worth all the heat, wear and tear, so I just
run it as fast as I can at stock voltage knowing I have a bit more in reserve should I need it.









Cheers









EDIT: Ok, after posting I realized that I haven't tried a max overclock since I've installed an aftermarked VGA cooler, so I decided to give it another go. I was able to get 1075 MHz @ 1.3 volts stable running MSI Kombustor. the problem is, that even with an aftermarket cooler installed, I still saw temps. over 85C, so I don't think I'll be running it quite that high 24/7.


----------



## bmgjet

Did some overclocking with my 6850 CF set up.
Since voltage control doesnt work properly on the newer card I could only reach 975mhz on the core, Hopefully there will be a update in the future so I can see the new cards real limits but I reached my goal of 8K for 3DMark 11.

3DMark 11 Score: P8012
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2479428

Dont know if thats good for 2X 6850s,


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Did some overclocking with my 6850 CF set up.
> Since voltage control doesnt work properly on the newer card I could only reach 975mhz on the core, Hopefully there will be a update in the future so I can see the new cards real limits but I reached my goal of 8K for 3DMark 11.
> 3DMark 11 Score: P8012
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2479428
> Dont know if thats good for 2X 6850s,


Just a tad above 8000!









Eh, this is why i stuck to 2x MSI cards so i could have voltage control with the one program. Rather then getting say a sapphire 6870 and having voltage problems, and/or having to use two independent programs!


----------



## bmgjet

Im not too worried I dont have voltage control. Since I cant go much higher with my PSU since its only 620W. Im going to guess it will be added back in the next trixx version since this is the last PCB version.
And I can get it to work semi now. Need to end explorers task so I can overclock it higher with out it crashing then apply the voltage to stablise it. Tried going back to drive 11.12 but the bug was still there and as soon as I change voltage on new card clocks cant be changed anymore.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Im not too worried I dont have voltage control. Since I cant go much higher with my PSU since its only 620W. Im going to guess it will be added back in the next trixx version since this is the last PCB version.
> And I can get it to work semi now. Need to end explorers task so I can overclock it higher with out it crashing then apply the voltage to stablise it. Tried going back to drive 11.12 but the bug was still there and as soon as I change voltage on new card clocks cant be changed anymore.


Dude! You're crazy!

2x 6850's on a 620W PSU? I was worried my 750W wouldn't be enough! I'd get a better 750-850W PSU to be honest. 620W will be border-lining it....


----------



## bmgjet

Its only pulling 618W peak from the wall. Which is 495W for the components since its 80% efficient. Reviews said this PSU is really a 700W but its rated lower so it can get a 80+ bronze rating and it took 750W to trigger the shutdown.

But A better PSU is on its way next week, Might also pick up a antec 920 and another antec 620 water coolers so then I can water cool my gfx cards since there fans are the loudest part of my system.


----------



## kabj06

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diamondhead*
> 
> EDIT: Ok, after posting I realized that I haven't tried a max overclock since I've installed an aftermarked VGA cooler, so I decided to give it another go. I was able to get 1075 MHz @ 1.3 volts stable running MSI Kombustor. the problem is, that even with an aftermarket cooler installed, I still saw temps *over 85C*, so I don't think I'll be running it quite that high 24/7.


You might want to check your case ventilation if you are getting those temps. I can run my 6850 at 1.3 volts and I don't see the temps go past 70.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Diamondhead*
> 
> EDIT: Ok, after posting I realized that I haven't tried a max overclock since I've installed an aftermarked VGA cooler, so I decided to give it another go. I was able to get 1075 MHz @ 1.3 volts stable running MSI Kombustor. the problem is, that even with an aftermarket cooler installed, I still saw temps. over 85C, so I don't think I'll be running it quite that high 24/7.


You need to check your cooler 85c is way too high.I have two of those coolers and running xfire at those clocks my top card levels out at 67c and bottom card never even broke 60c in kombuster.More importantly you should try less voltage, I ran kombuster at way too much voltage like you to see how high it got but still no where near 85c.Like I was saying you should try less voltage, with my cards I noticed that I could run higher clocks with less voltage with the new cooler so give it a shot.one of my cards will run 1000 core as low as 1.22 this was not possible with the stock cooler the other card needs close to 1.27 but before the cooler I needed to use the voltage mod to go well over 1.3..Ive done suicide runs on heaven and saw 99c with the stock cooler ,now nothing short of furmark with xtreme burning mode will get my cards over 70c.


----------



## macarule

What kind of ambient temperatures do you guys have?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> What kind of ambient temperatures do you guys have?


28c not too bad.
Same clocks lower voltage.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> What kind of ambient temperatures do you guys have?


22 C in the summer, 20 C in Spring and Fall, 18 C in Winter


----------



## macarule

Im usually around the 29-30c mark


----------



## scag21

I just got my second 6850 video card for my crossfire set up. Im using a gigabyte 970 board with an AMD FX-6100 processor. I also have 16gb of ram.

Here is my question:

Do i need to enable any settings to take full advantage of the crossifre set up? I already have crossire enabled

Any settings in CCC or Radeon Pro that i need to enable? I have triple buffering enabled with VSync forced on.

Also, is there a list some where that tells me what games or apps take advantage of crossfire?

thanks for your help


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scag21*
> 
> I just got my second 6850 video card for my crossfire set up. Im using a gigabyte 970 board with an AMD FX-6100 processor. I also have 16gb of ram.
> Here is my question:
> Do i need to enable any settings to take full advantage of the crossifre set up? I already have crossire enabled
> Any settings in CCC or Radeon Pro that i need to enable? I have triple buffering enabled with VSync forced on.
> Also, is there a list some where that tells me what games or apps take advantage of crossfire?
> thanks for your help


no nothing special to turn on.You can google what games support crossfire but truthfully you would be better off looking for games that don't support it as most new games do.If you plan on doing unofficial overclocking with afterburner (above 1000/1250)you need to disable ULPS or you may get system crashes.


----------



## Tori

I get 38-44C idle temps, and 70-80C load temps.

That's normal right? Its like 70F in my room.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tori*
> 
> I get 38-44C idle temps, and 70-80C load temps.
> That's normal right? Its like 70F in my room.


It really depends.If your overclocked on stock coolers 80c is not bad for two cards in crossfire.With that said im sure you could do better with an ambient of 70f at minimal cost.If your still on stock coolers aftermarket is the way to go better clocks less heat and a lot less noise..


----------



## scag21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> no nothing special to turn on.You can google what games support crossfire but truthfully you would be better off looking for games that don't support it as most new games do.If you plan on doing unofficial overclocking with afterburner (above 1000/1250)you need to disable ULPS or you may get system crashes.


I was having problems with Skyrim on crossfire but i then found out about the application profiles you have to download....lol


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scag21*
> 
> I was having problems with Skyrim on crossfire but i then found out about the application profiles you have to download....lol


I know what you mean.When I bought my cards It was my first crossfire set-up and I was using my gtx260 for physx and a 8500 gt to watch movies on an old tv.The cards just came out and there were no compatible drivers including the one's that came on the CD with the cards.lol
It took a month of waiting for new driviers and finding a physx mod to get everything to work together.Then I found out physx is worthless and temps were too high so I got two aftermarket coolers and got rid of my nvidia nightmare.Consider yourself lucky for the first week of having my cards driver sweeper was my most used program.

Edit: keep up with the caps (Catalyst Application Profiles) new one's come out for new games well before new drivers do.


----------



## scag21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> I know what you mean.When I bought my cards It was my first crossfire set-up and I was using my gtx260 for physx and a 8500 gt to watch movies on an old tv.The cards just came out and there were no compatible drivers including the one's that came on the CD with the cards.lol
> It took a month of waiting for new driviers and finding a physx mod to get everything to work together.Then I found out physx is worthless and temps were too high so I got two aftermarket coolers and got rid of my nvidia nightmare.Consider yourself lucky for the first week of having my cards driver sweeper was my most used program.
> Edit: keep up with the caps (Catalyst Application Profiles) new one's come out for new games well before new drivers do.


Thanks for the info

Anyone here use Radeon Pro? If so what settings are best to take advantage of the crossfire set up?


----------



## kabj06

Has anyone else tried the 12.1 preview drivers yet? I did and they caused BSODing up the





















.


----------



## Remix65

when new products are in the horizon i refrain from updating cards. i suspect these manufacturers intentionally release unstable drivers and "fix" them in the upcoming cards.

i'm not a gamer so i dont have to have driver fixes for games. i have a 6870 and even if i have to reinstall drivers i'll go to older drivers. i hope the card lasts me a few years. unless there's a feature in the 7000 series cards that i must have i'm not interested in new 6000 drivers or 7000 cards...


----------



## bmgjet

Been on 12.1 driver since they first came out and havnt had a single problem.
Acturally they made things better for me.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Been on 12.1 driver since they first came out and havnt had a single problem.
> Acturally they made things better for me.


same here. rock solid


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Can I join please:


----------



## OverClocker55

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> Can I join please:


wow nice setup. gtx 560 ti for physx?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ChristianUshuaia*
> 
> Can I join please:


As the above poster said 560ti for physX? That's craaaazy

What are your temps like on all three cards?
I'm rather jealous of you to be honest!


----------



## ChristianUshuaia

Nothing to be jealous about. Ive been battling against the high temps, modding the fans around a little had helped to lower the hell inside my case. I play all games maxed out with all the filters on and PhysX High, No VSync. The master card gets really high when playing Crysis 85° max, when playing Metro2033 80°, BulletStorm 78°, Alice Madness Returns 65°, Assassin's Creed Revelations 75° same as Batman Arkham City 75° max. Im really happy about this config but its like LOVE & HATE and I recommend this to a really enthusiast that likes the hardware very much. It was really difficult to set up, and Im still working on it: I want to get lower temps so I can sleep at night without worries







. It is only for an old fashioned hardware lover boy. Cheers!.


----------



## OverClocker55

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> As the above poster said 560ti for physX? That's craaaazy
> What are your temps like on all three cards?
> I'm rather jealous of you to be honest!


lol i might get a gtx 560 ti for my main gpu as the gts 450 is dying slowly


----------



## scag21

Can someone confirm if these are the best settings to get out of my set up. Im using 2 Sapphire 6850's in Crossfire mode

thanks

Anti- Aliasing- Use App Settings
Morphological Filtering- Enabled

Anisotropic Filtering- Use App Settings

Tessellation- AMD Optimized

Catalyst A.I.
Texture Filtering- Quality (middle)
Enable Surface Format Optimization- Enabled

Wait for Vertical Refresh- Off, unless app specifies

Anti- Aliasing Mode- Performance (Multi-Sample AA, all the way to the left)

Open GL Settings
Triple Buffering- Enabled

AMD Crosffire Mode for 3D Applications- Default mode

These settings are from version 12.1 preview driver

Please let me know your thoughts.


----------



## videoman5

Finally got my 6870:
cpuz: http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2186745
gpuz: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/mfemn/
3dMark06: http://3dmark.com/3dm06/16371405

For some reason, 3dmark06 read my 4830 as the processing card. Which is kinda cool, because a score of ~19500 would be HWBot territory for a single 4830.









Edit: Here's the screeny:


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *videoman5*
> 
> Finally got my 6870:
> cpuz: http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2186745
> gpuz: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/mfemn/
> 3dMark06: http://3dmark.com/3dm06/16371405
> For some reason, 3dmark06 read my 4830 as the processing card. Which is kinda cool, because a score of ~19500 would be HWBot territory for a single 4830.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: Here's the screeny:


Got the same bug with my 4850 to 6870 scenario.. Afaik you need to reinstall windows to fix it! :/ haha


----------



## luckypunk

Hey guys! It seems most people can get 900+ on the core pretty easily but i seem to be stuck at 865mhz stable :/. Also, my tachometer in MSI Afterburner keeps going all over the place while fanspeed is at a constant 100%.










edit- My max temps are 60*c


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *luckypunk*
> 
> Hey guys! It seems most people can get 900+ on the core pretty easily but i seem to be stuck at 865mhz stable :/. Also, my tachometer in MSI Afterburner keeps going all over the place while fanspeed is at a constant 100%.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> edit- My max temps are 60*c


you didn't say What your voltage is but if its stock and your temps are 60c max you still have some head room.try a little more voltage and you might get a higher stable overclock. You have to try it yourself as all the cards are different and have different potential.

I had a similar problem with afterburner but if I changed the fan speed to something less than 100% It went away.I also noticed that when I had the problem my pc seemed less stable.
First try the easiest thing restart your computer then afterburner.(I know it sounds stupid but sometimes it works)
Second make sure your running the newest version of afterburner.
Its been a while but im pretty sure my problem was fixed with a restart and I think it started with my drivers crashing.But with that said reinstalling afterburner can't hurt.


----------



## luckypunk

Ive tried volt modding using afterburner, and trixx and both wont let me adjust it so i guess i mustve got a 2nd revision card because from what i hear those arent adjustable. Even tried flashing the bios to that of another vendor 6850 (msi) and still no dice. It looks like 865/1140 will be the highest OC this card can do, owell, still not that bad.

As far as the tachometer ive tried

1) Adjusting the fanspeed down at different speeds (95,90, 85, etc down to 50)
2) Restart both program and pc
3) Installed 2.2.0 beta 10

and the tachometer is still going on the fritz :/


----------



## Computech2012

Which card is better the 5870 or the 6870?


----------



## PixelFreakz

The 5870 is actually faster bc and changed the naming scheme. The 6970 actually replaces the 5970.


----------



## kabj06

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PixelFreakz*
> 
> The 5870 is actually faster bc and changed the naming scheme. The 6970 actually replaces the 5*8*70.


Fixed!


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kabj06*
> 
> Fixed!


Not quite.. the 6990 replace the 5970**
The 6970 replaces the 5870
The 6950 replaces the 5850
The 6870 replaces the 5770
and the 6850 replaces the 5750.

Based on price that is. But a 6870 is a bit faster then a 5850, and i'm pretty sure if you can get it to 1000 core it's can catch up to a 5870.. Not too sure on that though!

The 6870 uses less power, therefore makes less heat. Which in theory should mean a higher overclock and less noise, along with a smaller power bill at the end of the day


----------



## PixelFreakz

Lol thanks for the fix... Typo from my phone... Also even though I had got my 6870 to 1ghz core the 5870 still beats it at higher resolutions bc it has more memory. I had to step up to a 6970 for that reason. If you are running triple monitors or high AA you want a card with more VRAM bc even if you can clock that high you won't have enough memory to run at higher resolutions for gaming.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PixelFreakz*
> 
> Lol thanks for the fix... Typo from my phone... Also even though I had got my 6870 to 1ghz core the 5870 still beats it at higher resolutions bc it has more memory. I had to step up to a 6970 for that reason. If you are running triple monitors or high AA you want a card with more VRAM bc even if you can clock that high you won't have enough memory to run at higher resolutions for gaming.


Yeah i know, but from memory didn't 5870's have 1GB? and there were the eyefinity versions with 2GB.
There are 2GB versions of the 6870 that i've seen around, none have been stocked locally for me however.

But yes for more then 1 Full HD screen you need more then 1GB, and more then 512mb if you're still running 1366x768


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *luckypunk*
> 
> Ive tried volt modding using afterburner, and trixx and both wont let me adjust it so i guess i mustve got a 2nd revision card because from what i hear those arent adjustable. Even tried flashing the bios to that of another vendor 6850 (msi) and still no dice. It looks like 865/1140 will be the highest OC this card can do, owell, still not that bad.
> As far as the tachometer ive tried
> 1) Adjusting the fanspeed down at different speeds (95,90, 85, etc down to 50)
> 2) Restart both program and pc
> 3) Installed 2.2.0 beta 10
> and the tachometer is still going on the fritz :/


You can try aftermarket cooling with the cooler temps you may be able to push the card a little higher and it would come with a different fan so that will fix the tachometer for sure.Just make sure your fan is working if you turn it up to 100% you should be able to hear it other than that I wouldn't worry about the tachometer.Using GPU-Z you can also check the rpm if thats screwed up to you know its something with the card or the fan but not the software.But like I said if the fan ramps up like its supposed to its not that important.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Just wanting to know what drivers you guys are using, seeing as i can't max Skyrim with my sig rig.. Seems odd that the CPU/Ram/GFX cards aren't at full load? It runs at 60fps most of the time with dips to 40 at times..

I've re-installed/updated the display drivers and caps - To the latest.

Still getting problems, i even purchased the game thinking it was a bug and that there would be patches. But apparently not

EDIT: Well people were reporting problems similar to mine and apparently the patch(es) worked.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Just wanting to know what drivers you guys are using, seeing as i can't max Skyrim with my sig rig.. Seems odd that the CPU/Ram/GFX cards aren't at full load? It runs at 60fps most of the time with dips to 40 at times..
> I've re-installed/updated the display drivers and caps - To the latest.
> Still getting problems, i even purchased the game thinking it was a bug and that there would be patches. But apparently not
> EDIT: Well people were reporting problems similar to mine and apparently the patch(es) worked.


Patch your TESV to the latest 1.3.10 and then install SKSE script and TESV Acceleration Layer from Skyrim Nexus or Skyboost from Alexander's site. It will boost your min. up to 10 fps


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Patch your TESV to the latest 1.3.10 and then install SKSE script and TESV Acceleration Layer from Skyrim Nexus or Skyboost from Alexander's site. It will boost your min. up to 10 fps


Trying this. Thanks!









Oh, and when i pause (with esc) it makes my game go all weird, like it's flashing yellow sort of.. :/

EDIT: Crossfire issues, fixed it with this.


----------



## luckypunk

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> You can try aftermarket cooling with the cooler temps you may be able to push the card a little higher and it would come with a different fan so that will fix the tachometer for sure.Just make sure your fan is working if you turn it up to 100% you should be able to hear it other than that I wouldn't worry about the tachometer.Using GPU-Z you can also check the rpm if thats screwed up to you know its something with the card or the fan but not the software.But like I said if the fan ramps up like its supposed to its not that important.


gpu-z is also reporting wild fan RPM's, going from ~7000 down to ~3500, occasionly it will give me something absurd like 5363636 shown here









guess I will RMA this, I wonder if i can ask for a volt moddable card for the return?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *luckypunk*
> 
> gpu-z is also reporting wild fan RPM's, going from ~7000 down to ~3500, occasionly it will give me something absurd like 5363636 shown here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> guess I will RMA this, I wonder if i can ask for a volt moddable card for the return?


They won't accept it, if the card works fine. The tachometer isn't anything to do with functionality of the product, it's kind of like how Intel doesn't guarantee their temp diodes in their processors..
and we've seen dodgy batches in the past, i had one myself. You've probably just got part of a dodgy batch.


----------



## macarule

Are GPUs safe to under volt just like CPUs are?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Are GPUs safe to under volt just like CPUs are?


Indeed! Just don't go too low or you'll get BSOD's









My 6870 is under-volted and overclocked!


----------



## macarule

Mine is now OC'ed to
1000MHz core
1200MHz memory
1.187v From 1.231v

Runs flawlessly!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Patch your TESV to the latest 1.3.10 and then install SKSE script and TESV Acceleration Layer from Skyrim Nexus or Skyboost from Alexander's site. It will boost your min. up to 10 fps


Help me Ive patched TESV to 1.3.10 but the rest I don't understand.This is my first Elder Scrolls .I don't play RPG's so you can call me a noob.Please explain how to do this and were to get the files as Alexander's site doesn't help me.Thanks in advance.

Edit: found and downloaded skse

Edit: figured it out.sounded more complicated than it was.

Do I need steam for this to work?
Ok got it working now and steam is not needed.But now MSI Afterburner is not working right.I saw 70c while playing and thats too high for me then I noticed afterburner overclocked on game start-up as it should but instead of using my fan profile it just sets my fan to 25%.If I alt tab out of the game and check Afterburner it shows were the fan is supposed to be set then quickly changes to 25% on its own.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> They won't accept it, if the card works fine. The tachometer isn't anything to do with functionality of the product, it's kind of like how Intel doesn't guarantee their temp diodes in their processors..
> and we've seen dodgy batches in the past, i had one myself. You've probably just got part of a dodgy batch.


No, Intel does not guarantee the temp diodes, but If you tell them that the CPU is shutting down on its own due to high temps, they will be forced to replace it.
Did this my self already, an i7 2600K after being OC'ed to 4.7Ghz would shutdown, no BSOD or anything.
The temps were like 60C and suddenly 140 readings on HWmonitor, Coretemp, Everest, etc. Was good enough for a BNIB


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> No, Intel does not guarantee the temp diodes, but If you tell them that the CPU is shutting down on its own due to high temps, they will be forced to replace it.
> Did this my self already, an i7 2600K after being OC'ed to 4.7Ghz would shutdown, no BSOD or anything.
> The temps were like 60C and suddenly 140 readings on HWmonitor, Coretemp, Everest, etc. Was good enough for a BNIB


Nice! Haha
Did you get better silicon second time around?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Nice! Haha
> Did you get better silicon second time around?


Yea running at 4.9Ghz, its my GF rig.
Better than my own... I suppose. Had a 6950 on her rig but later replaced with a 570, she's happy with it.
Blazing fast,but I like my AMD rig with all the hassle it can give, atleast it aint plain boring to have AMD









Still have to figure a way to cool the Memory on my 2nd 6850...


----------



## PixelFreakz

For your AMD/ATi people who were wondering if putting an Antec Kuhler on your GPU, could be done wonder no more! http://www.overclock.net/t/1198510/build-log-amd-6970-lightning-antec-kuhler-920-mod-56k-warning


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PixelFreakz*
> 
> For your AMD/ATi people who were wondering if putting an Antec Kuhler on your GPU, could be done wonder no more! http://www.overclock.net/t/1198510/build-log-amd-6970-lightning-antec-kuhler-920-mod-56k-warning


Oh that is amazing! Reckon you could put 2x in a loop though?









EDIT: Also i just started the RMA process for my 6870 as it runs so darn hot. It's meant to be like 20c cooler then reference..
I've seen people on here with WORSE cases that get only 62c overclocked. I stated that in the RMA, and said i get like 72 @ stock...

It's so stupid.. If they don't accept it i'll just have to re-seat it myself i guess.. :/


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *PixelFreakz*
> 
> For your AMD/ATi people who were wondering if putting an Antec Kuhler on your GPU, could be done wonder no more! http://www.overclock.net/t/1198510/build-log-amd-6970-lightning-antec-kuhler-920-mod-56k-warning
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh that is amazing! Reckon you could put 2x in a loop though?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: Also i just started the RMA process for my 6870 as it runs so darn hot. *It's meant to be like 20c cooler then reference..*
> I've seen people on here with WORSE cases that get only 62c overclocked. I stated that in the RMA, and said i get like 72 @ stock...
> 
> It's so stupid.. If they don't accept it i'll just have to re-seat it myself i guess.. :/
Click to expand...

Don't expect any miracle, it's supose to be like 20c cooler then reference in the worst (reference) scenario. 72 @ stock cuold be regular on summer, how's the weather in Australia?
You better try to re-seat it yourself, you'll get amazed how much tim they waste. Do a nice clean, apply a new, good quality thermal grase (a small rice grain) and I'll also reccomend you to remove the cooler's shield protection (as I did) since you're having a cf (in case you mounted the Hawk as gpu1) for better airflow.
Just do this couple of things and let me know about your temps (and fan noise) afterwards.


----------



## Andstraus

Anybody else having problems with xfired 6870'd and Skyrim?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Andstraus*
> 
> Anybody else having problems with xfired 6870'd and Skyrim?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Don't expect any miracle, it's supose to be like 20c cooler then reference in the worst (reference) scenario. 72 @ stock cuold be regular on summer, how's the weather in Australia?
> You better try to re-seat it yourself, you'll get amazed how much tim they waste. Do a nice clean, apply a new, good quality thermal grase (a small rice grain) and I'll also reccomend you to remove the cooler's shield protection (as I did) since you're having a cf (in case you mounted the Hawk as gpu1) for better airflow.
> Just do this couple of things and let me know about your temps (and fan noise) afterwards.


The weather in Australia (Tasmania specifically) is rather absurd, one day it's boiling hot and it makes my computer overheat... The next it's raining!
It's crazy, and yeah i suppose so. Apparently if they can tell that I've removed it they won't RMA it if anything happens.. Sigh
I'll need to get some thermal paste in that scenario so i'll probably do both at the same time, and i might as well do my CPU while i'm at it!

The 6870 is on top, seeing as the power supply is so close to the bottom card, the 6850 is more designed for the bottom seeing as the heat-sync is a more passive style. (If you get what i mean). I was considering water-cooling to be entirely honest, but it's too costly. Might have a look at removing the shroud.. I love the look of it though..









As a reference will these be similar to disassemble as a 9800GT? I got a dead one for $10 once.. It worked by the time i was done









I might practice on the 6870 first, seeing as it has the worst problems..
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Andstraus*
> 
> Anybody else having problems with xfired 6870'd and Skyrim?


I did for a bit, but using the drivers in the thread specified helped ALOT! I never got screen tearing at all either!









Here we go mate!


----------



## Andstraus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> The weather in Australia (Tasmania specifically) is rather absurd, one day it's boiling hot and it makes my computer overheat... The next it's raining!
> It's crazy, and yeah i suppose so. Apparently if they can tell that I've removed it they won't RMA it if anything happens.. Sigh
> I'll need to get some thermal paste in that scenario so i'll probably do both at the same time, and i might as well do my CPU while i'm at it!
> The 6870 is on top, seeing as the power supply is so close to the bottom card, the 6850 is more designed for the bottom seeing as the heat-sync is a more passive style. (If you get what i mean). I was considering water-cooling to be entirely honest, but it's too costly. Might have a look at removing the shroud.. I love the look of it though..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As a reference will these be similar to disassemble as a 9800GT? I got a dead one for $10 once.. It worked by the time i was done
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I might practice on the 6870 first, seeing as it has the worst problems..
> I did for a bit, but using the drivers in the thread specified helped ALOT! I never got screen tearing at all either!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here we go mate!


Thank you for the help. just the thread I was looking for. +1









Ps. Have you tryed one of the acceleraters? Would like some feedback.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Andstraus*
> 
> Thank you for the help. just the thread I was looking for. +1
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ps. Have you tryed one of the acceleraters? Would like some feedback.


Yeah i did actually, raised my minimum FPS a little. (Not much that i noticed without a FPS counter though)

I used this one, as it was easiest to install and it claimed it was better!









But go for it! The worst you have to do is "Repair" your game i guess.


----------



## Andstraus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Yeah i did actually, raised my minimum FPS a little. (Not much that i noticed without a FPS counter though)
> I used this one, as it was easiest to install and it claimed it was better!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But go for it! The worst you have to do is "Repair" your game i guess.


Thank you.


----------



## Narwhal_Revenge

I ahve a HIS


----------



## kabj06

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Narwhal_Revenge*
> 
> I ahve a HIS


Can we have the version, pictures and details??????????


----------



## Edge Of Pain

Here are my Sapphires:



The weird (and awesome) thing is that I get no micro-stutter. Also, no bottlnecking and no frame spiking, when all I have is a humble Phenom ii x4 955 BE @ 3.7 GHz.

Using 11.12 drivers. Skyrim has mediocre scaling but that doesn't bother me because even with one card I get like 60 FPS maxed out (1440 x 900)


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Edge Of Pain*
> 
> Here are my Sapphires:
> 
> The weird (and awesome) thing is that I get no micro-stutter. Also, no bottlnecking and no frame spiking, when all I have is a humble Phenom ii x4 955 BE @ 3.7 GHz.
> Using 11.12 drivers. Skyrim has mediocre scaling but that doesn't bother me because even with one card I get like 60 FPS maxed out (1440 x 900)


You have the exact same models as I do in crossfire, I also notice no microstutter on them.
Can you please take a top picture from both cards and send it to me? I wanna compare a thing.


----------



## bmgjet

Just finished sticking 2X Antec 620s on my 2X 6850s.
















Time to let the overclocking and over volting begin,
at stock clocks,
Both cards are idling 27C,
Max load is 47C and 48C on the old card.
VRMs hitting 51C and 53C on the old card.
Memory (at least thats what I think that temp is for) both at 25C.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Just finished sticking 2X Antec 620s on my 2X 6850s.
> 
> Time to let the overclocking and over volting begin,
> at stock clocks,
> Both cards are idling 27C,
> Max load is 47C and 48C on the old card.
> VRMs hitting 51C and 53C on the old card.
> Memory (at least thats what I think that temp is for) both at 25C.


I'd be worried about that memory, try some benchmarks and touch the RAM chips, even with heatsinks on my RAM, it's hard to touch them...


----------



## bmgjet

Thats what iv just finished doing, Memory feels warm to the touch and never got hot during a run though 3d mark 11.
My inferred thermonitor wouldn't pick up any temp at all off them tho so they must be very close to the temp of the air coming out of the radiators.

They do have more air flow then stock tho since the radiator fans are 3X 3K rpm 102CFM ones and they are blowing directly on the cards.
And I have another 120mm 3K rpm fan blowing from the side on to the VRMs and memory.
Can say under load its not the quietest rig iv had lol.
Iv got a new case in the pipe line tho that will have sound deadning in it and air ducting from out side my room to take air in and let it out.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Just finished sticking 2X Antec 620s on my 2X 6850s.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Time to let the overclocking and over volting begin,
> at stock clocks,
> Both cards are idling 27C,
> Max load is 47C and 48C on the old card.
> VRMs hitting 51C and 53C on the old card.
> Memory (at least thats what I think that temp is for) both at 25C.


+1 Rep
Man, that's awesome!








Might be interested in getting one for my Hawk (gpu1). How did you manage to fix the main block (wb) to the gpu? Did you use zip ties?


----------



## bmgjet

Zip ties and thermal adhesive with 1/4 MX2 thermal grease mixed in so its easier to take off in in the future if needed.
Just been playing with the overclocking.

With stock coolers I could only get 938mhz stable and 945 with it recovering from a error every 10-20mins with furmark. Even tho temps never went over 77c.
So far iv gotten to 975mhz and it hasn't artifacted or recovered from a error with the 30min run I just finished so going to try 980mhz. This is on the stock voltages as well and temp has only gone up 1C on the older card and still the same on the newer one.

Havnt started overclocking the ram tho but will give it a go later on since its harder to test them for stability.

Looks like these 6850's like to be run cool. Im surprised I could get another 37mhz (so far) with just a cooler change and not touching the voltages.


----------



## Tokkan

For as long as I keep my main 6850 cooled below 74ºC it wont crash nor artifact.
My second 6850 has memory from Elpida which is a completely different brand when in comparison to the memory used in my main 6850, so that ones crashes cause of mem getting way too hot when overclock'ed.
But basicly if I keep the cores below 74ºC I can keep them stable at 1Ghz Core


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> For as long as I keep my main 6850 cooled below 74ºC it wont crash nor artifact.
> My second 6850 has memory from Elpida which is a completely different brand when in comparison to the memory used in my main 6850, so that ones crashes cause of mem getting way too hot when overclock'ed.
> But basicly if I keep the cores below 74ºC I can keep them stable at 1Ghz Core


Yes, that is the magic number for 6850/6870 cores. Both of my cards do that too, i actually found it rather strange?
Oh well, they don't go past 74c anymore.


----------



## arrow0309

Thanks to your advices, got some new refreshing colours (not only) & fans (R4's) inside my rig:
















PS: The 6870 Hawk is about to be undressed (shroud removed) again, this was only for the photo session.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Thanks to your advices, got some new refreshing colours (not only) & fans (R4's) inside my rig:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS: The 6870 Hawk is about to be undressed (shroud removed) again, this was only for the photo session.


Looks great .The ugly brown is gone but how are your temps?
How about a pic with less light so we can see the fans better?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Looks great .The ugly brown is gone but how are your temps?
> How about a pic with less light so we can see the fans better?


The cpu temps are the same, still testing, got the KM2 1700rpm central fan but no third fan. I may wanna reseat the D14 changing the thermal grease or at least the tim spread (I made an X). Or simply return to the Coolaboratory Liquid Ultra.
The vga1 temps are improoved, maybe I don't even have to remove the shroud anymore, and this because of the two R4's in push (one is frontal) I suppose.








I only have these pics but I'll make some more soon.

And they're silent enough too, undervolted.

PS: How come the two (front and vga) Kaze Master Fan1 R4's only get 1710-1740 rpm displayed meanwhile the other two (sys fan2) manage to achieve at 100% (max speed with the Speedfan) 1839-1859 rpm?


----------



## IIJeffreyII

hey i am thinking of getting either a radeon 6870 or a atx 550ti can u tell me which to buy and what the difference in performance is?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *IIJeffreyII*
> 
> hey i am thinking of getting either a radeon 6870 or a atx 550ti can u tell me which to buy and what the difference in performance is?


no


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *IIJeffreyII*
> 
> hey i am thinking of getting either a radeon 6870 or a atx 550ti can u tell me which to buy and what the difference in performance is?


The 6870 overclocked can come close to a 560 Ti, So I would definitely recommend the 6870 over the 550 Ti.


----------



## laser23

I have a Gigabyte 6870 OC Edition with Windforce tri-cooler. Please add me.


----------



## macarule

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laser23*
> 
> I have a Gigabyte 6870 OC Edition with Windforce tri-cooler. Please add me.


What is the cooler like on your card, i was really considering buying it over my HIS IceQ, got any idle/load temps?

Paul


----------



## miniterror

ill mention it again as i havent been added and my post is already like 60 pages back.
i have a xfx 6870 dualfan edition flashed with a black editon vbios


----------



## macarule

I didnt get added either


----------



## miniterror

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> I didnt get added either


indeed but youre post whas like 9 min ago.
mine like 9 weeks


----------



## macarule

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *miniterror*
> 
> indeed but youre post whas like 9 min ago.
> mine like 9 weeks


Actually my first post must of been a month or two back


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Actually my first post must of been a month or two back


This thread is kinda of abandoned by the OP...
Shame on him








But dont worry, you can use the thread signature since you already made enough to be part of it.
Not your fault you aint got added, and please you guys are welcome to speak here and give us some info about your cards and their OC's


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Actually my first post must of been a month or two back


The OP has said in the past to just pm him and he will update the tread.He only had a 6870 for a short while so he doesn't check this tread often but he has updated it multiple times so shot him a PM and give him some time.


----------



## laser23

At idle my 6870 is around 38-40 Degrees Celsius although its summer here in australia and the room temp is around 27-30 degrees celsius. As for load temps i'm not sure, i'll check & post back. Also my 6870 is overclocked to 960MHZ Core and 1125MHZ mem.


----------



## macarule

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laser23*
> 
> At idle my 6870 is around 38-40 Degrees Celsius although its summer here in australia and the room temp is around 27-30 degrees celsius. As for load temps i'm not sure, i'll check & post back. Also my 6870 is overclocked to 960MHZ Core and 1125MHZ mem.


Ah yeah, mine idles about the same, my room ambient is about 29c-30c (Perth WA) and im idling at about 40c and im overclocked to 1000\1200







your stock cooler seems pretty good since i have the GELID Icy Vision on mine


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Ah yeah, mine idles about the same, my room ambient is about 29c-30c (Perth WA) and im idling at about 40c and im overclocked to 1000\1200
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> your stock cooler seems pretty good since i have the GELID Icy Vision on mine


I'm in Tas and mine was idling at 36c and loading at a bit under 70c. That's overclocked to 980/1050 though, and now that i'm running crossfire they're both at 44ish idle and 72c load.

Ambient would have been about 24c that day.


----------



## arrow0309

Few more pics, sorry for the discrete quality (on the run). I also reseated the D14 reapplying the tim (some less) and got my case rear fan shrouded to improve the D14's heat dissipation. Still testing for the vga temps, great fans those R4's however (and silent when downvolted).


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Few more pics, sorry for the discrete quality (on the run). I also reseated the D14 reapplying the tim (some less) and got my case rear fan shrouded to improve the D14's heat dissipation. Still testing for the vga temps, great fans those R4's however (and silent when downvolted).


She looks sweet !
Loves the R4's


----------



## NARF

Here is mine. Works really fine.


----------



## laser23

Here's a pic of my pc, ignore the cable management, i recently breadboarded my pc cos there was a short, luckily none of the components were broken but i havent reorganised the cables since. Also my temp while playing bf3 is 68 degrees celsius. My stock temps are also cool because I have a side case fan perfectly aligned with the 6870 which blows out all the hot air.


----------



## PowerRanger

Can I join?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laser23*
> 
> Here's a pic of my pc, ignore the cable management, i recently breadboarded my pc cos there was a short, luckily none of the components were broken but i havent reorganised the cables since. Also my temp while playing bf3 is 68 degrees celsius. My stock temps are also cool because I have a side case fan perfectly aligned with the 6870 which blows out all the hot air.


What type of card is that? I'd suggest sitting the fan for air inwards so it can suck it up and push the hot air out the back!








(Most cards do this, excepting the Gigabyte windforce ones afaik)
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PowerRanger*
> 
> Can I join?


GPU-Z Shot with your name in it, or picture of the box/card with your name on a piece of paper.


----------



## laser23

Well I have a windforce which is why I positioned my fan like that, because the three fans intake air and blow out the side radiator. My card is a Gigabyte Radeon 6870 1GB OC Edition.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laser23*
> 
> Well I have a windforce which is why I positioned my fan like that, because the three fans intake air and blow out the side radiator. My card is a Gigabyte Radeon 6870 1GB OC Edition.


I see, i was just making sure 'cause some people don't know much about their components and just think that making it pull out will be better, on any other cooler i'd suggest fan blowing inwards!

Good job, Computer savvy person!


----------



## PowerRanger

Joining in!

The Oc I use daily on my HD 6870. It is the absolute max stable OC I can get on my reference Sapphire. It performs at HD 6950 levels. I am pretty pleased with it.










Before you ask, yes, the fan does get a bit loud at 48%, as you can see in MSI Afterburner, but I don't mind. The performance is worth the noise, I just turn up the volume when gaming.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PowerRanger*
> 
> Joining in!
> The Oc I use daily on my HD 6870. It is the absolute max stable OC I can get on my reference Sapphire. It performs at HD 6950 levels. I am pretty pleased with it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before you ask, yes, the fan does get a bit loud at 48%, as you can see in MSI Afterburner, but I don't mind. The performance is worth the noise, I just turn up the volume when gaming.


Very nice indeed, performance at 6950 levels? Thats a considerable mark if you ask me.
Also the noise aint a problem for gamers, when my computer starts to heat up all the fans pump to the max and the computer goes like this:





I use my headphones so I dont hear a thing








Im ofc not being serious, it does some noise but it isnt that loud.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PowerRanger*
> 
> Joining in!
> 
> The Oc I use daily on my HD 6870. It is the absolute max stable OC I can get on my reference Sapphire. It performs at HD 6950 levels. I am pretty pleased with it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before you ask, yes, the fan does get a bit loud at 48%, as you can see in MSI Afterburner, but I don't mind. The performance is worth the noise, I just turn up the volume when gaming.


The image is blocked for me, can anyone post the details, or re-upload through OCN?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> The image is blocked for me, can anyone post the details, or re-upload through OCN?


1299mv
1015MHz core
1172MHz mem

and the weirdest fan profile ive ever seen


----------



## PowerRanger

Why is my fan profile weird?


----------



## ihatelolcats

if you don't know then i can't explain it


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PowerRanger*
> 
> Why is my fan profile weird?


Because it doesnt increase gradually, you simply fire it up at certain temperatures...
This will lead to inadequate cooling if not set up properly but also may do excessive noise to prevent over heating.


----------



## laser23

Is my card just a bad overclocker, because I cant seem to get past 960MHZ core it crashes at 965MHZ after a few hours of gaming, should I increase my voltages?, because they are at default. I relatively new to overclocking(especially gpus). My mem where I want it to be at around 1125MHZ.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laser23*
> 
> Is my card just a bad overclocker, because I cant seem to get past 960MHZ core it crashes at 965MHZ after a few hours of gaming, should I increase my voltages?, because they are at default. I relatively new to overclocking(especially gpus). My mem where I want it to be at around 1125MHZ.


Temp,Tem and some more temp.
Dont let it go above 70c or it will crash when it reaches 75. Barts core thingie... They all do it.


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Temp,Tem and some more temp.
> Dont let it go above 70c or it will crash when it reaches 75. Barts core thingie... They all do it.


Amen to that, Use to only be able to get up to 938mhz with the stock cooler because it would be getting up to 70c's
Now that its always under 50C iv been able to get 1000mhz on stock voltage.


----------



## ihatelolcats

ugh mine sits at 75C in games


----------



## miniterror

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> ugh mine sits at 75C in games


lol i have seen mine at 81c ones after a 7 hour gaming trip.
It whas max temp shown by hwmonitor wich i let run in the background.
Prob my airflow aint good but i cant find the right way after reading threads here.
The card i talk about is xfx 6870 dualfan edition flashed with a be vbios to up gpu and core


----------



## solsamurai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *miniterror*
> 
> lol i have seen mine at 81c ones after a 7 hour gaming trip.
> It whas max temp shown by hwmonitor wich i let run in the background.
> Prob my airflow aint good but i cant find the right way after reading threads here.
> The card i talk about is xfx 6870 dualfan edition flashed with a be vbios to up gpu and core


Free you airflow here.


----------



## ihatelolcats

i can't increase memory speed 5MHz (1055) over stock (1050) without artifacts showing up
does increasing voltage help memory stability or core only


----------



## bmgjet

Voltage control is for core only.
But you can physically volt mod the memory but you will still find its limit is around 1150-1200mhz in most cases because the memory controller.


----------



## ihatelolcats

why do you think i cant increase the memory clock at all


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i can't increase memory speed 5MHz (1055) over stock (1050) without artifacts showing up
> does increasing voltage help memory stability or core only


Neither, it's just the memory.. Just leave it, it's more beneficial to overclock the core from what I've seen on my 6850.


----------



## bmgjet

Going from 1000 to 1140mhz on the memory only made 40 more points in 3dmark 11 which worked out to 0.17 more fps on average,
Core on the other hand 140mhz makes a massive difference but I didnt stop at that. Im running 237mzh more over stock which made well over 1000 more points in 3d mark 11 which is 8-9fps better.
But if your running higher then 1080 res the memory will make more of a difference but then youd more then likely be bottle necked by the amount of vram.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Going from 1000 to 1140mhz on the memory only made 40 more points in 3dmark 11 which worked out to 0.17 more fps on average,
> Core on the other hand 140mhz makes a massive difference but I didnt stop at that. Im running 237mzh more over stock which made well over 1000 more points in 3d mark 11 which is 8-9fps better.
> But if your running higher then 1080 res the memory will make more of a difference but then youd more then likely be bottle necked by the amount of vram.


Could be? You will be limited by the amount.. I get bottlenecked a bit in some games at 1080p tbh.


----------



## popita

I'm buying a Gigabyte 6870 OC, (becasuse rma )
is it good doing oc? I'm reading that you can not touch the voltage , its true?

Sorry for my english :S


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *popita*
> 
> I'm buying a Gigabyte 6870 OC, (becasuse rma )
> is it good doing oc? I'm reading that you can not touch the voltage , its true?
> 
> Sorry for my english :S


Exactly, you won't have any software volt. adjustmnent and its oc capabilities are limited, let's say unknown for sure (as allways). Excellent cooling however.


----------



## Dublin_Gunner

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *popita*
> 
> I'm buying a Gigabyte 6870 OC, (becasuse rma )
> is it good doing oc? I'm reading that you can not touch the voltage , its true?
> Sorry for my english :S


Well I cannot comment on the Gigabyte OC model, but my Sapphire Toxic will run at 1020Mhz with a slight voltage bump 24/7 and for gaming.

Can get it to about 1050Mhz for single bench runs on its own air cooling.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Exactly, you won't have any software volt. adjustmnent and its oc capabilities are limited, let's say unknown for sure (as allways). Excellent cooling however.


Yes, i contacted Gigabyte themselves. Which they even said they planned a program but it was never actually released.. So happy i didn't get the Gigabyte model.. You can't even bios flash these cards to increase the voltage unlike older cards..


----------



## popita

But you cant do anything OC?


----------



## bmgjet

Have you tried using clocktweak to control voltage.
My newer sapphire card doesnt support voltage changing with trixx or afterburner and trying just crashes windows.
But it works with clocktweak up to 1.249V before it freezes.
There is a similar free version floating around called CMDATIGEN1 but it not as stable as clocktweak.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Hey guys!

This
I know this is for 5850/5870 but there might be a chance that it'd fit 68xx cards, what do you guys think?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Hey guys!
> This
> I know this is for 5850/5870 but there might be a chance that it'd fit 68xx cards, what do you guys think?


The 58xx and the 68xx cards have the same mounting holes, so it is likely that it will fit.


----------



## bmgjet

But the VRM areas are completely different.


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Just finished sticking 2X Antec 620s on my 2X 6850s.
> [images]
> Time to let the overclocking and over volting begin,
> at stock clocks,
> Both cards are idling 27C,
> Max load is 47C and 48C on the old card.
> VRMs hitting 51C and 53C on the old card.
> Memory (at least thats what I think that temp is for) both at 25C.


Just a update on this,
Have now got Ram coolers installed. Only allowed me to go 8mhz higher on the memory tho before performances starts going down.
Re-applyed thermal compound on the VRM's and got a better side fan so they now stay under 40C.
Found that the bit of cardboard I had folded in half under the radiators to stop them vibrating with the fans had some how unfolded so it was in the 90 degree bend blocking half the radiator.
So fixed that and idle temps are now 23C with max load of 38-41C with furmark full load for 20mins.
In BF3 temps are around 32-35C.

Overvolting makes very little overclocking head room. 5mv = 1-2mhz more overclock on the core and the newer sapphire card Iv got will only do 1.249v before it freezes no matter what.
Max Overclock I've gotten stable on both cards is 1063mhz core 1148mhz memory. on 1.249V
Stock voltage (1.150v) it will do 1010mhz core. But im running 1.175v with a bios flash just so its a bit more stable and since temps are no problem.

May have to do a hardware voltmod to the newer card so I can push it to 1.3v and try get 1100mhz core like my older one does on 1.3V.
Which would give me a 35 Gpixel rate and a 52 Gtexture rate which would really help with 8X AA in BF3 (not that im having to much trouble staying over 120fps on the old maps anyway)
I am regretting not going with the 6870's a bit tho. If I had those with the clocks im getting they would be complete monsters. But I guess I did save $90 bucks getting the 6850's.

One thing I will say is the "Barts" core is fantastic value and may still give the 7850/7870s a run for there money.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Just a update on this,
> Have now got Ram coolers installed. Only allowed me to go 8mhz higher on the memory tho before performances starts going down.
> Re-applyed thermal compound on the VRM's and got a better side fan so they now stay under 40C.
> Found that the bit of cardboard I had folded in half under the radiators to stop them vibrating with the fans had some how unfolded so it was in the 90 degree bend blocking half the radiator.
> So fixed that and idle temps are now 23C with max load of 38-41C with furmark full load for 20mins.
> In BF3 temps are around 32-35C.
> Overvolting makes very little overclocking head room. 5mv = 1-2mhz more overclock on the core and the newer sapphire card Iv got will only do 1.249v before it freezes no matter what.
> Max Overclock I've gotten stable on both cards is 1063mhz core 1148mhz memory. on 1.249V
> Stock voltage (1.150v) it will do 1010mhz core. But im running 1.175v with a bios flash just so its a bit more stable and since temps are no problem.
> May have to do a hardware voltmod to the newer card so I can push it to 1.3v and try get 1100mhz core like my older one does on 1.3V.
> Which would give me a 35 Gpixel rate and a 52 Gtexture rate which would really help with 8X AA in BF3 (not that im having to much trouble staying over 120fps on the old maps anyway)
> I am regretting not going with the 6870's a bit tho. If I had those with the clocks im getting they would be complete monsters. But I guess I did save $90 bucks getting the 6850's.
> One thing I will say is the "Barts" core is fantastic value and may still give the 7850/7870s a run for there money.


So here I am hearing you complain about how nerfed one of your cards is considering voltage regulation when my 2nd card doesnt let me regulate voltage and it does not accept any kind of overclock.
Not even 10Mhz higher than stock!
So yea I feel sorry for you but my stock 6850's are having no problem at maxing out BF3 with stable framerates and FXAA mod enabled.


----------



## deathskater

Was trying to find a thread of someone overclocking a MSI Hawk Twin frozer III
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127560/

was wondering how well this cards overclocked I heard these can do a very good job as they keep memory and gpu very well cooled I'm not experienced at GPU overclocking so any advice would be nice


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> So here I am hearing you complain about how nerfed one of your cards is considering voltage regulation when my 2nd card doesnt let me regulate voltage and it does not accept any kind of overclock.
> Not even 10Mhz higher than stock!
> So yea I feel sorry for you but my stock 6850's are having no problem at maxing out BF3 with stable framerates and FXAA mod enabled.


What are you using to overclock?
My 2nd (newer) one doesnt overclock with CCC and afterburner at all with out crashing in windows. And trixx only let me overclock a little bit but voltage control crashes windows.

Only thing that would work is clocktweak and CMDATIGEN1. But CMDATIGEN1 has a bug where first time 3d mode exits it resets the clocks back to factory and you need to set them back to overclocked but they work perfectly from then on.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Just a update on this,
> Have now got Ram coolers installed. Only allowed me to go 8mhz higher on the memory tho before performances starts going down.
> Re-applyed thermal compound on the VRM's and got a better side fan so they now stay under 40C.
> Found that the bit of cardboard I had folded in half under the radiators to stop them vibrating with the fans had some how unfolded so it was in the 90 degree bend blocking half the radiator.
> So fixed that and idle temps are now 23C with max load of 38-41C with furmark full load for 20mins.
> In BF3 temps are around 32-35C.
> Overvolting makes very little overclocking head room. 5mv = 1-2mhz more overclock on the core and the newer sapphire card Iv got will only do 1.249v before it freezes no matter what.
> Max Overclock I've gotten stable on both cards is 1063mhz core 1148mhz memory. on 1.249V
> Stock voltage (1.150v) it will do 1010mhz core. But im running 1.175v with a bios flash just so its a bit more stable and since temps are no problem.
> May have to do a hardware voltmod to the newer card so I can push it to 1.3v and try get 1100mhz core like my older one does on 1.3V.
> Which would give me a 35 Gpixel rate and a 52 Gtexture rate which would really help with 8X AA in BF3 (not that im having to much trouble staying over 120fps on the old maps anyway)
> I am regretting not going with the 6870's a bit tho. If I had those with the clocks im getting they would be complete monsters. But I guess I did save $90 bucks getting the 6850's.
> One thing I will say is the "Barts" core is fantastic value and may still give the 7850/7870s a run for there money.


6870's are worse to overclock, you may get lucky. But you've got more chance of a 6850 getting past 1000 core then what a 6870 does. I know my 6850 will push 1000+ core but my 6870 won't get past 970.. No matter what i do. I think it may be the cooling going past 74c but they still don't overclock as much.. Also i did the same with my second card.. it was going to cost me $230 to get a 6870 (more then what i paid for my first one?) Anyway i got a matching 6850 for $170 in the end!







- Same series/voltage regulators and very similar PCB's.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deathskater*
> 
> Was trying to find a thread of someone overclocking a MSI Hawk Twin frozer III
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127560/
> was wondering how well this cards overclocked I heard these can do a very good job as they keep memory and gpu very well cooled I'm not experienced at GPU overclocking so any advice would be nice


I have that card!








It's a nice card, very good quality you can feel it when you pick it up. Mine would weigh more then my friends non-reference VTX3D card (which is rubbish). All in all i can't really tell you much about overclocking, mines stuck at 970mhz as it's not stable any higher.. Temperature is also a problem for me too. It's supposedly the best 6870 to overclock anyway! - MSI Afterburner has ALOT of features to do with voltage compared to any other cards! You'll be happy with it for the money! However i can also suggest the Msi 6850 Cyclone as a great card! It runs cooler then my 6870 and overclocks better, if you're happy with pushing it past 1000 core it'll run better then what the 6870 does most of the time.. The difference isn't noticeable much anyway!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> What are you using to overclock?
> My 2nd (newer) one doesnt overclock with CCC and afterburner at all with out crashing in windows. And trixx only let me overclock a little bit but voltage control crashes windows.
> Only thing that would work is clocktweak and CMDATIGEN1. But CMDATIGEN1 has a bug where first time 3d mode exits it resets the clocks back to factory and you need to set them back to overclocked but they work perfectly from then on.


Speaking of setting to factory, Afterburner does that to me sometimes. Eh, i wonder what's up with it!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I have that card!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's a nice card, very good quality you can feel it when you pick it up. Mine would weigh more then my friends non-reference VTX3D card (which is rubbish). All in all i can't really tell you much about overclocking, mines stuck at 970mhz as it's not stable any higher.. Temperature is also a problem for me too. It's supposedly the best 6870 to overclock anyway! - MSI Afterburner has ALOT of features to do with voltage compared to any other cards! You'll be happy with it for the money! However i can also suggest the Msi 6850 Cyclone as a great card! It runs cooler then my 6870 and overclocks better, if you're happy with pushing it past 1000 core it'll run better then what the 6870 does most of the time.. The difference isn't noticeable much anyway!


With the cooling improoved and tim reapplied I can get now (stable) 980Mhz in cf (mem at 1140) vith 1.274v. Gonna try the Kuhler 620 soon (only for the Hawk, vga1).


----------



## deathskater

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> With the cooling improoved and tim reapplied I can get now (stable) 980Mhz in cf (mem at 1140) vith 1.274v. Gonna try the Kuhler 620 soon (only for the Hawk, vga1).




I'll say i'm pleased with it I simply put this settings first try worked stable on occt and then did this benchie







doesn't get past 60C at 65% fan

Msi Hawk 6870 twin frozr III

Edit: Felt like making a comparison between stock and overclocked and here are the stock results.
I won't be trying to go any higher as this seems to be the sweet spot for me


----------



## bmgjet

Do a bench mark then do it again with the ram 20mhz lower. And see if it goes up to make sure you not running into ECC with your memory overclock.


----------



## deathskater

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Do a bench mark then do it again with the ram 20mhz lower. And see if it goes up to make sure you not running into ECC with your memory overclock.


What do you mean by running into ECC?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Do a bench mark then do it again with the ram 20mhz lower. And see if it goes up to make sure you not running into ECC with your memory overclock.


what do you mean, not running into ECC?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deathskater*
> 
> What do you mean by running into ECC?


^lol


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> what do you mean, not running into ECC?
> ^lol


ECC is when the memory starts to register errors or loss of data quality, it gets activated to keep the data without errors.
When it is activated you lose performance usually, it will be stable but not giving all the performance it could give since it is correcting the errors it is producing.
Didnt knew GDDR also had ECC but it seems it does.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> ECC is when the memory starts to register errors or loss of data quality, it gets activated to keep the data without errors.
> When it is activated you lose performance usually, it will be stable but not giving all the performance it could give since it is correcting the errors it is producing.
> Didnt knew GDDR also had ECC but it seems it does.


I knew that, to avoid it i run them all at stock memory! I may try and match my 6870's memory with my 6850 though!
Though i'm fairly sure the memory on one of the cards is passively cooled.. Which worries me. Alot!


----------



## deathskater

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> ECC is when the memory starts to register errors or loss of data quality, it gets activated to keep the data without errors.
> When it is activated you lose performance usually, it will be stable but not giving all the performance it could give since it is correcting the errors it is producing.
> Didnt knew GDDR also had ECC but it seems it does.


well I'm having to stop testing on my vid card I'm having some problems with my cpu at stock voltage and speed its consuming 192W instead of 125W i'm researching on this but cant find anything but it seems i;m not the only one with this problem







if anyone has any info on this I would gladly apreciate it


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deathskater*
> 
> well I'm having to stop testing on my vid card I'm having some problems with my cpu at stock voltage and speed its consuming 192W instead of 125W i'm researching on this but cant find anything but it seems i;m not the only one with this problem
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> if anyone has any info on this I would gladly apreciate it


To be honest i'd RMA it.. It's really AMD at fault.. It wouldn't be a software problem. Have you tried resetting your bios?


----------



## ACM

Comfortable with stock voltages.
Should I push it more?


----------



## deathskater

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> To be honest i'd RMA it.. It's really AMD at fault.. It wouldn't be a software problem. Have you tried resetting your bios?


yeah I tried it all I'm going tomorrow to compusa and just change it for a FX 6100 and switch the V6GT for a H80 with the extra store credit ill get







parts only have 3 days since bought


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deathskater*
> 
> yeah I tried it all I'm going tomorrow to compusa and just change it for a FX 6100 and switch the V6GT for a H80 with the extra store credit ill get
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> parts only have 3 days since bought


I see! Nice!








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ACM*
> 
> 
> Comfortable with stock voltages.
> Should I push it more?


Push it 1mhz more to say you've got 1GHz overclock!








I'd bump up the voltage a bit just to be on the safe side, say 10mv?


----------



## ACM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I see! Nice!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Push it 1mhz more to say you've got 1GHz overclock!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd bump up the voltage a bit just to be on the safe side, say 10mv?


Afterburner has it set to 1Ghz but Kombuster always shows it as 999mhz, idk why.
Maybe a little bump in voltage will be good.


----------



## bmgjet

Dont settle for 1ghz, go as far as temps will allow.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Dont settle for 1ghz, go as far as temps will allow.


I agree, but if you want to go past you need to disable unoffical overclocking, therefore if anything goes wrong with it (I.E core degrades) you can't blame MSI for it!








1GHz is still rather good! I'd push it to see what you can get to anyway!








Still a 24/7 overclock that's quite good!


----------



## ACM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I agree, but if you want to go past you need to disable unoffical overclocking, therefore if anything goes wrong with it (I.E core degrades) you can't blame MSI for it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1GHz is still rather good! I'd push it to see what you can get to anyway!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Still a 24/7 overclock that's quite good!


I might push it a little tonight & see if I can get a nice performance gain.

Currently my load temps are 59c @ 45% fan speed so I should have some room to OC.


----------



## savage1987

I have two MSI 6870s; what fan speeds are people running on these cards? They still get a little warm for my liking, I have started overclocking them - results here.

Also are there any tricks in MSI Afterburner I should know about, because it seems a little rusty sometimes when working with crossfired cards.

Thanks,
Sam


----------



## ACM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *savage1987*
> 
> I have two MSI 6870s; what fan speeds are people running on these cards? They still get a little warm for my liking, I have started overclocking them - results here.
> Also are there any tricks in MSI Afterburner I should know about, because it seems a little rusty sometimes when working with crossfired cards.
> Thanks,
> Sam


I run my Sapphire card around 45-50% fan speed.
I never go over 62c


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ACM*
> 
> I run my Sapphire card around 45-50% fan speed.
> I never go over 62c


which cooler does yours have


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *savage1987*
> 
> I have two MSI 6870s; what fan speeds are people running on these cards? They still get a little warm for my liking, I have started overclocking them - results here.
> Also are there any tricks in MSI Afterburner I should know about, because it seems a little rusty sometimes when working with crossfired cards.
> Thanks,
> Sam


The Hawk? Mine runs VERY hot. 74c not even overclocked. It's not my case cooling either.. I'm going to reapply TIM when i fix a friends PC.. (I need to re-mount his hyper 212+)


----------



## savage1987

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> The Hawk? Mine runs VERY hot. 74c not even overclocked. It's not my case cooling either.. I'm going to reapply TIM when i fix a friends PC.. (I need to re-mount his hyper 212+)


See I did that on one of mine already







and it made stuff all difference


----------



## ihatelolcats

mine hits 72C @ 60% speed, 24C ambient
that's with arctic silver 5, stock fan, a 120mm on the heatsink (shroud removed), and a 120mm on the side panel blowing in
3 heatpipes really isnt enough for it imo


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *savage1987*
> 
> I have two MSI 6870s; what fan speeds are people running on these cards? They still get a little warm for my liking, I have started overclocking them - results here.
> 
> *Also are there any tricks in MSI Afterburner I should know about, because it seems a little rusty sometimes when working with crossfired cards.*
> 
> Thanks,
> Sam


Are the two 6870's running at the same speeds? And (important) did you check if it's enabled the box for "Synchronize settings for similar graphics processors"? Might wanna disable the ULPS (ultra low power state) of your second video card. If so, run regedit and find & modify the value of any "enableulps" voice from 1 to 0.


----------



## ACM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> which cooler does yours have


Non-Ref Sapphire cooler.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Are the two 6870's running at the same speeds? And (important) did you check if it's enabled the box for "Synchronize settings for similar graphics processors"? Might wanna disable the ULPS (ultra low power state) of your second video card. If so, run regedit and find & modify the value of any "enableulps" voice from 1 to 0.


I didn't do this and it's fine!
I also get little to no micro-stuttering, unless i can't notice it having a 6850 and a 6870 fixes the micro stuttering issue.. Which i'm glad of!

EDIT: I also don't sync settings as i leave my 6850 at 1Ghz and the 6870 a 930mhz..


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I didn't do this and it's fine!
> I also get little to no micro-stuttering, unless i can't notice it having a 6850 and a 6870 fixes the micro stuttering issue.. Which i'm glad of!
> EDIT: I also don't sync settings as i leave my 6850 at 1Ghz and the 6870 a 930mhz..


I also experience no micro stuttering with my crossfire 6850.
Also people still confuse the New Crossfire that AMD developed with the Old Crossfire/Sli. You dont need to have the exact same clocks on the cards and no it will not downclock to the lower clocked card.
Also you can crossfire 6850 with a 6870 like Matt did and use all of the shaders on both cards. Crossfire has become flexible, If you want to check some proofs about it check the 68xx series overclockers club, I posted some links on it regarding this subject.

Cheers Matt, Im glad you went with the 6870 for your crossfire and you been having a positive experience.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> I also experience no micro stuttering with my crossfire 6850.
> Also people still confuse the New Crossfire that AMD developed with the Old Crossfire/Sli. You dont need to have the exact same clocks on the cards and no it will not downclock to the lower clocked card.
> Also you can crossfire 6850 with a 6870 like Matt did and use all of the shaders on both cards. Crossfire has become flexible, If you want to check some proofs about it check the 68xx series overclockers club, I posted some links on it regarding this subject.
> Cheers Matt, Im glad you went with the 6870 for your crossfire and you been having a positive experience.


Well i actually had the 6870 first, i just couldn't find a decent 6870 that was actually worth it.. The 6850 was a bargain deal compared to the 6870's.. ($70 less). And i even got the same brand of card.
I've had a decent experience, i'll be seeing more gain in the upcoming months when i pull the plug on upgrading to a processor that can fully use both cards!









Overall i've had a few problems with Crossfire but they've soon been fixed with a new driver release. It's only been newer games with problems! (Which you can expect).

Cheers to you also fellow Crossfire mate!


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Well i actually had the 6870 first, i just couldn't find a decent 6870 that was actually worth it.. The 6850 was a bargain deal compared to the 6870's.. ($70 less). And i even got the same brand of card.
> I've had a decent experience, i'll be seeing more gain in the upcoming months when i pull the plug on upgrading to a processor that can fully use both cards!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Overall i've had a few problems with Crossfire but they've soon been fixed with a new driver release. It's only been newer games with problems! (Which you can expect).
> Cheers to you also fellow Crossfire mate!


Oh sorry







I remember that you asked for advice about buying the card on either this thread of the 68xx series overclockers thread.
I also remember posting the crossfire specifications which said the clock wouldnt downclock and all the shaders would be used when using mis-matched crossfire. Dunno if it was in a response to a question of yours.
Dont worry about the problems, every1 has them..
I spent 1 week trying to get my 2nd card working with my 1st card.
It seemed they didnt want to get married inside my case... And the 2nd was also a lazy one. Sleeping all over the place








Told the 2nd card: No ULPS, bad card! Bad! very bad card!
And my first card I told her this: You either work with her, or you work with another one. But you will work in crossfire like it or not.
Both of them decided to do what I wanted and stopped crashing and giving bsod's... But they are kinda mad at me... they dont overclock in crossfire.
Insta crash when loading games lol








Tried the CMDATIGEN that was talked about here and it does define the 3D memory clocks, but as soon as I run it, it wont leave the 2D clocks.
Ill stay stock with them I guess.


----------



## deathskater

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *deathskater*
> 
> 
> I'll say i'm pleased with it I simply put this settings first try worked stable on occt and then did this benchie
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> doesn't get past 60C at 65% fan
> Msi Hawk 6870 twin frozr III
> Edit: Felt like making a comparison between stock and overclocked and here are the stock results.
> I won't be trying to go any higher as this seems to be the sweet spot for me


Well I got my new 6100 installed and overclocked to 4ghz so I thought of making a nother bench result comparing its result with my previous bench while using the 8120 at 4ghz Also tested to see if the 6870 was running into ecc mode as someone said i lowered the ram by 30mhz and ran it again the difference in test result was minumal so I bumped it back up ..

well here it is the result with a 6core instead of the 8 core thought someone could find the results interesting


----------



## Tokkan

@deathskater
Wait for me to get home and Ill post my Normal preset results.

Btw could you please do some 4.2Ghz benchmarks with uningine, 3d mark11 etc.
If you do so at 4.2Ghz Ill do them also with 4.2Ghz and post them here to compare.
And dont worry Ill disable crossfire


----------



## deathskater

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> @deathskater
> Wait for me to get home and Ill post my Normal preset results.
> Btw could you please do some 4.2Ghz benchmarks with uningine, 3d mark11 etc.
> If you do so at 4.2Ghz Ill do them also with 4.2Ghz and post them here to compare.
> And dont worry Ill disable crossfire


I havn't tried to get 4.2ghz but when I get home I'll see what I can do I was trying to go for 4.3ghz but couldnt get it stablewithout getting high voltages but I was reading 4.3 is when it starts being a ***** to get stable ... sooo anyways ill try for 4.2


----------



## Narwhal_Revenge

This is my AMD HD RADEON 6850


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Oh sorry
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I remember that you asked for advice about buying the card on either this thread of the 68xx series overclockers thread.
> I also remember posting the crossfire specifications which said the clock wouldnt downclock and all the shaders would be used when using mis-matched crossfire. Dunno if it was in a response to a question of yours.
> Dont worry about the problems, every1 has them..
> I spent 1 week trying to get my 2nd card working with my 1st card.
> It seemed they didnt want to get married inside my case... And the 2nd was also a lazy one. Sleeping all over the place
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Told the 2nd card: No ULPS, bad card! Bad! very bad card!
> And my first card I told her this: You either work with her, or you work with another one. But you will work in crossfire like it or not.
> Both of them decided to do what I wanted and stopped crashing and giving bsod's... But they are kinda mad at me... they dont overclock in crossfire.
> Insta crash when loading games lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tried the CMDATIGEN that was talked about here and it does define the 3D memory clocks, but as soon as I run it, it wont leave the 2D clocks.
> Ill stay stock with them I guess.


Yeah, i figured!








I love the story about them getting married, sounds like me and the girl. Sometimes we work amazingly (Dirt 3), and sometimes we don't (Skyrim).








But strangely enough i never had any ULPS problems? I don't know why, unless i try and fix it now?









Heh, i'll do it anyway. They'll still both downclock to the 150mhz or whatever and not run 930/1000 all the time?

P.S I'm finding it very hard to overclock with heat issues alone.. I can't touch the top card. I have to downclock it in summer.. Otherwise it passes the magical 74c!









Hopefully it's just the thermal paste thats dried out! And i can gain 10c with a proper application!









EDIT: I've had no problems so far, but i know that it voids my warranty. Hopefully they won't be able to tell!









What thermal paste should i use? At the moment i can get AS5/The stock 212+ compound (the good stuff). I only have half a tube of AS5 and i need to do 2 cards.. I'd rather do them in the same paste to be honest!









Might even buy something better, i dunno. I'd rather do this for nothing!


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Yeah, i figured!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love the story about them getting married, sounds like me and the girl. Sometimes we work amazingly (Dirt 3), and sometimes we don't (Skyrim).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But strangely enough i never had any ULPS problems? I don't know why, unless i try and fix it now?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Heh, i'll do it anyway. They'll still both downclock to the 150mhz or whatever and not run 930/1000 all the time?
> P.S I'm finding it very hard to overclock with heat issues alone.. I can't touch the top card. I have to downclock it in summer.. Otherwise it passes the magical 74c!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hopefully it's just the thermal paste thats dried out! And i can gain 10c with a proper application!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: I've had no problems so far, but i know that it voids my warranty. Hopefully they won't be able to tell!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What thermal paste should i use? At the moment i can get AS5/The stock 212+ compound (the good stuff). I only have half a tube of AS5 and i need to do 2 cards.. I'd rather do them in the same paste to be honest!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Might even buy something better, i dunno. I'd rather do this for nothing!


Yes they will still downclock to their 2D clocks, the ULPS thingie the only thing it does is actually completely deactivates one of your cards(2nd) when it is not being used.
It is great to save power, if it works properly.
With me it never worked since my cards dont like each other








Yea Skyrim also gives my cards a hard time, but it isnt the cards fault.
With crossfire disabled it only uses 50% of my main 6850... Enabled uses 20% on both








And I found that installing mods only made the performance worse...
Well you can replace the TIM on your card, and depending on your warranty it can still be within warranty.
Thats the only thing my country has good, if something is broke we take it to where we bought it, they test it... And if they see the problem they simply swap it for a BNIB.
Dunno how it is with Amazon.co.uk tho, started buying stuff from there and havent had the need to start an RMA with them..
About the TIM use w,e you think it is best and dont apply too much TIM, just enough to make contact on the HS and the chip, also clean the HS and the chip with Alcohol and dont touch it with your fingers.
If you manage to do all this you successfully applied TIM correctly









About the GPU temps I was also wondering if they needed a wedding dress, was thinking on buying an accelero cooler for them, but then I thought: So I bought 2 cards which costed me 300 euros and I will buy the equivalent to 100 euros just to cool them with a very high chance if they being cooler but not getting any performance boost? Aw hell no. No wedding clothing for them


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Yes they will still downclock to their 2D clocks, the ULPS thingie the only thing it does is actually completely deactivates one of your cards(2nd) when it is not being used.
> It is great to save power, if it works properly.
> With me it never worked since my cards dont like each other
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yea Skyrim also gives my cards a hard time, but it isnt the cards fault.
> With crossfire disabled it only uses 50% of my main 6850... Enabled uses 20% on both
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And I found that installing mods only made the performance worse...
> Well you can replace the TIM on your card, and depending on your warranty it can still be within warranty.
> Thats the only thing my country has good, if something is broke we take it to where we bought it, they test it... And if they see the problem they simply swap it for a BNIB.
> Dunno how it is with Amazon.co.uk tho, started buying stuff from there and havent had the need to start an RMA with them..
> About the TIM use w,e you think it is best and dont apply too much TIM, just enough to make contact on the HS and the chip, also clean the HS and the chip with Alcohol and dont touch it with your fingers.
> If you manage to do all this you successfully applied TIM correctly
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> About the GPU temps I was also wondering if they needed a wedding dress, was thinking on buying an accelero cooler for them, but then I thought: So I bought 2 cards which costed me 300 euros and I will buy the equivalent to 100 euros just to cool them with a very high chance if they being cooler but not getting any performance boost? Aw hell no. No wedding clothing for them


I know how to do GPU/CPU thermal paste! I've done a few in the past year!









Yeah, i know. Skyrim is quite terrible i know it's not their fault. It's a terrible console port..

I contacted MSI and they said that i'd be voiding my warranty, but if anything goes wrong i'll just get some thermal pads and then send it in!









And yes, i was looking at wedding dress' too! I was considering just getting one for the top card.. Still that's $40-$50.. I'd have to get the same for both i think. If i'm going as far as spending $50 on one, i may as well spend $100 on both. The main problem at the moment is that mine aren't reference..

EDIT: Just changed it, will test later tonight!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I know how to do GPU/CPU thermal paste! I've done a few in the past year!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Yeah, i know. Skyrim is quite terrible i know it's not their fault. It's a terrible console port..*
> 
> I contacted MSI and they said that i'd be voiding my warranty, but if anything goes wrong i'll just get some thermal pads and then send it in!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And yes, i was looking at wedding dress' too! I was considering just getting one for the top card.. Still that's $40-$50.. I'd have to get the same for both i think. If i'm going as far as spending $50 on one, i may as well spend $100 on both. The main problem at the moment is that mine aren't reference..
> 
> EDIT: Just changed it, will test later tonight!


Did you update your game (Skyrim) to the latest patch (or at least 1.3.1.0)? Did you use the Skyboost (it seems it's not anymore required with the latest 1.4)? Why don't you try (once at least) to synchronise settings with the AB (lowering the clocks of the 6870 if necessary) using a volt. that would be good for both vga's.









I'm telling you all this because mine runs like hell with catalyst 12.2 preview (all maxed out and a lot of hd texture FXAA injectors and mods) getting a 100% constantly 60fps with a gpu load (both cards) of 35-65%


----------



## arrow0309

*MSI Afterburner 2.2.0 Beta 12* (02-02-2012)

Link: http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afterburner-2.2.0-Beta-12-download-2850.html

Changes list includes:

- Memory clock limit has been extended to 180% on AMD RADEON 79x0 graphics cards in unofficial overclocking mode
- Added low-level clock frequencies monitoring for AMD RADEON 79x0 graphics cards
*- Added PowerTune adjustment slider for AMD HD 6xxx and 7xxx series graphics cards
- Improved overclocking profiles format provides compatibility with future graphics cards. Please take a note that existing overclocking profiles (startup overclocking profile and profile slots) will be ignored and must be recreated in new version*
- MSI On-Screen Display server has been upgraded to v4.3.2. New version gives the following improvements:
o Added gamma corrected video capture support
o Framerate limit ratio for video capture in no longer controlled via the server's profiles. Now it can be adjusted directly into MSI Afterburner's video capture properties
o Added Direct3D9Ex support (DOTA 2 and Darkness 2 demo)
o Improved desktop windows notification mechanism eliminates unwanted beeps occurring on some systems during the server startup / shutdown
o Output video dimensions are now cropped to be multiple of 16 to improve compatibility with some third party MJPG decoders
o Improved OpenGL On-Screen Display coordinates calculation for framebuffer coordinate space mode
o Now "Enable compatibility with modified Direct3D runtime libraries" option is compatible with Direct3D9 game engines using double FPU precision (MassEffect series)


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> *MSI Afterburner 2.2.0 Beta 12* (02-02-2012)
> Link: http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afterburner-2.2.0-Beta-12-download-2850.html
> Changes list includes:
> - Memory clock limit has been extended to 180% on AMD RADEON 79x0 graphics cards in unofficial overclocking mode
> - Added low-level clock frequencies monitoring for AMD RADEON 79x0 graphics cards
> *- Added PowerTune adjustment slider for AMD HD 6xxx and 7xxx series graphics cards
> - Improved overclocking profiles format provides compatibility with future graphics cards. Please take a note that existing overclocking profiles (startup overclocking profile and profile slots) will be ignored and must be recreated in new version*
> - MSI On-Screen Display server has been upgraded to v4.3.2. New version gives the following improvements:
> o Added gamma corrected video capture support
> o Framerate limit ratio for video capture in no longer controlled via the server's profiles. Now it can be adjusted directly into MSI Afterburner's video capture properties
> o Added Direct3D9Ex support (DOTA 2 and Darkness 2 demo)
> o Improved desktop windows notification mechanism eliminates unwanted beeps occurring on some systems during the server startup / shutdown
> o Output video dimensions are now cropped to be multiple of 16 to improve compatibility with some third party MJPG decoders
> o Improved OpenGL On-Screen Display coordinates calculation for framebuffer coordinate space mode
> o Now "Enable compatibility with modified Direct3D runtime libraries" option is compatible with Direct3D9 game engines using double FPU precision (MassEffect series)


Nice, i shall look into this!









EDIT: I also gave up on skyrim, i'll try it now though!









Ooh, high res texture pack!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Nice, i shall look into this!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: I also gave up on skyrim, i'll try it now though!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh, high res texture pack!


Great game









PS. Do you like my wife?









http://ximages.net/images/25891458023608620578.jpg

http://ximages.net/images/52776719006261693363.jpg


----------



## microfister

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Great game
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS. Do you like my wife?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://ximages.net/images/25891458023608620578.jpg
> http://ximages.net/images/52776719006261693363.jpg


eyeuck







... that woman. WONT. SHUT. UP!

CANT STAND MJOLL. didnt think you could marry her. even after you get grimserver back for her, i could only use her as a merc, which i did, then traded equipment with her so i could keep the damn thing.

married the chick from river somthin. and now im stuck with her. tried doing the "kill her as a werewolf and get a new one" thing, but that didnt work.


----------



## btwalter

Add me to the list please!


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Great game
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS. Do you like my wife?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://ximages.net/images/25891458023608620578.jpg
> http://ximages.net/images/52776719006261693363.jpg


Yes! I love her!







:
I need to find a hawt wife


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *btwalter*
> 
> Add me to the list please!


@btwalter
I doubt you will get added soon but I can tell you this, you can join us.
Give us the pleasure of having your company with us


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I know how to do GPU/CPU thermal paste! I've done a few in the past year!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, i know. Skyrim is quite terrible i know it's not their fault. It's a terrible console port..
> I contacted MSI and they said that i'd be voiding my warranty, but if anything goes wrong i'll just get some thermal pads and then send it in!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And yes, i was looking at wedding dress' too! I was considering just getting one for the top card.. Still that's $40-$50.. I'd have to get the same for both i think. If i'm going as far as spending $50 on one, i may as well spend $100 on both. The main problem at the moment is that mine aren't reference..
> EDIT: Just changed it, will test later tonight!


Call it what you want(wedding dress lol) if your overclocking an aftermarket cooler is the best way to go.I use shin-etsu (compound) on my coolers and didn't see anything above 65c on a hot day .It took 20+ mins to get 70c in furmark now that I changed the tim on my cards again its even better..After reading so many reviews on coolers I was worried about bending my cards but it turns out the coolers weren't tight enough.and now my temps are way better .Its a huge difference my cards are overclocked to 970/1100 @1.225 and rock solid and at those settings im gaming(shift 2,BF3 SP,Dirt3 for hours )in the low 50"s and my ambient is higher then before.If you can get compusa to ship to you or have a store near you I recommend them..When I got them they were $29 each and by far the best in the price range as a matter of fact I would put them against those in the $50 range and im sure they would win in most cases..If you don't trust me look at the reviews and if thats not enough check threw this thread Ive posted many screen shots of my temps and they have actually gotten better.
you may not get a higher overclock but thats not the only reason for a cooler.I got higher stable overclock at lower voltage and a lot less noise in fact I can't hear them at any rpm over my many case fans..If there is any doubt left in you guys ask anyone with aftermarket cooling.

And now the best part they have cut the price in half they are $15 ..I know it sounds like I work for them but I don't.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Call it what you want(wedding dress lol) if your overclocking an aftermarket cooler is the best way to go.I use shin-etsu (compound) on my coolers and didn't see anything above 65c on a hot day .It took 20+ mins to get 70c in furmark now that I changed the tim on my cards again its even better..After reading so many reviews on coolers I was worried about bending my cards but it turns out the coolers weren't tight enough.and now my temps are way better .Its a huge difference my cards are overclocked to 970/1100 @1.225 and rock solid and at those settings im gaming(shift 2,BF3 SP,Dirt3 for hours )in the low 50"s and my ambient is higher then before.If you can get compusa to ship to you or have a store near you I recommend them..When I got them they were $29 each and by far the best in the price range as a matter of fact I would put them against those in the $50 range and im sure they would win in most cases..If you don't trust me look at the reviews and if thats not enough check threw this thread Ive posted many screen shots of my temps and they have actually gotten better.
> you may not get a higher overclock but thats not the only reason for a cooler.I got higher stable overclock at lower voltage and a lot less noise in fact I can't hear them at any rpm over my many case fans..If there is any doubt left in you guys ask anyone with aftermarket cooling.
> And now the best part they have cut the price in half they are $15 ..I know it sounds like I work for them but I don't.


To start with, my second 6850 does not overclock, when it crashes it forces my 1st 6850 to crash.
My first 6850 with stock cooler could do 1Ghz without going above the 70c mark btw.
Why would I invest in this card when obviously it isnt the cooler holding it back but in fact the new PCB that sapphire released?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Call it what you want(wedding dress lol) if your overclocking an aftermarket cooler is the best way to go.I use shin-etsu (compound) on my coolers and didn't see anything above 65c on a hot day .It took 20+ mins to get 70c in furmark now that I changed the tim on my cards again its even better..After reading so many reviews on coolers I was worried about bending my cards but it turns out the coolers weren't tight enough.and now my temps are way better .Its a huge difference my cards are overclocked to 970/1100 @1.225 and rock solid and at those settings im gaming(shift 2,BF3 SP,Dirt3 for hours )in the low 50"s and my ambient is higher then before.If you can get compusa to ship to you or have a store near you I recommend them..When I got them they were $29 each and by far the best in the price range as a matter of fact I would put them against those in the $50 range and im sure they would win in most cases..If you don't trust me look at the reviews and if thats not enough check threw this thread Ive posted many screen shots of my temps and they have actually gotten better.
> you may not get a higher overclock but thats not the only reason for a cooler.I got higher stable overclock at lower voltage and a lot less noise in fact I can't hear them at any rpm over my many case fans..If there is any doubt left in you guys ask anyone with aftermarket cooling.
> And now the best part they have cut the price in half they are $15 ..I know it sounds like I work for them but I don't.


damn in store price only. know of an online store with one that cheap?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Call it what you want(wedding dress lol) if your overclocking an aftermarket cooler is the best way to go.I use shin-etsu (compound) on my coolers and didn't see anything above 65c on a hot day .It took 20+ mins to get 70c in furmark now that I changed the tim on my cards again its even better..After reading so many reviews on coolers I was worried about bending my cards but it turns out the coolers weren't tight enough.and now my temps are way better .Its a huge difference my cards are overclocked to 970/1100 @1.225 and rock solid and at those settings im gaming(shift 2,BF3 SP,Dirt3 for hours )in the low 50"s and my ambient is higher then before.If you can get compusa to ship to you or have a store near you I recommend them..When I got them they were $29 each and by far the best in the price range as a matter of fact I would put them against those in the $50 range and im sure they would win in most cases..If you don't trust me look at the reviews and if thats not enough check threw this thread Ive posted many screen shots of my temps and they have actually gotten better.
> you may not get a higher overclock but thats not the only reason for a cooler.I got higher stable overclock at lower voltage and a lot less noise in fact I can't hear them at any rpm over my many case fans..If there is any doubt left in you guys ask anyone with aftermarket cooling.
> And now the best part they have cut the price in half they are $15 ..I know it sounds like I work for them but I don't.


What cooler are you talking about? I can only get the dual cooler one for $50 here!


----------



## achromatik

Sweet card thus far, I wanna join the club too!

OCN: Achromatik
Card: Gigabyte HD6850 Windforce x2


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> To start with, my second 6850 does not overclock, when it crashes it forces my 1st 6850 to crash.
> My first 6850 with stock cooler could do 1Ghz without going above the 70c mark btw.
> Why would I invest in this card when obviously it isnt the cooler holding it back but in fact the new PCB that sapphire released?


If you can do 1Ghz on the stock cooler in furmark and not break 70c thats great but a cooler would lower temps and produce less noise doing so Its up to you if its worth it.Had similar problems(not the same) with my set-up.one card would do 1Ghz on 1.21 but the other (bad card) was not stable over 900 even with all the voltage you could throw at it (voltage mod 1.4volts)but it could hold 1Ghz for long enough for benchmark test.In one suicide run of heaven It got to 99c.So considering were I started getting both to run at 970/1100 1.225 rock solid is awesome.The only reason I run the better card at thesee settings is MSI afterburner no longer lets me save separate profiles for each card and im not going to manually set it every time I play a game..
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> damn in store price only. know of an online store with one that cheap?


Sorry but that must have just started .Didn't realize it until your post but now I can't even find them on the compusa website and if you find them on the tigerdirect site it tells you to go to a compusa store








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> What cooler are you talking about? I can only get the dual cooler one for $50 here!


the cooler is a
Ultra U12-40659 Carbon X4 Multi-Socket VGA Cooler - Dual 100mm Low Noise Fans, 6mm Heat Pipes, Alumi.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details_ss.asp?EdpNo=4974361&CatId=4027

its a xigmatek bifrost
http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?productid=124

painted black with a different sticker and fan connector at one forth of the price unfortunately
they are only sold in stores now..


----------



## Davayy

Hey guys, first post but been lurking a while.
I thinking of buying a second 6870, taking advantage of all those price drops ya'know. Anyone had any problems with them going Xfire?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Davayy*
> 
> Hey guys, first post but been lurking a while.
> I thinking of buying a second 6870, taking advantage of all those price drops ya'know. Anyone had any problems with them going Xfire?


Depends... Some have faced problems, but they face problems mostly because they didnt knew the solutions to an already common problem.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> If you can do 1Ghz on the stock cooler in furmark and not break 70c thats great but a cooler would lower temps and produce less noise doing so Its up to you if its worth it.Had similar problems(not the same) with my set-up.one card would do 1Ghz on 1.21 but the other (bad card) was not stable over 900 even with all the voltage you could throw at it (voltage mod 1.4volts)but it could hold 1Ghz for long enough for benchmark test.In one suicide run of heaven It got to 99c.So considering were I started getting both to run at 970/1100 1.225 rock solid is awesome.The only reason I run the better card at thesee settings is MSI afterburner no longer lets me save separate profiles for each card and im not going to manually set it every time I play a game..
> 
> Sorry but that must have just started .Didn't realize it until your post but now I can't even find them on the compusa website and if you find them on the tigerdirect site it tells you to go to a compusa store
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> the cooler is a
> Ultra U12-40659 Carbon X4 Multi-Socket VGA Cooler - Dual 100mm Low Noise Fans, 6mm Heat Pipes, Alumi.
> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details_ss.asp?EdpNo=4974361&CatId=4027
> its a xigmatek bifrost
> http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?productid=124
> painted black with a different sticker and fan connector at one forth of the price unfortunately
> they are only sold in stores now..


Ouch.. I can't get anything decent for over $50 here








Looks like i'll have to save up! :s


----------



## Behemoth777

Due to 7xxx series prices, looks like i'll be keeping my 6850 for a bit longer.







I do love my 6850 though, best oc'er i've ever owned.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Behemoth777*
> 
> Due to 7xxx series prices, looks like i'll be keeping my 6850 for a bit longer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do love my 6850 though, best oc'er i've ever owned.


It is an excellent performing card, doesnt let me down.


----------



## DjCapi246

MSI R6850 Cyclone 1GD5 Power Edition OC Edition


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Behemoth777*
> 
> Due to 7xxx series prices, looks like i'll be keeping my 6850 for a bit longer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do love my 6850 though, best oc'er i've ever owned.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> It is an excellent performing card, doesnt let me down.


Same.


----------



## TwiggLe

Yeah I grabbed a 2nd 6850 to go with my visiontek. Was waiting on the 78xx cards but with them being pushed back to march I decided to go ahead and get a 2nd one. So far I'm pretty pleased with it.
Maybe when the benches come out for the 78xx cards if they will be a big enough jump I'll try to sell my 2 cards for a single 7850 or other card.


----------



## ihatelolcats

i hate everything, just saw 95C memory temp
that's 20C higher than the gpu


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i hate everything, just saw 95C memory temp
> that's 20C higher than the gpu


What do you mean "_memory temp_"? There isn't any memory temp that you can monitor.


----------



## ihatelolcats

you sure about that?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> you sure about that?


I knew it! It's a gpu temp also (the gpu's memory controller or MemIO).








20°C difference is too much. Try to change tim (amount) reapplying a better one and assure you mount your gpu cooler correctly.


----------



## oldcompgeek

I just built my 2nd rig and I carefully selected the hardware based on hundreds of reviews and of course looking coolest lol. Seriously, I would like to join your forum to learn more about how to get more performance out of my card. I use it for everything including gaming, H.T.P.C. movies and television and video editing and more. Thank you for any help or advice.


----------



## neurotix

I don't think I've asked to be added but go ahead and add my 6870.



Quote:


> I just built my 2nd rig and I carefully selected the hardware based on hundreds of reviews and of course looking coolest lol. Seriously, I would like to join your forum to learn more about how to get more performance out of my card. I use it for everything including gaming, H.T.P.C. movies and television and video editing and more. Thank you for any help or advice.


Use Sapphire Trixx to OC (MSI Afterburner is ****ty and doesn't work). Use OCCT (google it) or Furmark to stress test your overclock.

I would start by putting your voltage to 1.26v, core clock to 1000mhz and RAM clock to 1150mhz. Run OCCT or Furmark GPU tests and see if you get "errors" in OCCT or a BSOD. Let it run for about 20 minutes, if it doesn't crash then load your favorite game and try playing it and see if you notice any screen tearing, artifacting or freezes. If not then you have an extra 100mhz on both the GPU and RAM and should be happy with that; if you want to get higher you're on your own.

If for whatever reason you crash, then back off the core clock 10mhz at a time, keeping the same voltage, until you pass OCCT with no errors. If this doesn't help then back off the RAM clock as well. Once you have a stable OC, lower the voltage a bit at a time until you no longer pass OCCT (though 1.26v in a case with good airflow should be safe no matter what). If your temps exceed 80C or so you're getting too hot.

Good luck.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> I don't think I've asked to be added but go ahead and add my 6870.
> 
> Use Sapphire Trixx to OC (MSI Afterburner is ****ty and doesn't work). Use OCCT (google it) or Furmark to stress test your overclock.
> I would start by putting your voltage to 1.26v, core clock to 1000mhz and RAM clock to 1150mhz. Run OCCT or Furmark GPU tests and see if you get "errors" in OCCT or a BSOD. Let it run for about 20 minutes, if it doesn't crash then load your favorite game and try playing it and see if you notice any screen tearing, artifacting or freezes. If not then you have an extra 100mhz on both the GPU and RAM and should be happy with that; if you want to get higher you're on your own.
> If for whatever reason you crash, then back off the core clock 10mhz at a time, keeping the same voltage, until you pass OCCT with no errors. If this doesn't help then back off the RAM clock as well. Once you have a stable OC, lower the voltage a bit at a time until you no longer pass OCCT (though 1.26v in a case with good airflow should be safe no matter what). If your temps exceed 80C or so you're getting too hot.
> Good luck.


Thats a first. I never herd of raising voltage first.That would only save time if you have an idea of where your gonna end up.I would suggest the other way around especially if temps are a problem.raising core clock until added voltage is required (no longer stable) and keeping an eye on temps.You can go over 1.26v if temps allow but try to keep it in the low 70's if possible.Another thing you dont want to overclock core and mem at the same time because when you run into instability you wont know where its coming from..Slowly find your max core clock and make sure its stable before overclocking your mem..mem on the other hand is a little more tricky because you may run into ecc (error correction codes) before you see any instability so you will have to run benchmarks to make sure you still getting performance increases as once ecc starts it hurts performance.

freezing and artifacts are signs of instability but screen tearing is not..Its actually a sign of good performance screen tearing happens when you pc is putting out frame rates your monitor can't handle.It means your fps is so high your monitor is actually showing 2 frames at once.this can be fixed by turning on v-sync it limits your FPS to what ever your monitor can handle.


----------



## oldcompgeek

I did as you sait but I don't have control of the memory.? I see "memory clock" which I turned up to 4300, and I set the core clock at 1000 and the G.P.U. Voltage at 1260 on sapphire trixx. Now, do I need to use Overdrive to change the memory to 1250? I just saw 3 changeable settings on Trixx. Thanks, oldcompgeek


----------



## oldcompgeek

okay, sorry, I'm slow lol. I kept gpu-z on screen and set it to auto update and noticed when I turned the "memory clock" up,it turned the memory up at different intervals though. finally got it to 1200 by setting the memory clock to 4800. thanks again, I'm about to run vantage (3d mark version 110). I'll update with the results.


----------



## SunYear

Here's my two babes ...









(there's some extra stuff, sorry)


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SunYear*
> 
> Here's my two babes ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (there's some extra stuff, sorry)


Wow thats some sexy box ya got there mate,
how are the cards?


----------



## oldcompgeek

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3891439

Hey, y'all I overclocked my 8120, and then ran 3d vantage afterwards and my results were good, I think. The prob is that vantage said that my driver is not "approved" or something. Should I worry? It didnt crash and made it through the entire test. Here's my screenshots as well:


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3891439
> Hey, y'all I overclocked my 8120, and then ran 3d vantage afterwards and my results were good, I think. The prob is that vantage said that my driver is not "approved" or something. Should I worry? It didnt crash and made it through the entire test. Here's my screenshots as well:


It means its a new driver, so you can't post it in 3Dmark's online scores.. Doesn't matter really!









Can't push the card to 1GHz?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I knew it! It's a gpu temp also (the gpu's memory controller or MemIO).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20°C difference is too much. Try to change tim (amount) reapplying a better one and assure you mount your gpu cooler correctly.


that's what i meant, anyway you were right about the tim. i replaced the AS5 with zalman "stg2" and it's 10C better. also all the temp registers are within 2C. i think i didn't use enough AS5 even though it was fully coated


----------



## oldcompgeek

Naah, not without crashing anyway. I don't know enough about overclocking to know what to adjust and don't want to damage anything. Do you have any suggestions as to what settings will run stably? I have my fx the way I want it, but G.P.U. overclocking is totally new to me. I have excellent case ventilation for cooling inside a MASSIVE case so I'm not worried about heat concerns. Thanks.


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> Naah, not without crashing anyway. I don't know enough about overclocking to know what to adjust and don't want to damage anything. Do you have any suggestions as to what settings will run stably? I have my fx the way I want it, but G.P.U. overclocking is totally new to me. I have excellent case ventilation for cooling inside a MASSIVE case so I'm not worried about heat concerns. Thanks.


Nice case.
For a beginner GPU overclocker download Sapphire Trixx then move the GPU Core slider up 20mhz and run 3dMark 11.
Take note of your score at the end. If it ran though with out crashing or doing any funny colors then its stable so go another 20mhz higher and do it again.
If the score goes down or it crashes or has funny colour then its unstable so lower it 5mhz.

Keep doing that until it crashes/Gets to hot/Gives lower score or funny colours (artifacts).

Once you found the max core then set it 20 lower and start doing the same with the memory.
If you want to get a bit more advanced then you can increase the voltage which gives you more core head room but not memory. But on stock cooler you wont be able to add much more voltage.

You will want to keep it under 80C.

Once you have found the max for memory and core then run a game like BF3. If it crashes lower the overclocks a bit more. IV found with my cards 3dmark 11 can run 10mhz higher then BF3 can. But iv also had cards in the past that would be game stable but not 3dmark stable.


----------



## oldcompgeek

Thanks, I appreciate it. I have Trixx, and my current settings were recommended by another overclock.net member, well except for the 990 which was 100. If u ever go for a new S.T. case, this Aerocool strike-x s.t. is a beauty! the 3 P.C.B.'s have 7 fan plugs on each to connect up to 21 fans total without any trouble! (3-pin) also, the built-in 3 knob controls 1-p.c.b. each. The thing is HUGE ans dual hot swap for either size hard drive. The best thing tho,is the behind the mobo cooling fan bracket. (120mm) I plugged mine into my cpu fan-2 header on my fatality mobo and it kicks on whenever it needs cooling. Anyway,I'll quit ramblin' and try overclockin' that G.P.U. lol. Thanks again.


----------



## conzilla

I thought max temp for the 6850/6870 is 105c. I do understand keeping it cooler is better but where are you getting your 80c number from?


----------



## oldcompgeek

Hey, bud, if u don't mind me asking? how much would a carbon copy machine like yours cost except with 1 6870? (approx) I spent 1800.00 on our gaming/htpc and want to build one for my son. Thanks


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *conzilla*
> 
> I thought max temp for the 6850/6870 is 105c. I do understand keeping it cooler is better but where are you getting your 80c number from?


You said it your self cooler is better.Although its said 100c won't kill the cards ,there not going to last too long at those temps.A card running at those temps is also going to heat up your room and other components in your pc.But most importantly here is the fact that you won't get a good stable overclock at those temps.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *conzilla*
> 
> I thought max temp for the 6850/6870 is 105c. I do understand keeping it cooler is better but where are you getting your 80c number from?


mine starts getting unstable above 75. if yours can go higher and not crash i don't see a problem until 95C+ tbh. graphics card will probably be replaced before the extra heat causes any problems. imo.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I knew it! It's a gpu temp also (the gpu's memory controller or MemIO).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20°C difference is too much. Try to change tim (amount) reapplying a better one and assure you mount your gpu cooler correctly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> that's what i meant, anyway you were right about the tim. i replaced the AS5 with zalman "stg2" and it's 10C better. also all the temp registers are within 2C. i think i didn't use enough AS5 even though it was fully coated
Click to expand...

That's good. I still wouldn't recommend the AS5 (a 100% silver grease) for naked gpu's like ours, the Zalman stg2 is an excellent choice


----------



## fester99

I would like to join the club and start learning about this killer card.



I have the gigabyte Radeon HD 6870 GV-R687OC-1GD


----------



## bmgjet

Any one got a good guide for volt modding a 6850. Have been trying everything to get my newer 2nd one over 1.49V with the bios but nothing will work so going physical is the only option.


----------



## scariaar

Hi i thought i might say Hello and ask if i can join the club







lol I have just got my XFX HD 6850 through and what a bit of kit it is! ( still very xcited due to upgrade from a 8600 gt lol)
has crisped everything up n playing games like MW3 and Oblivion on max so very happy lol

Cheers Scariaar


----------



## neurotix

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> Thats a first. I never herd of raising voltage first.That would only save time if you have an idea of where your gonna end up.I would suggest the other way around especially if temps are a problem.raising core clock until added voltage is required (no longer stable) and keeping an eye on temps.You can go over 1.26v if temps allow but try to keep it in the low 70's if possible.Another thing you dont want to overclock core and mem at the same time because when you run into instability you wont know where its coming from..Slowly find your max core clock and make sure its stable before overclocking your mem..mem on the other hand is a little more tricky because you may run into ecc (error correction codes) before you see any instability so you will have to run benchmarks to make sure you still getting performance increases as once ecc starts it hurts performance.


Yeah the problem with this is that raising things 10 mhz at a time and testing is slower than setting it to a decent overclock and then backing off. My card does 1000/1200 @ 1.26v no problem (though I have it at 1050/1250 1.3v right now). I think I read somewhere that 95% of 6870s can do 1000 core easily and the voltage is just to ensure the card won't fail under load. It's simply a matter of getting him a decent overclock based on my knowledge and him keying in settings as opposed to stress testing it bit by bit and raising it. Yes, he could get a cooler overclock with less voltage that way.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> okay, sorry, I'm slow lol. I kept gpu-z on screen and set it to auto update and noticed when I turned the "memory clock" up,it turned the memory up at different intervals though. finally got it to 1200 by setting the memory clock to 4800. thanks again, I'm about to run vantage (3d mark version 110). I'll update with the results.


Yeah Sapphire Trixx has something in the options tab that says "Show Effective Memory Clocks". Uncheck it and you can see the base memory clock. I guess the RAM speed actually runs at 4X the base clock in some scientific way we probably can't understand, similar to Hypertransport on an AMD system (your HT Ref Clock/FSB may be 200mhz but it's actually 2000mhz to the CPU and RAM).


----------



## oldcompgeek

now,when I try to start shogun 2, the whole computer restarts. I'm wondering if I have a power supply issue...?


----------



## ihatelolcats

looking for benchmark or review of 6870+6850 in crossfire
bonus: with comparison to 6870+6870 CF


----------



## bmgjet

6870+6850 in crossfire = 6850+6850 crossfire.


----------



## therune

Hey all, I wanted to share my experience installing a Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Plus Cooler on my XFX Radeon HD 6870. First off, if anyone is going to use this heatsink and wants to use the small memory heatsinks that it comes with, do not use the thermal adhesive it comes with! I first tried using the included thermal adhesive and after 3 hours it was still just as wet as when I first applied it. Instead I bought Arctic Silver thermal adhesive, 2 hours after applying it, it was set.

Here's the finished product, kind of ugly but my idle temp has been lowered by about 18 degrees. It sits around 36 degrees with the fan at 1500 rpm.



The stock cooler had a strip of grey thermal material across 4 very small chips, I wasn't sure if they needed heatsinks but I didn't want to leave them off so I cut down some small blue heatsinks to cover them. I had to take the black plastic bezel from around the heatsink, I couldn't route my PSU cables around it with it on. I zip tied an 120mm thermaltake fan and put some small rubber washer under the screw holes to keep the vibration down. I also had to remove the fan on my side panel because of it's size, now thanks to my CPU heatsink and this one my side panel has no fans







. This thing turned out to be a much bigger hassle than I originally thought but it was well worth the temperature drop.


----------



## bmgjet

Lucky you stuck those blue ones on, Thats for the mosfets/VRM and they get hot. Especially when overclocking.
The small blue ones might not be enough so be sure to monitor them since you dont want one of them burning out and destroying your card.


----------



## therune

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Lucky you stuck those blue ones on, Thats for the mosfets/VRM and they get hot. Especially when overclocking.
> The small blue ones might not be enough so be sure to monitor them since you dont want one of them burning out and destroying your card.


It has to be better than the strip of stock grey thermal material that was on it, it only had plastic above it, haha. But thanks, is there any way to monitor how hot they get?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *therune*
> 
> It has to be better than the strip of stock grey thermal material that was on it, it only had plastic above it, haha. But thanks, is there any way to monitor how hot they get?


thermocouple/thermistor
probably not worth bothering with


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *therune*
> 
> It has to be better than the strip of stock grey thermal material that was on it, it only had plastic above it, haha. But thanks, is there any way to monitor how hot they get?


You can monitor the VRM temps with GPU-Z under V-Reg temp.But it does not work with all cards.


----------



## bmgjet

As said GPU-Z other wise if you have easy access to the cards you can stick your finger on one of them.
If it burns you finger you have a problem, If not then its sweet.

Mines got the big stock cooler on them and that gets quite warm to the touch after half a hours gaming.


----------



## therune

Well it wasn't even warm to the touch, GPU-Z has VReg 1 at 35C and 2 at 26C so I'm not going to worry about it.

Thanks for all the info.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *therune*
> 
> Well it wasn't even warm to the touch, GPU-Z has VReg 1 at 35C and 2 at 26C so I'm not going to worry about it.
> 
> Thanks for all the info.


Well done, in fact with a huge fan like yours those 4 DrMos are cooled enough (even in oc). The X-Bit Labs, in one of their first HD 6870 Crossfire reviews successfully used an Accelero Xtreme 5870 cooler even without vrm small heatsinks, since the cooling power of its 3 fans was enough even at lower speed:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd6870-hd6850-crossfirex_2.html#sect0


----------



## axipher

Even with my VF3000A I have no cooling on the VRM's, all I have is the 8 RAM chips with passive heatsinks and the main heatsink. It does have two 90 mm fans I keep at half speed. During 24/7 folding, GPU temps never go above 55 C and VRM temps in GPU-z peak at just shy of 60 C.

I'm assuming as long as you have a fan directly over the VRM's and your GPU is under 60 C so that your heat sink isn't getting so hot that your blowing super hot air on the VRM's, you should be okay without.

If I recall correctly, when I tried putting 1.3 V through my card to get higher than 1000 MHz core clock, it would start artifacting like when you have a high memory overclock just on 2D clocks and get driver crashes during VLC. But when running Furmark, I would get just white and black specs in the actual fur on the donut itself and nowhere else and GPU temps would hit 60 C and VRM's would sky rocket to 90 C.



*TLR:*

If you're going to be increasing voltage from the stock 1.175 V to above 1.2 V, get some heatsinks on the VRM's, otherwise make sure you have a fan blowing air over the VRM's directly.


----------



## dpalmer492

Username: Dpalmer492
Brand: ASUS


----------



## popita

I have got a Gigabyte 6870 OC.



Is ok the O.C?

Thanks


----------



## pursuinginsanity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Although its said 100c won't kill the cards ,there not going to last too long at those temps.A card running at those temps is also going to heat up your room and other components in your pc


What you're saying (here) makes no sense.

Which one is going to heat up your case/room more, a GTX 480 running full load at 55C or a 5770 running full load at 95C? The GPU core's temp has no bearing on how much heat the card is putting out. It does show how effective (or ineffective) the card's cooling is, though. In fact, the better the card's cooling, the more it's going to heat up your room. (the heat has to transfer somewhere.)


----------



## Redwoodz

Finally got overvoltage to work on my HIS 6790 with the latest Trixx.
My results,card is completely stock











http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/urpk9/


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *pursuinginsanity*
> 
> What you're saying (here) makes no sense.
> Which one is going to heat up your case/room more, a GTX 480 running full load at 55C or a 5770 running full load at 95C? The GPU core's temp has no bearing on how much heat the card is putting out. It does show how effective (or ineffective) the card's cooling is, though. In fact, the better the card's cooling, the more it's going to heat up your room. (the heat has to transfer somewhere.)


Your right its not that simple but thats not what were talking about.If you look back we were talking about reasons to keep his card cool (and only his). Sure a 480 with good cooling is going to dump more heat in your room if your talking about one card putting out a tiny amount of 95c air versus the other putting out a $hit load of 55c air .But that same 480 overclocked with added voltage is going to get hotter and add more heat in and outside the case.

That makes perfect sense maybe you should troll less and read more. Check the name of this thread no one here talking about 480's or 5770's.

Maybe its just me but when someone with 2 6870's asks why to keep his temps below 80c in the AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870 Owners Thread fermi cards are a little off topic.


----------



## Seanay00

Hi i am new to this thread but thought id throw in my 2 cents. I have 2 Powercolor 6870's overclocked at 970/1150 and they run at around 72-77degree's at full load depending on how hot the day is. And yes they do heat up the room with pretty much 2 hair dryers cranking air into the room constantly. So i can see where ur cumn from smoke420, but if the cards r feeding the hot air straight out the back of the pc i wouldnt worry about them heating up the whole system.


----------



## fester99

I can't seem to overvolt with trixx Is there something I am missing? Can some one walk me through it. This is my first foray into overclocking and I am such a noob.


----------



## Paulstin1

I have a sapphire 6850 and since I started using it I have noticed these lines on my screen wether I'm playing a game or on my desktop but they only are visible when I'm moving a window around or running around in a game. Can't figure out what it is. I don't think it is effecting my performance as I have ran almost every new game on 1080 res and high setting and it's always been smooth. I use my 26 in vizio t.v for my monitor could that be the prob? It's vary annoying


----------



## bmgjet

Are you running 1080p or 1080i?

fester99: Maybe your one doesnt have voltage control.


----------



## raptorxrx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fester99*
> 
> I can't seem to overvolt with trixx Is there something I am missing? Can some one walk me through it. This is my first foray into overclocking and I am such a noob.


I'm not a overclocker either, but I do know that for most you need to enable Fan Control in the settings, and that will bring up voltage control. At least, that needs to be done for the Green side...


----------



## Paulstin1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Are you running 1080p or 1080i?
> fester99: Maybe your one doesnt have voltage control.


1080p and I can change my voltage I oc it the other day I have some screen shots of my stats on a thread I started the other day I was at 1000 gpu clock and 1140 mem but it still dose it at stock speeds and volts I was thinking maybe it has something to do with my mobo because I have gpu boost but not sure.


----------



## Paulstin1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Paulstin1*
> 
> 1080p and I can change my voltage I oc it the other day I have some screen shots of my stats on a thread I started the other day I was at 1000 gpu clock and 1140 mem but it still dose it at stock speeds and volts I was thinking maybe it has something to do with my mobo because I have gpu boost but not sure.


My bad did not see who u where talking to


----------



## oldcompgeek

If anyone knows, look at these pics of my pci express video card power supply wire. I have an OCZ 550 watt and it came with 2 6 pin pcie plugs but both on same wire. Will my 6870 still get the power it needs or is the power being split? The wires came pre-sleeved so I thought they had double sets of wires in it but am unsure now. Should I run a second dedicated line to one of the plugs? Thx


----------



## Paulstin1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> If anyone knows, look at these pics of my pci express video card power supply wire. I have an OCZ 550 watt and it came with 2 6 pin pcie plugs but both on same wire. Will my 6870 still get the power it needs or is the power being split? The wires came pre-sleeved so I thought they had double sets of wires in it but am unsure now. Should I run a second dedicated line to one of the plugs? Thx


U will be fine after all they put 2 plugs on there for that exact reson


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Paulstin1*
> 
> I have a sapphire 6850 and since I started using it I have noticed these lines on my screen wether I'm playing a game or on my desktop but they only are visible when I'm moving a window around or running around in a game. Can't figure out what it is. I don't think it is effecting my performance as I have ran almost every new game on 1080 res and high setting and it's always been smooth. I use my 26 in vizio t.v for my monitor could that be the prob? It's vary annoying


It sounds like screen tearing but I never herd of it happening on the desktop without eyefinity.Try turning on v-sync in ccc.Set wait for vertical refresh to quality (always on) see if it helps.


----------



## Paulstin1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> It sounds like screen tearing but I never herd of it happening on the desktop without eyefinity.Try turning on v-sync in ccc.Set wait for vertical refresh to quality (always on) see if it helps.


U might have just solved my prob I have used my eyefinity and when I was done I just unplugged my other monitor and that was about the time it started do u have to actualy turn it off eyefinity after using it kinda figured when I unplugged it it would just turn off


----------



## dartuil

hello if i remove stock fan to put a artic cooling accelero i kill warranty?


----------



## fester99

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> hello if i remove stock fan to put a artic cooling accelero i kill warranty?


pretty much anytime you modify hardware in any way it will void their warranty. Think of it this way the warranty is their guarantee that their assembly of the product is free from defects, if you start assembling parts then they are not gonna take responsibility for their product failing because the condition in which the product was guaranteed has been modified. They will not repair it because they will be unable to determine if the mod you made was the cause of the failure.

Shorter answer yes you will kill the warranty.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> hello if i remove stock fan to put a artic cooling accelero i kill warranty?


I'll say no, if you don't have any seal on the back of your card and if you do a clean, proper stock cooler remove. You'll only have to remount back before any rma process. Try not to ruin the star shape of the screws.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Paulstin1*
> 
> 1080p and I can change my voltage I oc it the other day I have some screen shots of my stats on a thread I started the other day I was at 1000 gpu clock and 1140 mem but it still dose it at stock speeds and volts I was thinking maybe it has something to do with my mobo because I have gpu boost but not sure.


Yeah, turn it all back to "Default" all of the PCI/GPU boost settings. I had problems with this too!








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> If anyone knows, look at these pics of my pci express video card power supply wire. I have an OCZ 550 watt and it came with 2 6 pin pcie plugs but both on same wire. Will my 6870 still get the power it needs or is the power being split? The wires came pre-sleeved so I thought they had double sets of wires in it but am unsure now. Should I run a second dedicated line to one of the plugs? Thx


This is the whole reason, there must be a ample supply between both. I mean why would they have it and make it not work?








It's a nice idea though isn't it?


----------



## AMOCO

You can add me And I will post overclocks later when I've had a chance to work on them.:


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> hello if i remove stock fan to put a artic cooling accelero i kill warranty?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fester99*
> 
> pretty much anytime you modify hardware in any way it will void their warranty. Think of it this way the warranty is their guarantee that their assembly of the product is free from defects, if you start assembling parts then they are not gonna take responsibility for their product failing because the condition in which the product was guaranteed has been modified. They will not repair it because they will be unable to determine if the mod you made was the cause of the failure.
> Shorter answer yes you will kill the warranty.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I'll say no, if you don't have any seal on the back of your card and if you do a clean, proper stock cooler remove. You'll only have to remount back before any rma process. Try not to ruin the star shape of the screws.


Some brands allow it. Some don't. Check with the manufacturer's forum or FAQ site.


----------



## fester99

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *AMOCO*
> 
> You can add me And I will post overclocks later when I've had a chance to work on them.:


I have the exact same card let me know if you are able to overvolt them please.


----------



## dartuil

I have sapphire ill check on their website


----------



## OverClocker55

2 6850's







or my MSI GTX 570


----------



## Fixcar

Joining the club!
Bought these two a year ago.
2X XFX 6850 900/[email protected] Stock Voltage









You can see them in my rig pics


----------



## octowilli

What do you guys think of this 2GB version of the 6870? I'm looking for a replacement for my old 8800 GTS and was thinking about getting a couple of these for crossfire.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150563


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *octowilli*
> 
> What do you guys think of this 2GB version of the 6870? I'm looking for a replacement for my old 8800 GTS and was thinking about getting a couple of these for crossfire.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150563


Would be good, but why not just get a 6950 if you're going to get 2GB ones? I'm sure the 6950 isn't much more at all..

I do realize that 1GB does limit 68xx cards though, especially in crossfire.


----------



## octowilli

Well, the cheapest 2GB 6950 is nearly $100 more per card after sales/rebates/promo codes than the 6870. On newegg, anyway. My only hesitation is all the driver and micro-stuttering hysteria that comes up when people start talking about multiple video card solutions. I've never had multiple video cards, and on the single video cards I've owned I've never experienced stutter, so I'm not sure what to make of all the fuss.


----------



## savage1987

I'm un-crossfired again


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *octowilli*
> 
> Well, the cheapest 2GB 6950 is nearly $100 more per card after sales/rebates/promo codes than the 6870. On newegg, anyway. My only hesitation is all the driver and micro-stuttering hysteria that comes up when people start talking about multiple video card solutions. I've never had multiple video cards, and on the single video cards I've owned I've never experienced stutter, so I'm not sure what to make of all the fuss.


I never had a problem with my 6850 + 6870 setup.. I'm swapping someone a new 6850 to match my 6870 soon.
That's besides the point, if you want to crossfire i'd suggest backing down to a 2GB 6850 if that's possible? They use much less power which in total means much less heat!









Whilst being able to overclock more and maintain using less power! Also being cheaper!


----------



## OverClocker55

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *krisco65*
> 
> I have two 6870's up for grabs, send me a pm if interested


What brand


----------



## krisco65

Sapphires


----------



## Kr0n1k

In.


----------



## dartuil

helllo , is 650 enough for a 6870 CF?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> helllo , is 650 enough for a 6870 CF?


Do not understand your question... 650 what?


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> helllo , is 650 enough for a 6870 CF?


650 W PSU is not enough no.


----------



## dartuil

i meant 650W sorry dudes








awww too bad i wont buy a new PSU i'll stay with one.


----------



## bmgjet

650W is enough, Im using a 620W with a power hungry overclocked 8120 and 2 overclocked 6850s.
Max draw at the wall with prime and furmark has been 618W Which works out around 500W from the components taking into account the efficiency of the PSU.
Games use less power BF3 only pulls around 530-550W from the wall.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> 650W is enough, Im using a 620W with a power hungry overclocked 8120 and 2 overclocked 6850s.
> Max draw at the wall with prime and furmark has been 618W Which works out around 500W from the components taking into account the efficiency of the PSU.
> Games use less power BF3 only pulls around 530-550W from the wall.


I wasn't aware that 6850's were that good for power use, but he wants 6870's He would be at pretty much the very top of the PSU's capacity.


----------



## dartuil

my thermaltake 650 can go at 715 max peak


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> i meant 650W sorry dudes
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> awww too bad i wont buy a new PSU i'll stay with one.


If you don't overclock them yes, but you may want to try and get some 6850's? Your processor would be good as you aren't going to overclock it.
See if you can get someone to swap you a 6850 and buy a second 6850?









I have enough power, but i'm swapping someone a used 6870 for a new 6850 to match my current one!









(i gain overclocking potential and less power)


----------



## dartuil

6870 +6850 is good?
ill do like this if it is


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> 6870 +6850 is good?
> ill do like this if it is


6870+6850 = 6850+6850


----------



## dartuil

look good for wattage


----------



## joarangoe

In!

Power on a budget!

jorangoe's 6850s.png 1595k .png file


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> 6870 +6850 is good?
> ill do like this if it is


It's what i've got, i'm swapping it with a new 6850 to match in the upcoming week. It works fine, you can run the two cards with different shaders and different clocks. However i'd suggest running them both at the same personally. Know anyone building a new PC? See if you can get a 6850 to match then you'll be fine!


----------



## arrow0309

My newest record









*P30766*



Maybe cpu limited?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> My newest record
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *P30766*
> 
> Maybe cpu limited?


i7 920.. @ 4.2GHz CPU limited?

Seriously.. I doubt it's a CPU limit. i7 920 is still strong, could be HT playing up with 3D. Try disabling it!









I actually don't get CPU limited in all games with my Q9400. Racing games mostly (Dirt 2 + 3) use both cards at about 80%. To get about 60FPS. (vsync on) - i think,


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Seriously.. I doubt it's a CPU limit. i7 920 is still strong, could be HT playing up with 3D. Try disabling it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I actually don't get CPU limited in all games with my Q9400. Racing games mostly (Dirt 2 + 3) use both cards at about 80%. To get about 60FPS. (vsync on) - i think,


I was just kidding, my previous Vantage score (same 920 @4.2Ghz) was like 29xxx, same speed of both 6870, 980/1150.








Nope, disabling the hyperthreading won't give you nothing (but less cpu power & temp).


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I was just kidding, my previous Vantage score (same 920 @4.2Ghz) was like 29xxx, same speed of both 6870, 980/1150.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, disabling the hyperthreading won't give you nothing (but less cpu power & temp).


It can play up with some games supposedly!








So it seems most 6870 can get to about 970-980. Most 6850's can get 1000+ easily. I know from what people have them clocked at here, and personal experience!


----------



## Krusher33

Mine is able to fold at 1015/1100 but can only play games at 980/1100.


----------



## scariaar

Hi just a quick question I have a xfx hd 6850 and I amwondering if any1 else finds the fan extreamly loud when hitting 50% +, my case fans are quite loud but when playing MW3 for bout a hour the fan gets quite loud. Just wondering if any1 has found that with theres?


----------



## scariaar

Hi people sorry for all the questions but here we go, i have the 6850 and i am trying to overclock it i tryed using the catalyst cc and it will overclock to 850/1200 so then i tryed ati tool tray and it did a higher overclock but it is not all the time my gpu drops to 300/1000 when not in use, im just wondering if any1 knows how to stop it from dropping and also afterburn doesnt do anything! i set it to 850/1200 and nothing it didnt overclock my gpu?

i have windows 7 x64 and i am also having a problem with drivers ati tools wont work properly due to it saying that it needs digitally signed drivers does any1 know how to fix this aswell

Once again Sorry for all the questions but i guess this is the best place to ask them thanks

Scariaar


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scariaar*
> 
> Hi people sorry for all the questions but here we go, i have the 6850 and i am trying to overclock it i tryed using the catalyst cc and it will overclock to 850/1200 so then i tryed ati tool tray and it did a higher overclock but it is not all the time my gpu drops to 300/1000 when not in use, im just wondering if any1 knows how to stop it from dropping and also afterburn doesnt do anything! i set it to 850/1200 and nothing it didnt overclock my gpu?
> i have windows 7 x64 and i am also having a problem with drivers ati tools wont work properly due to it saying that it needs digitally signed drivers does any1 know how to fix this aswell
> Once again Sorry for all the questions but i guess this is the best place to ask them thanks
> Scariaar


Don't use ati tools.. Use Afterburner. It's alot better, as it's written by MSI (a GFX card manufacturer), It's less picky and just works most of the time!

- If you're going to over-volt don't go past 1.3v as a general rule.
- Make sure you don't go past 74c. This is where the card will start to artifact.

Oh and as for the down-clocking when idle this is normal, to reduce wear on the silicon inside your card, it also saves alot of power!









Hope that puts you in the right direction!


----------



## arrow0309

Premium chinese stuff:









http://www.techpowerup.com/160937/Yeston-R6870-Game-Master-Graphics-Card-Pictured.html


----------



## fester99

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Premium chinese stuff:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/160937/Yeston-R6870-Game-Master-Graphics-Card-Pictured.html


Interesting


----------



## pursuinginsanity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> 650 W PSU is not enough no.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> I wasn't aware that 6850's were that good for power use, but he wants 6870's He would be at pretty much the very top of the PSU's capacity.


No, no he wouldn't. A quality 650w PSU is good for a lot more than 6870 Crossfire. It's managing an i5 760 (OC'd) and 2 (OC'd) 460s (and 2 HDDs, 1 SSD, a sound card, usb mic.. etc). It could manage 2 6950s. A 650w PSU is much stronger than you're giving it credit for, please do not comment if you do not understand.

In case you want to claim I do not know of what I speak http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-crossfirex-review/4 Shows ~421 watts from the wall with a heavily overclocked x58 i7 (power hungry!) and 6870 Crossfire.

It's obvious 650 is enough.

So, I just ordered a 6870. What kind of OC can I expect with no voltage increase, and what sort with a minor bump? The system only has a 430w PSU so I'm not going to go all out with it. Also, I crave peace and quiet. So not interested if I'm going to need a 100% fan.


----------



## battleponcho

XFX 6870 black edition, reference model

980/1200
Stable playing battlefield 3.


----------



## smoke420

Syndicate solid 60 fps maxed out of coarse being its dx9 but the game looks great and is lots of fun so far.


----------



## bmgjet

Turn Vsync off and see what you really get. Im getting a solid 200fps with my cross fire setup.
Game gets boring fast since its very consolised.


----------



## black7hought

Running a XFX 6870, the ZHFC board. It's an awesome card.


----------



## ihatelolcats

got the Accelero Twin Turbo PRO on my 6870
72C max at 25% fan speed. cant even hear it over my hard drives


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> got the Accelero Twin Turbo PRO on my 6870
> 72C max at 25% fan speed. cant even hear it over my hard drives


With the Twin Turbo II you would have gotten even coolest temp IMHO


----------



## ihatelolcats

it didn't pass 60C at 100% fan


----------



## makol

Got two 6870s in Crossfire. Have yet to OC them.





I may paint the red parts blue so it all matches.


----------



## Seanay00

Nice setup MAKOL, i will post a pic of my xfire 6870 setup 2mrw once i put it back 2getha. I just had my Rampage III Formula fail for the second time and they have now replaced it. Nice new board after 13months of service from the old 1.


----------



## BradleyKZN

I would like to be in please, waiting for my MSI HD6870 OC to arrive! ( i was lucky to find a 6870 at all)


----------



## SergAkaDuHa

Please add me

























Uploaded with ImageShack.us

And how do i get one of them

*AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870 Owners Thread*


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SergAkaDuHa*
> 
> Please add me
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ... _cut_ ...
> 
> And how do i get one of them
> 
> *AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870 Owners Thread*


Look in the first page


----------



## makol




----------



## chaics

Just bought another 6850 to crossfire. Club3d brand. Never heard of this brand and dont know how good will it be. hopefully it will last long..


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chaics*
> 
> Just bought another 6850 to crossfire. Club3d brand. Never heard of this brand and dont know how good will it be. hopefully it will last long..
> *IMG*


I never heard of it either...


----------



## makol

I've heard of them.

They're pretty decent from what I've heard.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *makol*
> 
> I've heard of them.
> They're pretty decent from what I've heard.


Same, from what i've heard (and seen) they're a smaller company starting out. They seem to be alright, you'll have more luck with a reference model however!


----------



## 07adams88

940 sems to be my limit with these cards has anyone had any better luck i was happy with 1200 mem clock so i never really tried to up that any more


----------



## makol

I haven't tried overclocking my cards yet.

Not sure if the reference coolers would be good enough, they already ramp up quickly (and get very loud) at stock clocks.


----------



## smoke420

I get 970/1120 1.23 v with aftermarket coolers but some have much better.


----------



## makol

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426026

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233058

Anyone have any experience with either of these?


----------



## 07adams88

I must have gotten really lucky with my cards considering my secondary (the XFX) has locked voltage I have the voltage in MSIAB at 1.174 but the cards are technically running at 1.15 on all monitoring software but i still had to have it at 1.174 for stability in benching I'm assuming the extra volts are helping prevent power drops who knows or maybe the card is lying and i should multi meter it. My temps rarely enter the 70s and I am getting good frames in BF3 granted I am not running ultra but i have manual setting up sacrificing where need be in the game. I ran at 960 for a day and right when i was about to exit BF3 i got double vision on my screen and had to live with 940


----------



## makol

What resolution are you playing BF3 at?

I get about 55+ with all ultra with both HBAO and 4x AA, except textures which is at high, at 1080. All on stock clocks too.

I hit about 64 on the top card and 60ish on the bottom card.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *07adams88*
> 
> 940 sems to be my limit with these cards has anyone had any better luck i was happy with 1200 mem clock so i never really tried to up that any more


On mine I could get higher mem clock as well but funny thing is, by dropping memory clock, core clock went higher. Try dropping your memory clock some and see what happens.

And as said before, even though the cards can take the heat, better oc is achieved at cooler temperatures. I found this to be true too. Errors would happen if my card got to 65-70 but at the same speeds, no errors would occur if below that temperature.


----------



## 07adams88

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *makol*
> 
> What resolution are you playing BF3 at?
> I get about 55+ with all ultra with both HBAO and 4x AA, except textures which is at high, at 1080. All on stock clocks too.
> I hit about 64 on the top card and 60ish on the bottom card.


I play on 1920 x 1080 when I say I am getting decent frames I am between 70 and 110 depending on location lighting and activity. I think my CPU may be bottle necking a bit considering BF3 does like to multithread, i should have went 6+ cores but i was keeping my bank account in mind while having to upgrade my MoBo and Proc. at the same time. Also i was eager to try AMDs newest Proc.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> On mine I could get higher mem clock as well but funny thing is, by dropping memory clock, core clock went higher. Try dropping your memory clock some and see what happens.
> And as said before, even though the cards can take the heat, better oc is achieved at cooler temperatures. I found this to be true too. Errors would happen if my card got to 65-70 but at the same speeds, no errors would occur if below that temperature.


The weird thing is I tried that and my cards are pretty content at staying at 1200 now. I dropped down 1190 1180 and 1175 all were unstable even at the current GPU clock which i found strange. Maybe i will drop to stock and only up the core and see how high that goes.


----------



## Phenomanator53

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Wow are you serious?Thats proof you know how to change bios thats about all. That pic shows a overclocked 6850.If someone sold you that as a 6870 you got robbed.all of us here know a 6850 has 960 Stream Processors clearly seen in that pic where the 6870 has 1120.check the name you cant blow smoke up my a$$.lol
> For all you guys trying to get added the op only had his 6870 for a short time and rarely comes back to this thread.He has in the past said to pm him you could give it a try.


wow u seriously dont know that there is a problem with the sapphire card with a central fan in it, here is the proof from Hwinfo

proof that ur an a$$hole.jpg 338k .jpg file


----------



## ihatelolcats

i have a sapphire with the central fan, egg shaped cooler. it shows 1120.


----------



## makol

Yeah the 6870 has 1120, not 960.

What you have is a 6850.


----------



## 07adams88

My roommate has 2 6870's 1 dual and 1 single fan both are 1120. Either way congrats on having a flashed bios I couldn't find a successful match for mine and got tired of re-flashing back and forth so I gave up on it. lol























EDIT: Forgot to say I got a successful 3DMark06 run in @ 970/1150 for a score of 19031







didn't last long though I tried to get to 985/1150 and now I cant get it stable at 970 again lol -.-


----------



## Phenomanator53

this after fixing the issue with the card.


----------



## Phenomanator53

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *07adams88*
> 
> My roommate has 2 6870's 1 dual and 1 single fan both are 1120. Either way congrats on having a flashed bios I couldn't find a successful match for mine and got tired of re-flashing back and forth so I gave up on it. lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: Forgot to say I got a successful 3DMark06 run in @ 970/1150 for a score of 19031
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> didn't last long though I tried to get to 985/1150 and now I cant get it stable at 970 again lol -.-


i bought this 6870 LEGIT it came with a stuffed bios...... just google sapphire 6870 with 960 shaders and you will know my problem


----------



## Phenomanator53

i know i have winflash...... i needed it to fix the issue.


----------



## Phenomanator53

enough proof or do u need more? i can take a photo if u want.


----------



## Phenomanator53

enough proof? or do u need more? if so, please specify


----------



## ihatelolcats

somebody mad


----------



## Phenomanator53

ok, im sorry bout that, im new to OCn so im not used to the editing stuff, BUT i did LEGITLY buy a 6870 and it WAS stuffed.... cmon guys


----------



## Phenomanator53

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> First ,Six posts in a row you cant be serious.Second, that was 5 and a half months ago get over it.You could have easily bought a new card but lets not go there.If you say you bought a card with bad bios and it takes a flash to fix it I will take your word for it.But you show me a gpu-z screenshot with 960 shaders and say nothing more then and im quoting here
> "Hi, is this enough proof? the proof that is not a 6850 is its 900mhz core. can i join? it is also a Sapphire."
> http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/4140#post_14966380
> it sounds like BS.And just for your info there is a pencil at the bottom of your post used for editing.If you have more to add use it don't do multiple posts in a row.


soory bou that, but i really DID buy a LEGIT 6870..... im new to OCN so im not used to the editing tools avaliable, cmon guys. PLZ GET ME OFF THE 6850 LIST but dont matter anymore if you gonna put me in the 6870 list.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Phenomanator53*
> 
> soory bou that, but i really DID buy a LEGIT 6870..... im new to OCN so im not used to the editing tools avaliable, cmon guys. PLZ GET ME OFF THE 6850 LIST but dont matter anymore if you gonna put me in the 6870 list.


Thats what you worried about.lol If you haven't noticed you are pretty much at the bottom of the list and thats because it hasn't been updated for a long time.Look at the bottom of the list and you will see this.

Edited by Razi3l - 10/6/11 at 10:49am

If you want it changed you will have to pm Razi3l and ask him/her.Razi3l is the thread starter and the only one able to change it.Razi3l no longer has a 6870 so he/she is not likely to change anything without a pm.


----------



## black7hought

XFX Radeon HD 6870 ZHFC


----------



## Matt-Matt

Well i'm back guys!

I've now got 2x 6850 Cyclones from MSI. - I put the 6870 Hawk into a friends build - and ordered a new 6850 Cyclone for myself!



6870 Ready and packed! - I got a new bag, it's the Tt eSports Dragon bag. It's quite amazing, not just for school books either!







Excellent quality.



Hello 6850 Cyclone!








Why does my retail 6850 have Japanese stickers on it? Most of the manuals are in Japanese too.. Theres some sort of Japanese competition also.. (My GF knows some Japanese) - Also note it says V2? The other packaging doesn't say that it's V2 so i'm assuming ones V1 and ones V2..



Both of them installed! The PCB's look identical.. If they're not they are VERY similar..

My main problem here isn't that anyway, they seem to both like running on stock volts @ 900MHz. The problem is heat.. They run stock fine at 860MHz but that's still quite hot. Maxing about 64c/72c in Kombustor (Fullscreen). I've got a HAF 932 as per the sig rig and i have 2x side fans for it. I may plan on purchasing more. But it's not really needed right now.. - I've also felt the heat output of the cards (they push the air out). But having the sidefans pull air out makes it hotter? This really confuses me..

I've been moving the fans around, but to no avail i can't seem to lower my temps, has anyone got any suggestions for this? They're both 120MM and about the same specs on each fan. - Ones a 120mm Coolermaster 3 pin, the others the stock one with the Hyper 212+.

I know at stock with the side panel off the top card gets to 78c - Before i closed kombustor anyway.

My next problem is i just checked and you know how i said "I think ones a different revision".. Well it is, (i think) the BIOS' are slightly different.

Card 1 (V1) - 0.13.012.000.*013*.000000
Card 2 (V2) - 0.13.012.000.*028*.000000

Should i flash the supposedly newer bios to the first one? I have a bios switch to make sure, and i'll make backups. If anything goes terribly wrong i can borrow a friends 6950 and flash them both!









Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

EDIT: MSI Live Update 5 shows no updates for either card.. Sigh


----------



## Krusher33

Flashing the BIOS won't fix the heat problem. And I'm not sure it'll improve performance either. I used to match BIOS when I SLI'd cards way back when they first started but it was proven to improve performance.

You did hold a fan blowing at the cards to see if it improved temps?

Is the cooler's fins cool or warm?

The only thing I can think of to try at this point is to replace the TIM and reseat the cooler.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Flashing the BIOS won't fix the heat problem. And I'm not sure it'll improve performance either. I used to match BIOS when I SLI'd cards way back when they first started but it was proven to improve performance.
> You did hold a fan blowing at the cards to see if it improved temps?
> Is the cooler's fins cool or warm?
> The only thing I can think of to try at this point is to replace the TIM and reseat the cooler.


I wasn't saying it was, i was just going to do so. Just 'cause one may just be updated?

I was actually considering just tightening the coolers a bit, seeing as they look and feel a bit lose.


----------



## Djmatrix32

Why am I never add to the list dispute adding boat loads of proof?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Djmatrix32*
> 
> Why am I never add to the list dispute adding boat loads of proof?


Because the OP doesn't look at the thread anymore. If you want... pm a mod about it. Though I don't think anyone's going to take over.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Well i'm back guys!
> I've now got 2x 6850 Cyclones from MSI. - I put the 6870 Hawk into a friends build - and ordered a new 6850 Cyclone for myself!
> 
> 6870 Ready and packed! - I got a new bag, it's the Tt eSports Dragon bag. It's quite amazing, not just for school books either!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Excellent quality.
> 
> Hello 6850 Cyclone!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why does my retail 6850 have Japanese stickers on it? Most of the manuals are in Japanese too.. Theres some sort of Japanese competition also.. (My GF knows some Japanese) - Also note it says V2? The other packaging doesn't say that it's V2 so i'm assuming ones V1 and ones V2..
> 
> Both of them installed! The PCB's look identical.. If they're not they are VERY similar..
> My main problem here isn't that anyway, they seem to both like running on stock volts @ 900MHz. The problem is heat.. They run stock fine at 860MHz but that's still quite hot. Maxing about 64c/72c in Kombustor (Fullscreen). I've got a HAF 932 as per the sig rig and i have 2x side fans for it. I may plan on purchasing more. But it's not really needed right now.. - I've also felt the heat output of the cards (they push the air out). But having the sidefans pull air out makes it hotter? This really confuses me..
> I've been moving the fans around, but to no avail i can't seem to lower my temps, has anyone got any suggestions for this? They're both 120MM and about the same specs on each fan. - Ones a 120mm Coolermaster 3 pin, the others the stock one with the Hyper 212+.
> I know at stock with the side panel off the top card gets to 78c - Before i closed kombustor anyway.
> My next problem is i just checked and you know how i said "I think ones a different revision".. Well it is, (i think) the BIOS' are slightly different.
> Card 1 (V1) - 0.13.012.000.*013*.000000
> Card 2 (V2) - 0.13.012.000.*028*.000000
> Should i flash the supposedly newer bios to the first one? I have a bios switch to make sure, and i'll make backups. If anything goes terribly wrong i can borrow a friends 6950 and flash them both!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
> EDIT: MSI Live Update 5 shows no updates for either card.. Sigh


I have a suggestion that worked great for me.Adding a fan to the back helped more than 4 fans on the door.








You may want to give this a read too.
http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/4180#post_15012967


----------



## R4V3N

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> I have a suggestion that worked great for me.Adding a fan to the back helped more than 4 fans on the door.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You may want to give this a read too.
> http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/4180#post_15012967


I did this too, it dropped my card temps about 10 degrees.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> I have a suggestion that worked great for me.Adding a fan to the back helped more than 4 fans on the door.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You may want to give this a read too.
> http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/4180#post_15012967


Yes.. But the problem here is my cards don't push air out the back. They just throw it around the case D:

I may try it anyway! Thankyou for the suggestion!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Yes.. But the problem here is my cards don't push air out the back. They just throw it around the case D:
> I may try it anyway! Thankyou for the suggestion!


Most if not all of the coolers for the 6850 throw the heat around as you put it.My stock and aftermarket coolers blow out in all directions.If you had reference coolers that blow all the heat out the back I dont think the fan would help as much.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Most if not all of the coolers for the 6850 throw the heat around as you put it.My stock and aftermarket coolers blow out in all directions.If you had reference coolers that blow all the heat out the back I dont think the fan would help as much.


Hmmmm, okay. I'll see if that does anything. The thing that made me think that it wouldn't work well was because they have "MSI" embossed in the back. If i can drop 5-10c i'll be happy.

How did you go about mounting the fans? Cable tied is assumed, but what did you cable tie it to?


----------



## Krusher33

News break: Just installed a Kuhler on my 6850. Prior to installation my load temps was 57c. Afterwards, it's now 43c at load. Clocks at 980/1100 for now. I'll see if it'll oc some more tomorrow.









And cable ties are lifesavers....


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> News break: Just installed a Kuhler on my 6850. Prior to installation my load temps was 57c. Afterwards, it's now 43c at load. Clocks at 980/1100 for now. I'll see if it'll oc some more tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And cable ties are lifesavers....


Sounds great, I'm too interested in gettin' one for my Hawk.
Pics?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Sounds great, I'm too interested in gettin' one for my Hawk.
> Pics?


http://www.overclock.net/t/929199/dark-predators/4300_50#post_16630156


----------



## BradleyKZN

Got an MSI HD6870 OC card, runs great! Will update this post with pics when/if i remember


----------



## FedeVi

Hi guys i need help here.

I am trying to OC my sapphire 6870 (non-reference) and i'd love to know the vram temperature but neither GPU-Z nor HWiNFO display it.
Is it possible that the card has no vreg temperature chip? It's very annoying especially because the card has no vram heatsinks so i am afraid to burn something...

I'd really appreciate some help/idea, thanks in advance.



Spoiler: My 6870


----------



## axipher

No VRAM heat sinks?

Do you have a link to the specific card?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FedeVi*
> 
> Hi guys i need help here.
> I am trying to OC my sapphire 6870 (non-reference) and i'd love to know the vram temperature but neither GPU-Z nor HWiNFO display it.
> Is it possible that the card has no vreg temperature chip? It's very annoying especially because the card has no vram heatsinks so i am afraid to burn something...
> I'd really appreciate some help/idea, thanks in advance.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: My 6870


thats the card i have. there is no sensor for the vram and no heatsinks on them either


----------



## axipher

Hmm, I'm surprised that there aren't and heat sinks on the RAM chips.

My Reference Sapphire 6870 has a Zalman VF3000A cooler on it (dual 90mm fans and no heat sink on the VRM circuitry and it does fine with a 1 GHz OC. GDDR5 being based on DDR3 if I'm not mistaken shouldn't need much for heat sinks as long as you have air flow over them which your cooler provides. You shouldn't have to worry about burning up anything especially if you aren't OC'ing the RAM much.

I don't have actual number, maybe someone else does, but overclocking the core and keeping memory at stock allowed for higher clocks and much better performance then overclocking the memory.


----------



## FedeVi

Yeah i notice that, higher memory clock doesn't influence the performance as much as core clock.
I'm probably going for a high core clock and almost stock ram for this card.

Thanks for the fast response, + rep for both of you.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FedeVi*
> 
> Yeah i notice that, higher memory clock doesn't influence the performance as much as core clock.
> I'm probably going for a high core clock and almost stock ram for this card.
> 
> Thanks for the fast response, + rep for both of you.


No problem, glad to help


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Hmm, I'm surprised that there aren't and heat sinks on the RAM chips.
> My Reference Sapphire 6870 has a Zalman VF3000A cooler on it (dual 90mm fans and no heat sink on the VRM circuitry and it does fine with a 1 GHz OC. GDDR5 being based on DDR3 if I'm not mistaken shouldn't need much for heat sinks as long as you have air flow over them which your cooler provides. You shouldn't have to worry about burning up anything especially if you aren't OC'ing the RAM much.
> *I don't have actual number, maybe someone else does, but overclocking the core and keeping memory at stock allowed for higher clocks and much better performance then overclocking the memory.*


Yes, i've noticed this too on alot of recent cards, it's just that the manafacturers are trying to make their cards cheaper.. Therefore less components = cheaper price and more sales which is more profit.

I think i'm going to buy 2x VRAM cooling kits, just to be on the safe side (If i can fit them with the stock coolers).

And yes, i'd like to confirm whoseever findings about the vram clock, you get more performance gain from the core being clocked high, rather then trying to overclock the memory (and possibly damaging it)
I've also noticed the second i increase the memory, my core becomes unstable at a mild overclock, as suggested in the bold comment above. I do suggest not to touch the memory at all.


----------



## ihatelolcats

i don't think you will be able to fit the little sinks on underneath the stock gpu heatsink.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i don't think you will be able to fit the little sinks on underneath the stock gpu heatsink.


It's not reference.. I'll have a look at it now. (I'm in Computer Graphic Design, and the teacher sucks. - I barely know how to use 3DS Max, i'm also not in the mood).

I'll grab a pack next order, it looks like they may fit. It's only $11 "wasted" if they don't fit. It'd be worth it, i have a feeling they may fit. (If they don't i could cut some off). It'd still be more effective then no syncs.

I'll have a better look later, but i think these would be alright.. May look in the local PC shop..


----------



## ihatelolcats

they are intended for three slot cooler designs that sit off the pcb a bit, but it does look like you can fit some on your card due to its shape. just some flat aluminum would probably do better than nothing if you cant fit them everywhere


----------



## Krusher33

I just finished overclocking a bit more after I've applied the ram sinks from my Accelero S1 kit. RAM speed stable at 1250 now were as before it was 1180 or something like that.

Final results of stable overclock for me is 1035/1250. I tried downclocking RAM a bit to see if core would go higher but it had no effect for me.


----------



## ihatelolcats

it's funny that you can get those clocks on a 6850 and i get artifacts on my 6870 at 965/1050


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> it's funny that you can get those clocks on a 6850 and i get artifacts on my 6870 at 965/1050


Yeah. I was getting artifacts at 980 if temps went over 65c. I installed a Kuhler on mine and now the artifacts don't start till I go over 1035 and the temps don't go over 50c. Plus I think having ram sinks and lots of air flow over them helped my memory clocks.


----------



## ihatelolcats

that's interesting about the temps. i thought below 75 was good for whatever clock. might look into getting a kuhler then


----------



## fester99

About the overclocking, I thought you always OC the core to a stable max and then start OCing the memory. This way you get the maximum core clock you can get and therefore the best performance. .


----------



## Phenomanator53

i have the exact same GPU, mine is at 1150MHZ core clock and 955mhz core and fine without any problems, but the VRAM does get hot though, but no BSOD.


----------



## Krusher33

I simply followed this guide: http://www.overclock.net/t/633816/how-to-overclock-your-amd-ati-gpu/550_50#post_16630355


----------



## dartuil

hello i buy a :
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/375/accelero-twin-turbo-ii.html

here is my gpu layout :
http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/upload/pictures/motherboard_picture_100_9717a.jpg

where did i have to put heatsink?

eraser on memory and heatsink , heatsinks on VRM (vrm are the little things on the right?)

I can see why my GPU is so hot my vrm have nno heatsink , same for memory







,75-80 for me


----------



## ihatelolcats

it should come with instructions. but if not it should be similar to this www.arctic.ac/index.php?eID=tx_mm_bccmsbase_zip&id=13681772384f559ce545e53


----------



## dartuil

what are your temperature?


----------



## ihatelolcats

i have a different model cooler but at 1.175v it gets to 64C with full fan


----------



## henryy5ghz

hey please do add me in that group...
I have uploaded some pics of my sapphire 6870...
Soon will upload gpuz pic too...


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> hello i buy a :
> http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/375/accelero-twin-turbo-ii.html
> 
> here is my gpu layout :
> http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/upload/pictures/motherboard_picture_100_9717a.jpg
> 
> where did i have to put heatsink?
> 
> eraser on memory and heatsink , heatsinks on VRM (vrm are the little things on the right?)
> 
> I can see why my GPU is so hot my vrm have nno heatsink , same for memory
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ,75-80 for me


You already have a vrm heatsink (the black one on the left) do not remove it, simply cover the memory only, and of course the main cooler.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> it's funny that you can get those clocks on a 6850 and i get artifacts on my 6870 at 965/1050


Theres two reasons for this..

The extra 160 shaders make the card run hotter and put more stress on the core/components.. (at least i'm guessing for the last part).

And the fact that sapphire may not bin their chips/cores/boards. Nor might AMD, they probably don't care to be honest. (It'd cost them alot more to bin them, rather then just test the ones that work and ones that don't)

All in all a 6850 is a better buy, uses less power, only needs 1x six pin. Runs cooler, overclocks more. 6850 to 6870 see's little to no difference in most games. It's also cheaper..
And not to forget when overclocked (if you get a decent one) a 6850 blows a 6870 away in the benchies.

Plus 6850 is easier to run in Crossfire, less heat, cheaper, less power connectors. More overclocking!


----------



## scariaar

Hello ppl I didnt k9ow where to ask this question but it seems like my graphics card . I have just rigged my 32" tv via hdmi and use extended desktop but when I do that I get a funny black box on my screen with 2 arrows on it. Iv tryed clicking it and right clicking etc and nothing its just there and its annoying the hell out of me.

Also I have installed the drivers for my hd6850 but cpuz just comes up with hd 6800 series and doesnt come up with any info im just wondering if there is a driver that is just for the 6850?

thanks scariaar


----------



## Ken1649

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scariaar*
> 
> Hello ppl I didnt k9ow where to ask this question but it seems like my graphics card . I have just rigged my 32" tv via hdmi and use extended desktop but when I do that I get a funny black box on my screen with 2 arrows on it. Iv tryed clicking it and right clicking etc and nothing its just there and its annoying the hell out of me.
> 
> Also I have installed the drivers for my hd6850 but cpuz just comes up with hd 6800 series and doesnt come up with any info im just wondering if there is a driver that is just for the 6850?
> 
> thanks scariaar


You must use the DVI port in line with the HDMI port. The other DVI port is sharing with HDMI so you can not use both at the same time.

For 6870/6850 will always show up as 6800.


----------



## scariaar

Thanks for the quick reply, I am using the dvi inline with the hdmi and it works as I can put a movie on the tv and play games on my monitor at the same time but theres like a little black box on my desktop that I cant get rid of I cant take a pic of it atm but I can get one later if u need to see it.

as for cpuz thanks for the info so how can I get it to show all the info about my card and im just wondering is have they only got the 1 driver atm for it or is there a new1?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scariaar*
> 
> Thanks for the quick reply, I am using the dvi inline with the hdmi and it works as I can put a movie on the tv and play games on my monitor at the same time but theres like a little black box on my desktop that I cant get rid of I cant take a pic of it atm but I can get one later if u need to see it.
> as for cpuz thanks for the info so how can I get it to show all the info about my card and im just wondering is have they only got the 1 driver atm for it or is there a new1?


Google "AMD Drivers" for it, it'll get you the most up to date.. What exactly does GPU-Z/CPU-Z tell you? The CPU-Z info for graphics cards is rather generic info..

Also with the HDMI/DVI thing, try it in the other port. It can't hurt hey? Just give us some photos if that doesn't fit it!


----------



## scariaar

Lol generic info it just says xfx 6800 series lol litrally nothing else! No clock speed no amount of shaders no nothing lol. Cpuz showed everything for my 8600gt so I was just wondering if it was to do wid drivers but im a noob to graphics cards the 6850 is the first 1 iv eva bought but its running skyrim on max and running very smooth so very happy, overclocked to 850/1200 coz ccc wont let me go higher and afterburn dont seem to actually change it lol


----------



## Ninja10R

Sapphire HD 6850 owner



Don't know if it's been answered somewhere in 500 pages, but i am going to ask anyway. My 6850 starts producing artifacts and eventualy crashes when temps rise above 73-74 Celsius running furmark stress test. Is that normal ?


----------



## scariaar

Im not a expert and cant see what ur clock n mem are coz im on my phone but I dont think that is normal im pretty sure I read domewhere that these cards are good for 80-90c but obviously the lower that temp the better I got my 6850 to 950/1225 when my ati tool tray worked no artifacts and max temp 69c but im sure ull get some more fact from some1 else that knows alot more than me


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ninja10R*
> 
> Sapphire HD 6850 owner
> 
> Don't know if it's been answered somewhere in 500 pages, but i am going to ask anyway. My 6850 starts producing artifacts and eventualy crashes when temps rise above 73-74 Celsius running furmark stress test. Is that normal ?


At stock clocks these cards will go over 100c with-out stability problems.But with a heavy overclock its perfectly normal to run into issues at those temps.


----------



## Ninja10R

The default clock for core and memory is 775 and 1000 Mhz, i have oc them at 810 and 1150 Mhz. Is that too much ?

I think i will try the tests again with stock clocks to find out.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ninja10R*
> 
> The default clock for core and memory is 775 and 1000 Mhz, i have oc them at 810 and 1150 Mhz. Is that too much ?
> I think i will try the tests again with stock clocks to find out.


Its possible, luck of the draw in all..but I doubt it.even with stock voltage you should be able to push it more.Try lowering your v-ram, lots of people get stable above 1200 but I cant go over 1125..Lower your v-ram to 1100 and slowly increase your core and see how high you can get it.


----------



## axipher

At stock voltage, I can hit about 1010 MHz on the core and it's folding stable and will play any game, as soon as I touch the memory though and bring it away form its stock 1050, crashes randomly to desktop, sometimes even during VLC playback. VRM's never exceed 70 C though at stock voltage.

With a voltage bump to 1.21 V I can hit 1060 MHz but heat sky rockets, and my VRM's don't have heat sinks and hit 100 C and I still can't move memory past 1100 MHz.

So some people have good memory chips, some have good GPU's themselves.

I have passive heat sinks on my memory and it doesn't make it more stable to overclock so I don't think the heat affects the memory too much on these cards, as previously stated, more of just luck of the draw,


----------



## Guovssohas

I have recently OC'd my xfx 6870 dual fan for the first time, i just used the sliders in ccc, voltage is obviously stock.

It's now on 980core, 1125mem. Is that decent? I tested it with OCCT for 25minutes, no errors, temps 77c. I also played BF3 for a few hours(temp 71c), no issues, so i guess it's stable then.


----------



## axipher

980/1125 is a pretty good overclock and 77 C is pretty good as well


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Theres two reasons for this..
> The extra 160 shaders make the card run hotter and put more stress on the core/components.. (at least i'm guessing for the last part).
> And the fact that sapphire may not bin their chips/cores/boards. Nor might AMD, they probably don't care to be honest. (It'd cost them alot more to bin them, rather then just test the ones that work and ones that don't)
> All in all a 6850 is a better buy, uses less power, only needs 1x six pin. Runs cooler, overclocks more. 6850 to 6870 see's little to no difference in most games. It's also cheaper..
> And not to forget when overclocked (if you get a decent one) a 6850 blows a 6870 away in the benchies.
> Plus 6850 is easier to run in Crossfire, less heat, cheaper, less power connectors. More overclocking!


^Not word for word but a statement like this is what caused me to buy it in the first place. Plus it was on sale at around $150 which was the same as the HD5770 at the time of purchase.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ninja10R*
> 
> Sapphire HD 6850 owner
> 
> Don't know if it's been answered somewhere in 500 pages, but i am going to ask anyway. My 6850 starts producing artifacts and eventualy crashes when temps rise above 73-74 Celsius running furmark stress test. Is that normal ?


EXACTLY what I was seeing too. The card is ok physically over those temps but emotionally they don't like it. lol Everytime over 65 it was artifacting a little bit. Over 75 it would crash. No problems when at stock and over those temps. But when overclocked, it has it problems.

I have found after putting a watercooler on mine and at the same clocks but lower temps, no artifacts or crashes.


----------



## Ninja10R

I backed down mem to stock 1000 Mhz and uped core to 850 Mhz (maximum allowed by ccc). No problems at all.

The strange thing is, that running furmark 15 min 1080 burn test, temp did not rise over 75 C. When memory was clocked at 1150 Mhz temp would rise quickly (after 1,5 min) to 74-75 C and the card crashed. The artifacts started after 65 C with the higher memory clock, no artfacts at all with stock clocks.

Thank you all.


----------



## Krusher33

Yeah that is pretty weird. I think that may have been what I was experiencing till I put ram sinks on the memory chips.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> At stock clocks these cards will go over 100c with-out stability problems.But with a heavy overclock its perfectly normal to run into issues at those temps.


Yeah, at stock its fine for up to 90c.. But overclocking/overvolting has an effect that it will aftifact at 74c+. I get it also.. (i did on my 6870 at least). Only when it was overclocked, must be a security feature or something, 'cause at stock it doesn't do that. (They're fine at 80c). It's only when i touch the sliders.

I can guarantee that it won't do it at stock settings, you need to lower your overclock/fix your cooling? Sidefan/Thermal paste on the core.

As for the memory don't touch it, it's not good to OC on these cards. You get more benefit of the core being clocked higher.


----------



## dartuil

hello i own this
http://media.ldlc.com/ld/products/00/00/90/46/LD0000904674_2.jpg
and i want to put two 19inch widescreen, how can i do that?


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> hello i own this
> http://media.ldlc.com/ld/products/00/00/90/46/LD0000904674_2.jpg
> and i want to put two 19inch widescreen, how can i do that?


Yes, Just dont expect to be running things like BF3 on high/ultra.
Youll also have to probably settle for a lowish res since it only has 1GB vram.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Yes, Just dont expect to be running things like BF3 on high/ultra.
> Youll also have to probably settle for a lowish res since it only has 1GB vram.


The res isn't as straining at 1920x1080. I call low-medium on native res for BF3. Just use one HDMI and one DVI. You can't use both DVI i don't think!


----------



## R4V3N

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> The res isn't as straining at 1920x1080. I call low-medium on native res for BF3. Just use one HDMI and one DVI. You can't use both DVI i don't think!


Then why have two DVI? If you can't use both why not supply them with one?

IIRC, you cannot yse one of them at the same time as the HDMI, but you can use both together.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *R4V3N*
> 
> Then why have two DVI? If you can't use both why not supply them with one?
> IIRC, you cannot yse one of them at the same time as the HDMI, but you can use both together.


Oh yes! That's right! Silly me, it must have been when i was running with HDMI for my main monitor..

Anyway.. Came here to post that crossfires working in window mode for me? I can proove it if you want :s


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Oh yes! That's right! Silly me, it must have been when i was running with HDMI for my main monitor..
> Anyway.. Came here to post that crossfires working in window mode for me? I can proove it if you want :s


prove it


----------



## axipher

Well my 6870 has a new home now in my mATX Xeon LAN Rig:


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> prove it


I'll take a screen shot when i get home.. I'm at school right now.


----------



## luckypunk

Just got back my 6850 from Gigabyte RMA







, i asked for a reference/regular card back so i could overvolt it, no luck, they sent back an OC version. Cant complain much though, it was brand new. Flashed a 6870 BIOS on it succesfully and have readings of 1.175v in kombustor and gpu-z now







Time to see how high it can go now.


----------



## Seanay00

Ive had 2 Powercolor 6870's in xfire for a litlle over a year now and they have been flawless. They overclock very well, there's not a huge amount of headroom for overclocking but they run completely stable at 970/1150 and only hit about 70degree's on a hot day (30degree's C). Only worry about temps when ur hitting the 90-100 degree mark, but really dont b scared to overclock ur cards. U wont pop the card by overclocking, it will simply crash. I am now running just 1 card as im over the glitching in BF3 and just the 1 card at those 970/1150 clocks run it fine at 60-70 frames/sec on ultra.


----------



## oldcompgeek

Has anyone ever had problems installing the 12.1 ccc driver? My dang 6870 , when tryiong to install anything newer than 8.9 "the ccc has stopped working" blah blah. and 12.1 will never install....? anyone else?

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3953958


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> Has anyone ever had problems installing the 12.1 ccc driver? My dang 6870 , when tryiong to install anything newer than 8.9 "the ccc has stopped working" blah blah. and 12.1 will never install....? anyone else?
> http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3953958


did you use driver sweeper and stuff?
http://www.overclock.net/t/651378/how-to-install-drivers-and-use-driver-sweeper


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> Has anyone ever had problems installing the 12.1 ccc driver? My dang 6870 , when tryiong to install anything newer than 8.9 "the ccc has stopped working" blah blah. and 12.1 will never install....? anyone else?
> http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3953958


I didn't have any problems updating for awhile now just doing the updates but it sounds like you'll need to do uninstall+CCleaner (registry files) + Driver Sweeper. Download the latest before doing the uninstall so that you'll have it ready.


----------



## oldcompgeek

nope but now I will, the thing has acted weird ever since I reinstalled win 7 (numerous memor mgt bsod's )


----------



## dartuil

http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/upload/pictures/motherboard_picture_100_9717a.jpg
hello should I put VRM heat sink on the little things on the right from arctic twin turbo?


----------



## Krusher33

The VRM is already heatsinked to the left there. The 8 black chips going around the GPU are the memory chips, put the sinks on those. Be sure to clean them though or they won't stick very well.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Enough proof? It used to never do that when i had older drivers (and a 6870 + 6850). I used to get 0% load on the bottom card. Both are loading up 'cause i can hear them and those temps are right in the ballpark. They get hotter then that, but it was just a quick run for the Screenshot.









EDIT: Just checking that but temps are 2-5c lower in windowed mode. Still means it's running CFX, they just aren't as stressed i suppose.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> 
> Enough proof? It used to never do that when i had older drivers (and a 6870 + 6850). I used to get 0% load on the bottom card. Both are loading up 'cause i can hear them and those temps are right in the ballpark. They get hotter then that, but it was just a quick run for the Screenshot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: Just checking that but temps are 2-5c lower in windowed mode. Still means it's running CFX, they just aren't as stressed i suppose.


Its true, if you use OpenGL2 you get crossfire activated in windowed mode.
If you use DX11 render no crossfire for you. Tested it my self.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Its true, if you use OpenGL2 you get crossfire activated in windowed mode.
> If you use DX11 render no crossfire for you. Tested it my self.


I see, i never knew that! Wow, i wish games used openGL


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I see, i never knew that! Wow, i wish games used openGL


OpenGL in some ways is kinda limited, you can use MSI Afterburner to know what kind of render the game engine is using but most of the time it will be DX...


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> OpenGL in some ways is kinda limited, you can use MSI Afterburner to know what kind of render the game engine is using but most of the time it will be DX...


Yes, i know the basic differences between the two. Most games are DX, We really need to move on from that. It sucks that we need to run Windows for most games..


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Yes, i know the basic differences between the two. Most games are DX, We really need to move on from that. It sucks that we need to run Windows for most games..


Yes in some ways it sucks but we also need Windows cause its Windows that standardizes the communication between all our hardware and the programs we are trying to run on it, basicly its windows that let us run games with such a variety of system... If it werent for windows I prolly couldnt play a game which you could, even tho we have the same GPU setup, 6850 Crossfire...


----------



## dartuil

15 less in idle with twin turbo II at 21% when i was 48 at idle on stock with fan at 45-50


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Yes in some ways it sucks but we also need Windows cause its Windows that standardizes the communication between all our hardware and the programs we are trying to run on it, basicly its windows that let us run games with such a variety of system... If it werent for windows I prolly couldnt play a game which you could, even tho we have the same GPU setup, 6850 Crossfire...


Yeah, but we need a better OS. One made for gaming








Not just a general simple OS. If you follow, something for the power user i suppose. I don't know, having Windows makes PC's more boring in a way.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Yeah, but we need a better OS. One made for gaming
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not just a general simple OS. If you follow, something for the power user i suppose. I don't know, having Windows makes PC's more boring in a way.


Thats basicly what a console is, a gaming OS with standardized hardware.
Easy for dev's to program for it that way


----------



## spikexp

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Thats basicly what a console is, a gaming OS with standardized hardware.
> Easy for dev's to program for it that way


Basically yes, but a real gaming OS wouldn't be limit by standardized hardware.
Windows is the limit because all the legacy and old thing in it. All the library to run thing, it's a really fragmented OS.
And, it's proprietary.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikexp*
> 
> Basically yes, but a real gaming OS wouldn't be limit by standardized hardware.
> Windows is the limit because all the legacy and old thing in it. All the library to run thing, it's a really fragmented OS.
> And, it's proprietary.


I like windows, it's nice for web browsing and network sharing stuff etc. But it's just not really good for gaming, it'd be nice even if explorer.exe was able to shutdown and terminate all the extra un-needed processes' and services while a game is open.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Thats basicly what a console is, a gaming OS with standardized hardware.
> Easy for dev's to program for it that way


In a way yes, but i mean still a computer, Still as much fun to create as they are now. I find it a good thing that no one's PC's the same, it make it more Interesting i guess (well for me). I think xbox'es and PS3's are stupid because of this, it's just Sony and Microsoft putting their branding over everything. There are no real third party companies either, which just gives M$ and Sony all the more market share.

And M$ have stopped making PC games, they're devoted to 360/the new xbox now. Which means PC gaming is almost over...


----------



## Tokkan

Sad that they stopped making games for PC since they actualy did some cool games... Im so tempted buy a 2600k with a Gene Z & 7950... I love my CPU but Im fed up with my GPU's. Tired of spending day and nights trying drivers, seeing benchmark scores with crossfired enabled giving lower scores when compared to my GPU1 solo scores, Putting GPU1 working alone and overclocking it, checking temps and everything shows up perfect. Putting GPU2 working alone benchmarking, overclocking, benchmarking again and checking its temps all the time just to realize that both GPU's are in perfect condition Yet with crossfire enabled I get 100% usage on both cards... But I cant overclock them with crossfire cause they will artifact at 55ºC with 900Mhz core. And they working alone are stable at 1Ghz Core. I really regret spending the money on crossfire.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Sad that they stopped making games for PC since they actualy did some cool games... Im so tempted buy a 2600k with a Gene Z & 7950... I love my CPU but Im fed up with my GPU's. Tired of spending day and nights trying drivers, seeing benchmark scores with crossfired enabled giving lower scores when compared to my GPU1 solo scores, Putting GPU1 working alone and overclocking it, checking temps and everything shows up perfect. Putting GPU2 working alone benchmarking, overclocking, benchmarking again and checking its temps all the time just to realize that both GPU's are in perfect condition Yet with crossfire enabled I get 100% usage on both cards... But I cant overclock them with crossfire cause they will artifact at 55ºC with 900Mhz core. And they working alone are stable at 1Ghz Core. I really regret spending the money on crossfire.


I know it's sad.. No more age of empires of Flight Sims!

I actually have the same problem, i don't know what each card will OC to. But they will artifact no matter what voltage i put through them. It's exactly 900mhz core too (or at least close to it). Mine run about 20c hotter then that too.

Yes, i wish i kept my 6870 and got a 2500k and a Asrock Extreme3 Gen3 instead.. It was $120 more. :s


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Sad that they stopped making games for PC since they actualy did some cool games... Im so tempted buy a 2600k with a Gene Z & 7950... I love my CPU but Im fed up with my GPU's. Tired of spending day and nights trying drivers, seeing benchmark scores with crossfired enabled giving lower scores when compared to my GPU1 solo scores, Putting GPU1 working alone and overclocking it, checking temps and everything shows up perfect. Putting GPU2 working alone benchmarking, overclocking, benchmarking again and checking its temps all the time just to realize that both GPU's are in perfect condition Yet with crossfire enabled I get 100% usage on both cards... But I cant overclock them with crossfire cause they will artifact at 55ºC with 900Mhz core. And they working alone are stable at 1Ghz Core. I really regret spending the money on crossfire.


Im sorry you guys are having trouble but it is definitely software related not the cards.I dont have the best overclockers by a long run but they are stable at 970/1100 all day long in crossfire. One card is stable above 1Ghz with a little voltage bump the other can only manage 980 with lots of voltage so 970 is the happy medium.

Now with all that said I would replace the whole pc if I could afford it.And the 2600k is no longer worth buying as the 2700 is $15 more and a binned chip.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Im sorry you guys are having trouble but it is definitely software related not the cards.I dont have the best overclockers by a long run but they are stable at 970/1100 all day long in crossfire. One card is stable above 1Ghz with a little voltage bump the other can only manage 980 with lots of voltage so 970 is the happy medium.
> Now with all that said I would replace the whole pc if I could afford it.And the 2600k is no longer worth buying as the 2700 is $15 more and a binned chip.


You claim it to be software related when you do not know what I have done?
Lemme put it simple to you, I used Sapphire Trixx, I used MSI Afterburner, I used Bios Overclocking and I used overclocking through batch files.
In everything I did to exclude temperature issues I had the fans running at 100% with the cards reaching a max temperature of 56~58 degrees.
I tried all of this from the earliest WHQL driver's before BF3 through the Beta's till the final drivers, always disabled ulps.
I detected that if my GPU2 is used as my main card(giving the video output) it will not detect my GPU1 not giving the crossfire, doesnt matter what driver I use and it will run at PCIe 2.0 x2.
If I use my GPU1 as my main card it will work at PCIe 2.0 x16(both of them will) and crossfire options pop up.
My GPU2 altho it is the same card it has a completely different PCB and it lacks sensors, I can only check the temps on the core/fan rotation versus GPU1 memory temp/core temp/vreg temp/voltage regulation and monitor.

My GPU1 working alone(GPU2 outside of my desktop) is capable of doing 1Ghz Core/1150Mhz Mem gaming & Stable without giving artifacts at 70 degrees.
My GPU2 working alone(GPU1 outside of my desktop) is capable ofdoing 930Mhz Core/1120Mhz Mem gaming & Stable without giving artifacts at 68 degrees.

So you are telling me that these GPU's which are capable of what I said above, will not do any overclock, not even the slightest overclock without giving artifacts with a fan profile of 100% with temps of 55 degrees cause of software?

Ye bro this totally might be software related.







But not something that I can solve.

Binned 2700k? Use the search function, you will see threads of people who sold the 2600k and bought the 2700k believing those myths and achieved lower overclocks with their 2700k when compared to their 2600k.

Edit: Also the 2700k is arround 35£ more.


----------



## smoke420

2600k=$325
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

2700k=$340
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115095
Free shipping on both do the math.

Binned chip is not a guaranteed better overclock its just a good chance for one of course if you get a great 2600k it will keep up possibly beat it but being a binned chip you chances are better with the 2700k.Thats worth the extra $15 bucks to me.I wouldnt sell a 2600k for a 2700k just like i wouldn't sell a 975 for a 980 but if I was buying now I would go for the higher clock chip and hope for a better overclock with the prices that close.

this information was not in your post and does not sound like software imho.
"I detected that if my GPU2 is used as my main card(giving the video output) it will not detect my GPU1 not giving the crossfire, doesnt matter what driver I use and it will run at PCIe 2.0 x2.If I use my GPU1 as my main card it will work at PCIe 2.0 x16(both of them will) and crossfire options pop up."
When you tried this did you physically move the cards or just the cables?

Ive had problems of my own namely my drivers not crashing.It doesn't sound like a problem but trust me it is.when I first got the cards and my overclock failed my drivers would crash and recover but after a while I noticed my pc would just restart (no more recovering)some times blue screen saying my graphics drivers could not recover but mostly the screen would go black and the pc would post.no matter what I did it would just restart many different drivers, driver sweeper nothing helped.I thought overclocking them so high with such high voltage for so long had damaged the cards.Nope some kind of software issue couldn't tell you what but I recently reinstalled windows and the problem is gone.Not suggesting you reinstall your OS im just saying some software issues are weird and hard to find.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> 2600k=$325
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070
> 2700k=$340
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115095
> Free shipping on both do the math.
> Binned chip is not a guaranteed better overclock its just a good chance for one of course if you get a great 2600k it will keep up possibly beat it but being a binned chip you chances are better with the 2700k.Thats worth the extra $15 bucks to me.I wouldnt sell a 2600k for a 2700k just like i wouldn't sell a 975 for a 980 but if I was buying now I would go for the higher clock chip and hope for a better overclock with the prices that close.
> this information was not in your post and does not sound like software imho.
> "I detected that if my GPU2 is used as my main card(giving the video output) it will not detect my GPU1 not giving the crossfire, doesnt matter what driver I use and it will run at PCIe 2.0 x2.If I use my GPU1 as my main card it will work at PCIe 2.0 x16(both of them will) and crossfire options pop up."
> When you tried this did you physically move the cards or just the cables?
> Ive had problems of my own namely my drivers not crashing.It doesn't sound like a problem but trust me it is.when I first got the cards and my overclock failed my drivers would crash and recover but after a while I noticed my pc would just restart (no more recovering)some times blue screen saying my graphics drivers could not recover but mostly the screen would go black and the pc would post.no matter what I did it would just restart many different drivers, driver sweeper nothing helped.I thought overclocking them so high with such high voltage for so long had damaged the cards.Nope some kind of software issue couldn't tell you what but I recently reinstalled windows and the problem is gone.Not suggesting you reinstall your OS im just saying some software issues are weird and hard to find.


Im not american, thats why I used pounds/£.
It aint a differente of 15$ here.
Do the reading and check my math.
2700k @ 256.40£ with free delivery(from amazon)
2600k @ 226.75£ with free delivery(from amazon)

And yes I moved the cards. I repeated this process way too often.
Both cards are good when being run alone on any of my 4 PCIe slots.
I did not put all the info cause I was not asking for help. I already gave up on it.
I repair computers for a living and each time I tried a new set of drivers I did a clean install of windows to make sure there were no left overs from previous drivers.
My GPU2 is just a plain and simple bad card.


----------



## sbao26975

So I just downgraded to a ref. Sapphire 6870 from a GTX 580...are these cards supposed to idle at 50C?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sbao26975*
> 
> So I just downgraded to a ref. Sapphire 6870 from a GTX 580...are these cards supposed to idle at 50C?


sounds about right


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sbao26975*
> 
> So I just downgraded to a ref. Sapphire 6870 from a GTX 580...are these cards supposed to idle at 50C?


With the stock cooler, that sounds about right.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sbao26975*
> 
> So I just downgraded to a ref. Sapphire 6870 from a GTX 580...are these cards supposed to idle at 50C?


It seems a bit high IMHO. What's your ambient temp? You may wanna change the thermal grease and reseat the cooler.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> It seems a bit high IMHO. What's your ambient temp? You may wanna change the thermal grease and reseat the cooler.


I agree.


----------



## arrow0309

Some new pics, sorry for the quality (cellular shots):


----------



## arrow0309

I only wanted to add that this case finally arrived at the end of its "airflow modding" road (my next case will be a bigger one).








The results are excellent for an air cooled highly overclocked mid-tower rig.
Yesterday I've even managed to increase the speed of the Accelero Xtreme fans (bottom video card only) from auto (21% idle) to 40%-75% idle-full (gaming) with the latest version of the Speedfan.

*Long live our italian premium software.*









http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

All this wasn't possible before with the CCC because it only works when gaming (crossfire related),and not even with the MSI AB due to the settings I'm using (always) having the two video cards synchronized where my upper 6870 Hawk is running in auto fan-speed.
Now I'm getting 34°C idle and 50°C max intensive gaming (overclocked) for my second 6870 (the lower one, gpu2), about 10°C lower than before (when loaded gpu) and 2-3°C lower for my Hawk (gpu1) that reaches now 70°C only when playing Batman AC dx11 maxed in cf overclocked (980/1140).


----------



## 12Cores

I just picked up two XFX 6870's that do not have voltage control which really sucks, is anyone able to run their non referenced 6870's at a 1000 mhz or higher 24/7. I was really looking forward to running these things at 1050mhz under water


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> I just picked up two XFX 6870's that do not have voltage control which really sucks, is anyone able to run their non referenced 6870's at a 1000 mhz or higher 24/7. I was really looking forward to running these things at 1050mhz under water


Are you using Afterburner? You have to manually change the configurations in the config file to get it to allow you to change the voltage.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> I just picked up two XFX 6870's that do not have voltage control which really sucks, is anyone able to run their non referenced 6870's at a 1000 mhz or higher 24/7. I was really looking forward to running these things at 1050mhz under water


try sapphire trixx. i was never able to get voltage control with afterburner but trixx works


----------



## 12Cores

I have used afterburner for years and tried Trixx with these cards to see if I could increase the voltage. But unfortunately after doing some research I found out that XFX left the voltage controller off the cards and the only way to increase the voltage is via the pencil mod which I will not do. I upgraded from 2 XFX 5770's and I was running them at 995/1360 under water with a voltage increase of 1.312. I was only able to get these things up to 960/1200 which is very disappointing, the good thing is that the cards are animals at stock settings and overkill at 1080p. It just hurts having all this cooling and not be able to push the cards further.

Thanks and have a good weekend guys.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> I have used afterburner for years and tried Trixx with these cards to see if I could increase the voltage. But unfortunately after doing some research I found out that XFX left the voltage controller off the cards and the only way to increase the voltage is via the pencil mod which I will not do. I upgraded from 2 XFX 5770's and I was running them at 995/1360 under water with a voltage increase of 1.312. I was only able to get these things up to 960/1200 which is very disappointing, the good thing is that the cards are animals at stock settings and overkill at 1080p. It just hurts having all this cooling and not be able to push the cards further.
> Thanks and have a good weekend guys.


that's surprising. i thought xfx was supposed to be a good company


----------



## mazdaboi

Picked up a Gigabyte 6850OC last Sunday to replace my 5750. SO happy to run games at High to Ultra (or max) settings in most of my games.


----------



## spikexp

Just receive my gigabyte 6850 OC too









But I have so many problem with it...

TF2 don't run correctly, the GPU usage is at 25% and barely get 60FPS, with huge drop... With the same setting, my 4850 512mb gddr3 was able to do 200fps...

BF3 randomly have huge FPS drop (go from steady 60 fps to 20-30fps), in these moment, my gpu usage and my cpu usage both get from 100% each to 60%...


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikexp*
> 
> Just receive my gigabyte 6850 OC too
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But I have so many problem with it...
> TF2 don't run correctly, the GPU usage is at 25% and barely get 60FPS, with huge drop... With the same setting, my 4850 512mb gddr3 was able to do 200fps...
> BF3 randomly have huge FPS drop (go from steady 60 fps to 20-30fps), in these moment, my gpu usage and my cpu usage both get from 100% each to 60%...


That don't sound right at all. I would try and uninstall driver, run driver sweeper, run CCleaner, and reinstall first before looking into other possibilities.

I have my HD6850 OC'd to 1000/1250 while playing BF3 and it's around 60 fps a majority of the time with drops to 50 once in awhile. Over 70 during light situations.


----------



## spikexp

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> That don't sound right at all. I would try and uninstall driver, run driver sweeper, run CCleaner, and reinstall first before looking into other possibilities.
> I have my HD6850 OC'd to 1000/1250 while playing BF3 and it's around 60 fps a majority of the time with drops to 50 once in awhile. Over 70 during light situations.


I already pass driver sweeper and did a clean install of the newest driver. Might retry again with ccleaner over it.
Maybe even a complete reinstall of windows 7.

What setting are you playing BF3 at?


----------



## bmgjet

Id say ultra with 2X AA since thats what my does with cross fire disabled overclocked to 1000mhz core at 1080.
With cross fire enabled FPS is almost doubled.


----------



## spikexp

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Id say ultra with 2X AA since thats what my does with cross fire disabled overclocked to 1000mhz core at 1080.
> With cross fire enabled FPS is almost doubled.


Sorry, but I doubt it. Even in single player, if it's not at 60 fps constant (with just some drop in huge action).
I don't even think a GTX 580 can do ultra 2x in multiplayer and be "playable" at 1080p.


----------



## rageofthepeon

Edit: Oops, wrong thread.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikexp*
> 
> I already pass driver sweeper and did a clean install of the newest driver. Might retry again with ccleaner over it.
> Maybe even a complete reinstall of windows 7.
> What setting are you playing BF3 at?


High setting. I use the auto thingy. I'm too lazy to manually set it.


----------



## inter_stella

guys...sorry, off the topic but If you have 5850 vapor-x I need the sapphire original bios. please contact me if you have. im desperate.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *inter_stella*
> 
> guys...sorry, off the topic but If you have 5850 vapor-x I need the sapphire original bios. please contact me if you have. im desperate.


Sapphire 5850 Vapor X bios
This is for the 1Gb Vapor X you need to check if you have the 1Gb version and you need to check what memory is your card using. After knowing those details its easier to give you a compatible bios.
There you have it... I dont own that card but techpowerup has a database of VGA bios... You just need to know what you searching for...
Next time dont come inside the 68xx thread asking for help on a 58xx card and use google. Was as easy as searching VGA BIOS.


----------



## smoke420

Just installed my old 9600gso (using the stock asus directcu cooler for my 6850







) as a tv card and now I have no more voltage control







is this normal?

The temp on the gso just sits at 37c

Edit:after installing new AMD drivers voltage control has returned.


----------



## dartuil

hello my maybe a issue , gpu z and cpu z show my pci e as a 4x bandwidth








can you help me?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dartuil*
> 
> hello my maybe a issue , gpu z and cpu z show my pci e as a 4x bandwidth
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> can you help me?


The black PCIe on your motherboard is 4x so I am required to ask you where have you put your graphics card?
On the black or the blue port?
If it is on the black, theres your answer. Black port works at 4x in your motherboard.


----------



## dartuil

its in the blue thats why im crazy


----------



## smoke420

I have moved my psu to the top of my case to make room for my tv card this also cleared room at the bottom of my case for more airflow to my cards.This required rewiring the whole pc so now my cards are top to bottom 9600gso,6850,6850. Installed drivers nvidia 285.62 ,physx mod 1.05ff, amd 12.2(although afterburner says 12.3) raised pci-e voltage in my bios and reinstalled afterburner.I don't know what helped so I tried to mention everything I did but now my cards are stable at 1000/1100 from 970/1100.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> I have moved my psu to the top of my case to make room for my tv card this also cleared room at the bottom of my case for more airflow to my cards.This required rewiring the whole pc so now my cards are top to bottom 9600gso,6850,6850. Installed drivers nvidia 285.62 ,physx mod 1.05ff, amd 12.2(although afterburner says 12.3) raised pci-e voltage in my bios and reinstalled afterburner.I don't know what helped so I tried to mention everything I did but now my cards are stable at 1000/1100 from 970/1100.


Sounds interesting.
Maybe it's the pci-e volt?








How about your cf pci-e bandwidth? Did you have a 32x (16x/16x) before and got an 8x/8x now (for the 6850's)?

PS: I've recently set the oc freq. for my two 6870's not anymore synchronized with the afterburner, 980/1200 for the top Hawk and 1000/1140 for the bottom one. It seems it works pretty good with Batman AC so far. Is there any particular reason why we shouldn't run our cards at different speeds?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Sounds interesting.
> Maybe it's the pci-e volt?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How about your cf pci-e bandwidth? Did you have a 32x (16x/16x) before and got an 8x/8x now (for the 6850's)?
> PS: I've recently set the oc freq. for my two 6870's not anymore synchronized with the afterburner, 980/1200 for the top Hawk and 1000/1140 for the bottom one. It seems it works pretty good with Batman AC so far. Is there any particular reason why we shouldn't run our cards at different speeds?


Not particularly.. My cards run better when they aren't synced.. (Even with both at the same settings).

So my 6850's have different bios'? According to GPU-Z.. They're the same card, identical as far as i can see.. Unless one has a slightly different PCB? I dunno, would flashing the later one do any harm/good?


----------



## bmgjet

Running at different speeds increases the chance of microstuttering since the faster card will be waiting on the slower one.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Running at different speeds increases the chance of microstuttering since the faster card will be waiting on the slower one.


You think that.. But seriously.
6870 @ 970Mhz and 6850 at 900 was fine to me. No microsuttering here.
I'm running 2x 6850's now for ascetics however


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Running at different speeds increases the chance of microstuttering since the faster card will be waiting on the slower one.
> 
> 
> 
> You think that.. But seriously.
> 6870 @ 970Mhz and 6850 at 900 was fine to me. No microsuttering here.
> I'm running 2x 6850's now for ascetics however
Click to expand...

Come on guys, if there's to be any micro-stuttering (happening only in v-sync on mode) it simply appears with some games in the 2-way CFX only. I experienced it sometimes in Skyrim (inside the dungeons) with the cards running at the very same speeds. It only disappears completely in a 6870 3-way crossfire (with one 6870x2+6870) but its a waste due to the cost,temp&power/performance ratio.









Right now I'm playing BAC in dx11 maxed (v-sync off) and I don't see any microstuttering. What I see sometimes is a fps drop, but it's quite playable. At these freq. above, the max. stable oc for my cards right now, I got some *70-71°C* max for the gpu1 (definitely hotter for its position and cooler) and *49°C* for the bottom 6870 (at 1000/1140).


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Come on guys, if there's to be any micro-stuttering (happening only in v-sync on mode) it simply appears with some games in the 2-way CFX only. I experienced it sometimes in Skyrim (inside the dungeons) with the cards running at the very same speeds. It only disappears completely in a 6870 3-way crossfire (with one 6870x2+6870) but its a waste due to the cost,temp&power/performance ratio.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right now I'm playing BAC in dx11 maxed (v-sync off) and I don't see any microstuttering. What I see sometimes is a fps drop, but it's quite playable. At these freq. above, the max. stable oc for my cards right now, I got some *70-71°C* max for the gpu1 (definitely hotter for its position and cooler) and *49°C* for the bottom 6870 (at 1000/1140).


Holy crap, that's some difference in temps!









I don't see how people are getting such better temps then me though.. These cards are meant to be amazing at cooling.. But they just aren't..


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Holy crap, that's some difference in temps!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't see how people are getting such better temps then me though.. These cards are meant to be amazing at cooling.. But they just aren't..


That's because of my gpu1 (Hawk) position (lacking of the third free slot between) and cooler (compared to the the 3 fan bottom beast)


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Sounds interesting.
> Maybe it's the pci-e volt?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How about your cf pci-e bandwidth? Did you have a 32x (16x/16x) before and got an 8x/8x now (for the 6850's)?
> PS: I've recently set the oc freq. for my two 6870's not anymore synchronized with the afterburner, 980/1200 for the top Hawk and 1000/1140 for the bottom one. It seems it works pretty good with Batman AC so far. Is there any particular reason why we shouldn't run our cards at different speeds?


Yes I did go from 16x/16x to 8x/8x but that doesn't hurt performance at all.I used to run both 6850's ,my gtx 260 for physx, and my 8500gt as a tv card and got very similar benchmark scores a little lower than just the two 6850's at 16x/16x (My board does 4 pci-e slots at 8x).But after raising the pci-e voltage the scores were exactly the same so I can tell you for sure (because ive tested it) a 6850 overclocked or not can't saturate the x8 bandwidth.The only reason I raised the voltage was adding another card but Im starting to think it also helped my overclock.

The only thing ive noticed running the cards at different speeds is the card with the higher clocks usually has lower load and because of this I think you get even performance.I personally never tried but do you get higher scores with say 980/1200 and 1000/1200 vs 980/1200and 980/1200?Id figure that because the card with the higher clocks doesn't load as high its the same as running them both at the same speed but im guessing here.

I stopped running the cards at different speeds a while ago because afterburner won't let me anymore.lets say I set profile #1 on card #1 to 970/1100 if I set profile #1 on card #2 to 1000/1100 then profile #1 on card #1 will revert back to stock 790/1000..
Im not worrying about it anymore because now both cards can do 1000/1100 rock solid and stay cool.Im a happy man no more afterburner voltage mod no unofficial overclocking and ulps is still on I may try to push the vram a little but other than that im good.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Not particularly.. My cards run better when they aren't synced.. (Even with both at the same settings).
> So my 6850's have different bios'? According to GPU-Z.. They're the same card, identical as far as i can see.. Unless one has a slightly different PCB? I dunno, would flashing the later one do any harm/good?


You shouldnt do that, they might have different memory chips and doing that will brick one of the cards.
I already made the mistake of doing that and this was what happened, you can still save it tho. Just reflash to the stock bios


----------



## mazdaboi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikexp*
> 
> I already pass driver sweeper and did a clean install of the newest driver. Might retry again with ccleaner over it.
> Maybe even a complete reinstall of windows 7.
> What setting are you playing BF3 at?


I run the stock specs, I had an issue with the 12.2 driver, so i had to disable my HD 2000 Graphics, install 11.12, and the CAP3 , then reboot, install CAP1 over ver 12, Install 12.2, then reboot. For some reason when it was installing the Video driver via CCC it would blue screen, Im guessing it was trying to install the driver and test settings via the iGPU!?!? Either way, im running High Settings (default High) on BF3 maintaining Mid 40FPS. I was going to do some OC'ing but I personally don't want to, at this point.


----------



## axipher

The only drivers that work for me are 11.11 and 12.1.

11.12 for some reason breaks DVD playback on my 5670 in my HTPC and take a hit in folding for some reason. So I'm using 11.11 on my HTPC and 12.1 on my rig with the 6870.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> The only drivers that work for me are 11.11 and 12.1.
> 11.12 for some reason breaks DVD playback on my 5670 in my HTPC and take a hit in folding for some reason. So I'm using 11.11 on my HTPC and 12.1 on my rig with the 6870.


My 6850's seem to be more stable with 12.1.. 12.3 upsets them and they cry artifacts








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> That's because of my gpu1 (Hawk) position (lacking of the third free slot between) and cooler (compared to the the 3 fan bottom beast)


Swap them around? Will get better temps then








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> You shouldnt do that, they might have different memory chips and doing that will brick one of the cards.
> I already made the mistake of doing that and this was what happened, you can still save it tho. Just reflash to the stock bios


Ah, i'll look into the ram chips on both! If they are the same i may flash it. Worst comes to worst i can just flick the bios switch and the day will be saved yes? Or can it actually burn my card out? :s


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Yes I did go from 16x/16x to 8x/8x but that doesn't hurt performance at all.I used to run both 6850's ,my gtx 260 for physx, and my 8500gt as a tv card and got very similar benchmark scores a little lower than just the two 6850's at 16x/16x (My board does 4 pci-e slots at 8x).But after raising the pci-e voltage the scores were exactly the same so I can tell you for sure (because ive tested it) a 6850 overclocked or not can't saturate the x8 bandwidth.The only reason I raised the voltage was adding another card but Im starting to think it also helped my overclock.
> 
> The only thing ive noticed running the cards at different speeds is the card with the higher clocks usually has lower load and because of this I think you get even performance.I personally never tried but do you get higher scores with say 980/1200 and 1000/1200 vs 980/1200and 980/1200?Id figure that because the card with the higher clocks doesn't load as high its the same as running them both at the same speed but im guessing here.
> 
> I stopped running the cards at different speeds a while ago because afterburner won't let me anymore.lets say I set profile #1 on card #1 to 970/1100 if I set profile #1 on card #2 to 1000/1100 then profile #1 on card #1 will revert back to stock 790/1000..
> Im not worrying about it anymore because now both cards can do 1000/1100 rock solid and stay cool.Im a happy man no more afterburner voltage mod no unofficial overclocking and ulps is still on I may try to push the vram a little but other than that im good.


No, setting the cards at different speeds ain't an issue for me with the AB, and they're supposed to run at those clocks simply because are their max. R.S. speeds at 1.274v so far.








So I can only make them run at 980/1140 (1.274v) sync, without bothering of the reference 6870's greater speed at this volt. (55°C max running 3DMark with the fans at 70%).









But I want to confirm once again (you guys were right) that is better for our 68xx cfx to have the cards running at lower speed synchronized than running at different yet higher speeds.
I did run two quick sessions of 3DMark Vantage (gpu tests only), one with the cards (top to bottom) at 980/1200 and 1000/1140 and the other one at the same speed of 980/1140.

Wanna see the results? Without taking any screenshots I can tell you that the higher score that I got, *GPU Score 32281* was the second one, with the same speed of the clocks, 980/1140.
And I only did before a *GPU Score 31271* with the cards at different, yet higher speeds like I said.

More than 1k of a gpu score on Vantage ain't a small difference. So, do not run your 68xx (especially when different cards) at different speeds if this is not particularly required or you're gonna drop performance. Simply enjoy your lower, sync. speeds with an even greater power efficiency.









Feel free to post any of your tests that will either confirm or infirm that.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> That's because of my gpu1 (Hawk) position (lacking of the third free slot between) and cooler (compared to the the 3 fan bottom beast)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Swap them around? Will get better temps then
Click to expand...

You still don't get it, do you?
How can I swap the cards without removing their coolers since I can only mount a dual slot card as primary (gpu1) and the lower one (with the Accelero Xtreme) is a 3 slot cooler?

That's my motherboard (and I don't wanna run the cards at 8x/8x):



Nope, the only thing I can possibly do (optional) is to replace the Hawk cooler's with an "all in one" KÜHLER H₂O 620:









http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=Mjc2OA==&lan=us

However I might wanna replace my case before, gettin' a new one (not sure if there's gonna be a HAF932 advanced black or a NZXT Phantom).


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> You still don't get it, do you?
> How can I swap the cards without removing their coolers since I can only mount a dual slot card as primary (gpu1) and the lower one (with the Accelero Xtreme) is a 3 slot cooler?
> That's my motherboard (and I don't wanna run the cards at 8x/8x):
> 
> Nope, the only thing I can possibly do (optional) is to replace the Hawk cooler's with an "all in one" KÜHLER H₂O 620:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=Mjc2OA==&lan=us
> However I might wanna replace my case before, gettin' a new one (not sure if there's gonna be a HAF932 advanced black or a NZXT Phantom).


Ohh right.. I missed that!








Sorry about the confusion.. I didn't actually think that it was a triple slot card either.. It by sure doesn't look like it.

I'm constantly running at 8x/8x, there is minimal difference with 580's yet alone 68xx.. You should try it and see if your score drops alot (if any at all). Then compare that to the core clocks that you can gain!


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Nope, the only thing I can possibly do (optional) is to replace the Hawk cooler's with an "all in one" KÜHLER H₂O 620:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=Mjc2OA==&lan=us


I did and it dropped my load temps by 15 degrees but my stock cooler was the standard one.


----------



## Amhro

would be a 650watt psu enough to run 6870 crossfire?


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Amhro*
> 
> would be a 650watt psu enough to run 6870 crossfire?


A higher quality unit yes, as long as you're not running an overclocked Bulldozer.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Amhro*
> 
> would be a 650watt psu enough to run 6870 crossfire?


It'd be very close.. try a 6850 and 6870 akimbo








And put the 6850 on the top as the top card always gets hotter, and a 6850 runs cooler!


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> A higher quality unit yes, as long as you're not running an overclocked Bulldozer.


650W is plenty as long as its not a very budget PSU.
Im running a overclocked 8120 (4.6ghz) with 2X 6850s (1008mhz) and most iv seen from the wall is 618W when running prime+furmark. Which would be 500W from the components taking into account the 80% efficiency.
Sure a 6870 set up will draw more but not much more.
Also when playing BF3 its only pulling 480-500W from the wall since the CPU isnt fully loaded.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Nope, the only thing I can possibly do (optional) is to replace the Hawk cooler's with an "all in one" KÜHLER H₂O 620:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=Mjc2OA==&lan=us
> 
> 
> 
> I did and it dropped my load temps by 15 degrees but my stock cooler was the standard one.
Click to expand...

I know, you showed us before the results.
However I'm not needing that stuff anymore since my 6870 Hawk died yesterday (starting an rma process)







and my actual cooler (Accelero Xtreme) is enough for everything.
Furthermore, I feel like I don't need the cf anymore, having right now (with a superior gpu load, almost full) in oc quite the same performance as before but less power consumption, heat and db yet having more room for my cpu overclock.

Wen my 6870 Hawk returns from the rma, gonna sell everything and go for the newer 7870.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I know, you showed us before the results.
> However I'm not needing that stuff anymore since my 6870 Hawk died yesterday (starting an rma process)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and my actual cooler (Accelero Xtreme) is enough for everything.
> Furthermore, I feel like I don't need the cf anymore, having right now (with a superior gpu load, almost full) in oc quite the same performance as before but less power consumption, heat and db yet having more room for my cpu overclock.
> Wen my 6870 Hawk returns from the rma, gonna sell everything and go for the newer 7870.


Why not get a 7950? It's a fair bit better!


----------



## Jamyy10

Hello guys,

I'm a bit concerned about my TF2 6870 OC'ed Graphics card.

When im idling in windows doing things like skype, internet, file browsing, downloading, email and bits like that my graphics card will be running at 54 degrees whilst my processor will be running at probably 33 degrees?

But when i play battlefield 3 on the other hand, the temps can get right up to 90 degrees! My CPU will not rise above 48 degrees whilst gaming. I get about 50-60 FPS running battlefield 3 at full settings, so my FPS isn't bad. I have had the card apart to replace the thermal paste with some Noctua paste but that didn't make a difference as far as i can remember.

Could it be my factory overclock from MSI? Should it even run that hot even if it has been overclocked by 20Mhz?

My case has good airflow, has no dust filters and is blown out with an air compressor every month or so.

Please let me know your recommendations!


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jamyy10*
> 
> Hello guys,
> 
> I'm a bit concerned about my TF2 6870 OC'ed Graphics card.
> 
> When im idling in windows doing things like skype, internet, file browsing, downloading, email and bits like that my graphics card will be running at 54 degrees whilst my processor will be running at probably 33 degrees?
> 
> But when i play battlefield 3 on the other hand, the temps can get right up to 90 degrees! My CPU will not rise above 48 degrees whilst gaming. I get about 50-60 FPS running battlefield 3 at full settings, so my FPS isn't bad. I have had the card apart to replace the thermal paste with some Noctua paste but that didn't make a difference as far as i can remember.
> 
> Could it be my factory overclock from MSI? Should it even run that hot even if it has been overclocked by 20Mhz?
> 
> My case has good airflow, has no dust filters and is blown out with an air compressor every month or so.
> 
> Please let me know your recommendations!


Well if the card had similarly bad temperatures before and after you re-applied some thermal paste, it's likely that the fans just aren't spinning up enough. Try loading up MSI Afterburner and creating a custom fan profile for your card.


----------



## Krusher33

As a test, crank the fans up to above 80% and see if that makes a difference. Also... maybe hold another fan over the card to see if maybe the airflow inside the case isn't really getting to the card very well.


----------



## Struzzin

Just got my Sapphire 6870


----------



## dasparx

6850 + antec kuhler 620









29c idle, 49c load @ 850/1050, and it's not the best seat ever, with stock paste, will do with mx-3 in the weekend.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Struzzin20*
> 
> Just got my Sapphire 6870


Well someone loves their sapphire ATi/AMD cards!








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> As a test, crank the fans up to above 80% and see if that makes a difference. Also... maybe hold another fan over the card to see if maybe the airflow inside the case isn't really getting to the card very well.


This, it wouldn't be the factory OC. Check if your fans are spinning up enough, also make sure you're on the performance bios, rather then the silent one. Do you have a side fan blowing on it?








(Hopefully a 120mm med-high CFM).


----------



## esukoto

Hi here's mine

Sapphire 6850 Toxic


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Well someone loves their sapphire ATi/AMD cards!


SAPPHIRE ROCKS! I would totally be like him and order all cards like that.

Wait a minute... I did. The last order I did was a 6850 and 5450.


----------



## Struzzin

Hey all those card still work perfect the only thing I had to do was change the fan on the X1650 ! Just got my 6870 installed and I cant wait to see some new games on it.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Struzzin20*
> 
> Hey all those card still work perfect the only thing I had to do was change the fan on the X1650 ! Just got my 6870 installed and I cant wait to see some new games on it.


I never said anything was wrong with it, i'm a bit like that with MSI and their cards. Might switch to something new next time around though


----------



## SkillzKillz

Do any 1GB crossfire users have Battlefield 3 running flawlessly?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*
> 
> Do any 1GB crossfire users have Battlefield 3 running flawlessly?


Nope, it's my proccy that's holding me back. 1GB won't cut it though..


----------



## Struzzin

Oh I was just letting everyone know that they all still work. I really wont buy anything other than Sapphire they just keep going strong


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Nope, it's my proccy that's holding me back. 1GB won't cut it though..


My processor won't either. I'm hoping that upgrading to an Ivy Bridge platform will fix all my issues... or if I'll need to switch up my GPUs for more VRAM.

I've searched deep in the web, and there seem to be a lot of Youtube videos of HD 6850 1GB crossfire running BF3 just fine on Ultra. Other's say it won't cut it, and there's a lot of "problems" reported. There's a lot of conflicting information. However, I think it may be possible if you customize the settings, like turning off motion blur, etc for Ultra.

I think it should be able to run on High without any problems. All in all, unless someone can post here with first-hand experience, I'll have to just try it out for myself.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*
> 
> My processor won't either. I'm hoping that upgrading to an Ivy Bridge platform will fix all my issues... or if I'll need to switch up my GPUs for more VRAM.
> I've searched deep in the web, and there seem to be a lot of Youtube videos of HD 6850 1GB crossfire running BF3 just fine on Ultra. Other's say it won't cut it, and there's a lot of "problems" reported. There's a lot of conflicting information. However, I think it may be possible if you customize the settings, like turning off motion blur, etc for Ultra.
> I think it should be able to run on High without any problems. All in all, unless someone can post here with first-hand experience, I'll have to just try it out for myself.


That's what i've heard.. But on certain maps i can run high-ultra and it's fine.
I'm planning to upgrade to Ivy, that or get a 2500k/2550k? In the next month or so, seeing as i'll be able to sell my stuff on eBay for a decent price right now.

Core 2 Quad - $120+
Ram - $40+
Mobo - $75? I dunno

Or is that too much to expect?

EDIT: In the case of selling it i'll be hoping to get a 2550k..
Wait, i thought the 2550k was meant to be cheaper? It's more on newegg.. I thought it's goal was to remove the IGP..


----------



## Amhro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> A higher quality unit yes, as long as you're not running an overclocked Bulldozer.


afaik corsair tx650w isnt bad, and im not running bulldozer








thanks


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> That's what i've heard.. But on certain maps i can run high-ultra and it's fine.
> I'm planning to upgrade to Ivy, that or get a 2500k/2550k? In the next month or so, seeing as i'll be able to sell my stuff on eBay for a decent price right now.
> Core 2 Quad - $120+
> Ram - $40+
> Mobo - $75? I dunno
> Or is that too much to expect?
> EDIT: In the case of selling it i'll be hoping to get a 2550k..
> Wait, i thought the 2550k was meant to be cheaper? It's more on newegg.. I thought it's goal was to remove the IGP..


Those prices you listed look to be about 1.5 years old (I upgraded my mobo, sold RAM, and searched ebay for CPUS around that time).

For me, the price of 775 systems have dropped so low that I'm better off just keeping my system as a secondary.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*
> 
> Those prices you listed look to be about 1.5 years old (I upgraded my mobo, sold RAM, and searched ebay for CPUS around that time).
> For me, the price of 775 systems have dropped so low that I'm better off just keeping my system as a secondary.


In AU they're still selling on ebay for about that. (I know the CPU is). It's just that people that have had their CPU die or just need a quadcore will buy them. If they have enough RAM and a good board..


----------



## SkillzKillz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> In AU they're still selling on ebay for about that. (I know the CPU is). It's just that people that have had their CPU die or just need a quadcore will buy them. If they have enough RAM and a good board..


Oh I wouldn't have any idea about prices in AU $.

I just checked now and I've noticed prices havent changed much in the past 1.5 years.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*
> 
> Oh I wouldn't have any idea about prices in AU $.
> I just checked now and I've noticed prices havent changed much in the past 1.5 years.


Yeah, it's at the stage where it's hard to get. So i'm just going to sell in a few weeks. Once i have a hundred or so saved.. Once it's on eBay i'll have it for a week longer and have a stage of a week or so without a PC. That's the plan anyway.


----------



## Jamyy10

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Well if the card had similarly bad temperatures before and after you re-applied some thermal paste, it's likely that the fans just aren't spinning up enough. Try loading up MSI Afterburner and creating a custom fan profile for your card.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> As a test, crank the fans up to above 80% and see if that makes a difference. Also... maybe hold another fan over the card to see if maybe the airflow inside the case isn't really getting to the card very well.


Thanks for the suggestion, i will try this when i get back home from work.


----------



## Tokkan

Double post...


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SkillzKillz*
> 
> Do any 1GB crossfire users have Battlefield 3 running flawlessly?


I run 6850 crossfire at Ultra Full HD with the color correction mod I get huge mem usage... way beyond what the card has but my frames dont go below 60fps


----------



## makol

Don't use ultra textures and you'll be fine in BF3, plus there's hardly any difference between ultra and high as far as I can tell.


----------



## Jamyy10

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jamyy10*
> 
> Thanks for the suggestion, i will try this when i get back home from work.


Ok i have dismantled my graphics card, cleaned the thermal paste off and re-applied thermal paste and my temps are roughly 45 idle. 45 degrees seems to be a little high considering my processor is running at 20/30 when the CPU has to do more work when it comes to internet browsing/skype/emails.

If i load up battlefield and play that for 30 mins the temps wont rise above 60 with my new fan speed setup to temperature in afterburner.

Does 60 degrees sound good to you guys??


----------



## Badwrench

Those temps are good. I idle around 45C with stock tim and max around 73C at 100% fan during furmark.


----------



## Jras

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Badwrench*
> 
> Those temps are good. I idle around 45C with stock tim and max around 73C at 100% fan during furmark.


I get these exact same temps


----------



## Krusher33

Can't compare CPU temps to GPU temps anyways.

But 50 is good.

70+ is uncomfortable for me with my 6850. It is not that I'm concerned with it hurting it, it's just that it always errors of some sort once I get up that high.

But yeah, your temps are good.


----------



## Badwrench

My 73C temp is only after extended runs of furmark. My gpu never goes past the low 60s when I game.


----------



## GaborimboX

I´m thinking of buying the sapphire 6870, i have a few questions, hope you can answer









FX-6100
Gigabyte GA-970A-D3
Cooler Master Silent Pro 600w
Corsair Vengeance 8gb 1600Mhz (Dual Channel)
BENQ GL950A LED 18.5" 1366x768 (i don't like FullHD)

How many fps will i get with new games?
Someone has a 6870 @ 1366x768?, how is the performance in recently games? how is with dolphin or pcsx2?
Thanks for your help!
PD: I'm Mexican, sorry for my bad english


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GaborimboX*
> 
> I´m thinking of buying the sapphire 6870, i have a few questions, hope you can answer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FX-6100
> Gigabyte GA-970A-D3
> Cooler Master Silent Pro 600w
> Corsair Vengeance 8gb 1600Mhz (Dual Channel)
> BENQ GL950A LED 18.5" 1366x768 (i don't like FullHD)
> How many fps will i get with new games?
> Someone has a 6870 @ 1366x768?, how is the performance in recently games? how is with dolphin or pcsx2?
> Thanks for your help!
> PD: I'm Mexican, sorry for my bad english


I have the 6850 which is a step down. I can still play Battlefield 3 at high settings on 1600x900 monitor.


----------



## macarule

i have a HD6870 overclocked to 1000/1200 and i play BF3 on high/ultra on 1920x1080 at 60+FPS


----------



## spikexp

I have a 6850 at 820/1050 and I play all at medium in 1080p to have a constant 60 fps.
I doubt it's possible to run at high/ultra in 1080p at 60fps...


----------



## hoserama

Add me to the club. I have two Gigabyte Radeaon HD6850 1GB DDR5


----------



## Spade616

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GaborimboX*
> 
> I´m thinking of buying the sapphire 6870, i have a few questions, hope you can answer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FX-6100
> Gigabyte GA-970A-D3
> Cooler Master Silent Pro 600w
> Corsair Vengeance 8gb 1600Mhz (Dual Channel)
> BENQ GL950A LED 18.5" 1366x768 (i don't like FullHD)
> How many fps will i get with new games?
> Someone has a 6870 @ 1366x768?, how is the performance in recently games? how is with dolphin or pcsx2?
> Thanks for your help!
> PD: I'm Mexican, sorry for my bad english


at 720p youd prolly get over 50fps in most games, except metro 2033, etc.. mine can play most games on high at over 30-40 fps at 1080p. i get 35-40 ish fps on BF3 on ultra with no aa.


----------



## CGabry

Hi,

+1 Powercolor HD6870 PCS+


----------



## MiyukiChan

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2308979

Sign me up


----------



## rainbowart

how far did u guys clock ur 6850s?
i run my at 910/1125 (Gigabyte OC version, stock is at 820/1050). i'm not able to change the voltage.


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rainbowart*
> 
> how far did u guys clock ur 6850s?
> i run my at 910/1125 (Gigabyte OC version, stock is at 820/1050). i'm not able to change the voltage.


850/1200 i can't get past it without my screen turning of for some reason


----------



## rainbowart

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> 850/1200 i can't get past it without my screen turning of for some reason


wow, u've pushed memory greatly, however, i think the more is gained by pushing the core.
my games crash when i get core at 910.


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rainbowart*
> 
> wow, u've pushed memory greatly, however, i think the more is gained by pushing the core.
> my games crash when i get core at 910.


well i'm kinda a beginner still

does less memory = more core oc?
and could someone tell me why my screen goes black but the pc still runs when i go past 880 coreclock or change the voltage


----------



## rainbowart

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> does less memory = more core oc?


no. as far as i know, though someone may think otherwise. my card gets unstable/artifact as soon as i get core past 910, regardless of the memory clock.

as for ur screen i'm not sure. it may be the case that ur card simply can't handle anymore than 880.


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rainbowart*
> 
> no. as far as i know, though someone may think otherwise. my card gets unstable/artifact as soon as i get core past 910, regardless of the memory clock.
> as for ur screen i'm not sure. it may be the case that ur card simply can't handle anymore than 880.


but it's a bit weird because I've looked at reviews of the same card and they could reach 9xx/10xx with theirs. (with a slight voltage bump)
and as goes for the artifacts care to explain more detailed what it is cause I've never ran into any the only issue i have is some weird white lines that appears on my screen when i go on a black wallpaper but it doesn't seem to change whether i use stock clocks or oc


----------



## rainbowart

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> but it's a bit weird because I've looked at reviews of the same card and they could reach 9xx/10xx with theirs. (with a slight voltage bump)
> and as goes for the artifacts care to explain more detailed what it is cause I've never ran into any the only issue i have is some weird white lines that appears on my screen when i go on a black wallpaper but it doesn't seem to change whether i use stock clocks or oc


i'm not sure about those white lines on the black wallpaper but if ur using a 21.5+ inch monitor i assume ur talking about the light leakage which is relatively normal for the widescreens...presuming those white lines are hardly noticeable of course. if they are strongly noticeable then u should take ur monitor in a shop.

artifacts are abnormal objects, of any shape and color which appear on screen for a very short period of time. normally, they blink frequently. that's a standard sign that ur card is overstressed.

edit:
and yes, ur right, Barts core (used on 6850/70) should be able to push beyond 9xx MHz.


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rainbowart*
> 
> i'm not sure about those white lines on the black wallpaper but if ur using a 21.5+ inch monitor i assume ur talking about the light leakage which is relatively normal for the widescreens...presuming those white lines are hardly noticeable of course. if they are strongly noticeable then u should take ur monitor in a shop.
> artifacts are abnormal objects, of any shape and color which appear on screen for a very short period of time. normally, they blink frequently. that's a standard sign that ur card is overstressed.
> edit:
> and yes, ur right, Barts core (used on 6850/70) should be able to push beyond 9xx MHz.


thank you for clearing that up for me it's been a real headache with the lines.
it's most likely leaking since it's almost impossible to see if ur not "looking for it" and it's a 1600x900 screen.
so i guess my card's haven't been over-stressed yet


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rainbowart*
> 
> how far did u guys clock ur 6850s?
> i run my at 910/1125 (Gigabyte OC version, stock is at 820/1050). i'm not able to change the voltage.


1008mhz/1140mhz on stock voltage.
Barts core loves to be keep cool. If you can keep it below 75C you should be geting high 900s. If you can keep it below 60C you should be able to get 1ghz.
Before I went on to using Antec 620's to cool my cards they could only do 940mhz at 78C.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rainbowart*
> 
> how far did u guys clock ur 6850s?
> i run my at 910/1125 (Gigabyte OC version, stock is at 820/1050). i'm not able to change the voltage.


Yes, the Gigabyte version was meant to have it's own program for voltage change, but it was never released. I know 'cause i was going to buy it when i got my first card and i emailed support asking about the voltage regulator. So that's a no go. Keep the memory at stock and keep pushing the core, in some cases it does allow you to push the core more. - Also that sometimes the memory is passively cooled.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> 850/1200 i can't get past it without my screen turning of for some reason


Read below, try a voltage bump too. (It could also be heat related)
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rainbowart*
> 
> wow, u've pushed memory greatly, however, i think the more is gained by pushing the core.
> my games crash when i get core at 910.


Yes, i see alot more gain by pushing the core. The memory on these cards is passively cooled sometimes, so i just tend to leave it at default to save worrying about them burning out.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> well i'm kinda a beginner still
> does less memory = more core oc?
> and could someone tell me why my screen goes black but the pc still runs when i go past 880 coreclock or change the voltage


It means your graphics card driver has reset... Which means it's unstable.


----------



## Krusher33

Plays BF3 no problem at 1000/1250. Folds no problem at 1030/1250. I'm sure I could make it dedicated folding at 1050-1060. It doesn't error if no one touches the machine but the second you put up a graphic, the folding fails.


----------



## smoke420

1000/1100 on both my 6850's all day long.As said before if you want a good stable overclock cooling is very important with barts chips.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> 1000/1100 on both my 6850's all day long.As said before if you want a good stable overclock cooling is very important with barts chips.


Yep, i agree. They can push to 1GHz easily. They require adequate cooling however. That's why mine won't get past 900MHz.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Plays BF3 no problem at 1000/1250. Folds no problem at 1030/1250. I'm sure I could make it dedicated folding at 1050-1060. It doesn't error if no one touches the machine but the second you put up a graphic, the folding fails.


Which generally means it's not stable.. Have you tried more voltage?








Assuming you have you're best bet is to leave it at 1030MHz









Back when i had a 6870 it did the same thing..


----------



## macarule

mine plays BF3 at 1000/1200 and the card is under volted
but if i increase the memory to 1250 i start to artifact...
should be able to get a bit higher once i add my GPU into my loop im building


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Which generally means it's not stable.. Have you tried more voltage?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Assuming you have you're best bet is to leave it at 1030MHz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Back when i had a 6870 it did the same thing..


Yeah, all the way up to 1.3v, same story each time. It is folding at 1035 20/7. If I know the rig will be left alone for awhile, I sometimes bump it to 1050 just for that little extra.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Yeah, all the way up to 1.3v, same story each time. It is folding at 1035 20/7. If I know the rig will be left alone for awhile, I sometimes bump it to 1050 just for that little extra.


If you use afterburner 2.1 you can turn the voltage up to whatever you want with this . It starts with a max of 1.4 volts but you can change it if you want just keep an eye on vrm temps.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> If you use afterburner 2.1 you can turn the voltage up to whatever you want with this . It starts with a max of 1.4 volts but you can change it if you want just keep an eye on vrm temps.


Hmm... thanks for this. I'll check it out soon. Firstly I need to improve airflow over them. They're getting some now, but I need to flip my PSU around. And I can't do that till I get feets. I might make my own soon.


----------



## Badwrench

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Hmm... thanks for this. I'll check it out soon. Firstly I need to improve airflow over them. They're getting some now, but I need to flip my PSU around. And I can't do that till I get feets. I might make my own soon.


Might i recommend these for feet: Ikea Satta knob $1.99 for a six pack








I used them on my Lian Li and they worked great.


----------



## Remix65

im back to this club temporarily after selling my asus 6870 for a profit to get a 6970 then sold the 6970 for a profit and buying back my 6870 which i'll be selling for a profit in a week









this mess will make me $95 then i'll go back to a 6970


----------



## SSJVegeta

How do I know whether my GPU is throttling? I just replaced my ageing 8800GT with a Asus DirectCU 6850 card and I get some bad stuttering in games like Skyrim or Serious Sam 3 for example. The rest of the system is the same. Using Cat 12.1 drivers. Didn't get stuttering with my 8800GT even with the same game settings 

I've not overclocked it yet. What's the best program to test OC stability? MSI Kombuster?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> How do I know whether my GPU is throttling? I just replaced my ageing 8800GT with a Asus DirectCU 6850 card and I get some bad stuttering in games like Skyrim or Serious Sam 3 for example. The rest of the system is the same. Using Cat 12.1 drivers. Didn't get stuttering with my 8800GT even with the same game settings
> I've not overclocked it yet. What's the best program to test OC stability? MSI Kombuster?


First I have two Asus DirectCU 6850's so im biased but great choice.Your gpu is not going to throttle its going to artifact or your drivers are going to fail (with temp issues or too high of an overclock) the v-ram is another story.V-ram has ecc (error correcting code) and if your overclock is too high it will kick in and hurt performance kind of like you discribed with the shuttering.But with that said at stock clocks you should not see any of these problems.
recommendations:
1.Start over uninstall all drivers nvidia and AMD run driver sweeper to make sure its all gone and reinstall your AMD drivers(most people don't like to and its not required but if you have a separate drive for your os reinstall windows)

2.The newest drivers don't work for everybody(might as well find out now if AMD is new to you they have gotten better but the drivers are still hit and miss)

3.Check your temps although the cooling on these cards is pretty good installation of the cooler not so much.(these babies can have a bad seat and way too much tim (Thermal interface material) so even a brand new card could easily have temperature issues.

4.And possibly the most important don't rig anything don't look for a temporary fix and don't settle for good enough if you cant figure it out get the card replaced.If you find your temps are the problem and weren't planning on getting aftermarket cooling same thing get the card replaced.You don't want to take the card apart to reapply the tim (Thermal interface material) and then find out the cooler is badly warped then possibly have warranty issues too.RMA is your friend.On the other hand if the temps aren't too too bad and your comfortable doing it go for it and replace the tim.

You should get better performance out of your new card in most games but remember your new card is DX11 so if those options are available in the game your playing it will put a lot of strain on the new card that you never got with the old one. For example the combination of tessellation and depth of field on your old card would make no difference but on your new card would cut your frame rate in half.

Testing OC stability:kombuster , furmark ,occt are all great programs for quick tests (But im not going to watch that crap for hours especially since you have to game anyway to be sure) as far as im concerned the best stability testing is to run games. metro 2033,crysis 2,NFS shift 2 (all at highest playable settings) will let you know pretty fast if your unstable.Besides ive found that because my cooling is so good I can run kombuster and furmark at unstable settings for well over an hour without a problem and crash while gaming within 15mins.So if you have good cooling those programs aren't the best but if you want to just start a program and walk away I would suggest looping the heaven 2.5 benchmark at max settings that works great for me.


----------



## Phenomanator53

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> How do I know whether my GPU is throttling? I just replaced my ageing 8800GT with a Asus DirectCU 6850 card and I get some bad stuttering in games like Skyrim or Serious Sam 3 for example. The rest of the system is the same. Using Cat 12.1 drivers. Didn't get stuttering with my 8800GT even with the same game settings
> I've not overclocked it yet. What's the best program to test OC stability? MSI Kombuster?


I've had the same problem with my 6870 before with a 1055t, but when i upgraded to my current 2600k, the stuttering if pretty much gone, occasionally it will stutter a little bit. Most likely the CPU's problem.


----------



## Phenomanator53

does anyone know that if the Arctic cooling Accelero Mono plus will fit on my sapphire 6870?

Card:
http://www.theitwares.com/images/Sapphire_6870_1.jpg

Cooler:
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/455/accelero-mono-plus.html

The card does not have a reference cooler, but i dont know bout the PCB


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Phenomanator53*
> 
> does anyone know that if the Arctic cooling Accelero Mono plus will fit on my sapphire 6870?
> Card:
> http://www.theitwares.com/images/Sapphire_6870_1.jpg
> 
> Cooler:
> http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/455/accelero-mono-plus.html
> The card does not have a reference cooler, but i dont know bout the PCB


it should fit


----------



## SSJVegeta

Thanks for the very detailed info smoke420









I've got the card running at 970 / 1000 with 1.220v. It's stable in MSI Kombuster 2.2 for 15 minutes with burn-in test with 1080p res, 8x MSAA and D3D9 settings and max settings in Heaven 2.5 for 30 minutes.

Does the overclock sound ok for the voltage I'm using? Temps hit 85c in Kombuster, 70c in Unigine Heaven 2.5 that's not damaging the GPU is it? I think I need better case ventilation.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> Thanks for the very detailed info smoke420
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've got the card running at 970 / 1000 with 1.220v. It's stable in MSI Kombuster 2.2 for 15 minutes with burn-in test with 1080p res, 8x MSAA and D3D9 settings and max settings in Heaven 2.5 for 30 minutes.
> Does the overclock sound ok for the voltage I'm using? Temps hit 85c in Kombuster, 70c in Unigine Heaven 2.5 that's not damaging the GPU is it? I think I need better case ventilation.


That's not too bad, the kombustor temperatures quite high.. But as long as it doesn't artifact you're fine!








I don't know about your case but a side-fan really helps almost any card, which is no exception for almost all 6850's.

But as most people say, you'll never see 85c in real life applications. It's just because kombustor uses the card to it's full potential and stresses it more then anything else - After all that's what it's made for.
I thought my temps for crossfire were bad. - In Kombustor i max about 72c after 5-10 mins.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> Thanks for the very detailed info smoke420
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've got the card running at 970 / 1000 with 1.220v. It's stable in MSI Kombuster 2.2 for 15 minutes with burn-in test with 1080p res, 8x MSAA and D3D9 settings and max settings in Heaven 2.5 for 30 minutes.
> Does the overclock sound ok for the voltage I'm using? Temps hit 85c in Kombuster, 70c in Unigine Heaven 2.5 that's not damaging the GPU is it? I think I need better case ventilation.


NP
970/1000 is great if its stable at those temps .With better cooling you should be able to get 1000 on the core easy if you can't already.Your temps are pretty high I would work on cooling.Don't forget about heat soak these cards are very good at releasing heat into the case so everything is going to get hot cpu ram and so on.

I have worked hard on my temps 1000/1100 1.274v kombuster burn in 8x MSAA 1080p res 10 minutes 60c top 64c bottom until my ac kicked on and it dropped to 57c top and 62 bottom.








Rig pics
Since those pics I moved my psu to the top and added another 120mm fan to the bottom and put my wheels on to lift the case up and that improved my temps a lot.

PS. My coolers are still direct cu just not the stock asus ones they just fit the stock bracket what do you think?


----------



## SSJVegeta

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> NP
> 970/1000 is great if its stable at those temps .With better cooling you should be able to get 1000 on the core easy if you can't already.Your temps are pretty high I would work on cooling.Don't forget about heat soak these cards are very good at releasing heat into the case so everything is going to get hot cpu ram and so on.
> I have worked hard on my temps 1000/1100 1.274v kombuster burn in 8x MSAA 1080p res 10 minutes 60c top 64c bottom until my ac kicked on and it dropped to 57c top and 62 bottom.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rig pics
> Since those pics I moved my psu to the top and added another 120mm fan to the bottom and put my wheels on to lift the case up and that improved my temps a lot.
> PS. My coolers are still direct cu just not the stock asus ones they just fit the stock bracket what do you think?


I'm going to need a better case to improve temps like a CM690 II. I think I'm going to try and improve the overclock once I get the parts for my new rig based around an Ivy Bridge 3570K and also think about getting a second Asus 6850 since they are so cheap.

Is running Crossfire a headache?

PS: Your rig looks awesome dude! I can see why I have heat issues


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> I'm going to need a better case to improve temps like a CM690 II. I think I'm going to try and improve the overclock once I get the parts for my new rig based around an Ivy Bridge 3570K and also think about getting a second Asus 6850 since they are so cheap.
> Is running Crossfire a headache?
> PS: Your rig looks awesome dude! I can see why I have heat issues


Thanks appreciate it and short answer is yes it can be a headache sometimes.Most of the time you get close to double the performance of one card and you don't even notice crossfire but every once and a while a new game comes out and huge amounts of flicker, shuttering of just worst frame rates then one card and you have to look/wait for new caps(Catalyst Application Profiles)or even drivers.


----------



## scariaar

Hi im just wondering if any1 is finding the same problem my fan is extremaly loud. It never goes above 65% and max temp of 62c overclocked at 900 / 1150 but it sounds like there is a tornado in my case I have over ear headphones on max volume and I can still hear it, its a xfx hd 6850 with the single red fan in the centre. Would a zalman replacement make it quieter and how easy are they to install?


----------



## ottermanuk

MSI Radeon 6870. Looking to get another when funds permit....


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scariaar*
> 
> Hi im just wondering if any1 is finding the same problem my fan is extremaly loud. It never goes above 65% and max temp of 62c overclocked at 900 / 1150 but it sounds like there is a tornado in my case I have over ear headphones on max volume and I can still hear it, its a xfx hd 6850 with the single red fan in the centre. Would a zalman replacement make it quieter and how easy are they to install?


Possibly, but to save the hassle + money you could try using afterburner and make a custom fan profile!


----------



## scariaar

Thanks for the reply, yeh I use afterburn and I tryed that last night I lowered my fan speed to 55% and my temps rased to 72 max using furmark for 20mins is that a ok temp. Iv also got hardware moniter and I check it for max cpu n gpu temp after playing skyrim for 4 hours+ and its saying temps are 61c max on ultra settings but at aa 8 and the other 1 at 12 so it seems to be doin pretty well n its still quite loud but bareable


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *scariaar*
> 
> Thanks for the reply, yeh I use afterburn and I tryed that last night I lowered my fan speed to 55% and my temps rased to 72 max using furmark for 20mins is that a ok temp. Iv also got hardware moniter and I check it for max cpu n gpu temp after playing skyrim for 4 hours+ and its saying temps are 61c max on ultra settings but at aa 8 and the other 1 at 12 so it seems to be doin pretty well n its still quite loud but bareable


Yeah, it'd be that.. 72c is pretty good. If it's only doing 61c in skyrim that's even better!
'cause kombustor will always stress it more then what a game will as you can see in this case, about 10c difference.
Mind you games like BF3 make my cards fall to their knees as far as temperature is concerned.

I'm getting 76c max with crossfire in Kombustor at stock clocks..
It's weird, i swapped my cards over (which are identical) - The bottom one gets hotter now?

The top one is the one that i got first, so i'm thinking in revision 2.0 they changed the cooler slightly.. I don't know, still they're about the same temperature all the time which is easy!









Btw, that's at stock clocks. 860/1100 @ 1149v on each card.


----------



## SSJVegeta

How can I set the voltage higher than 1.233v? I can't set the voltage in MSI Afterburner and Sapphire Trixx only goes up to 1.233v.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> How can I set the voltage higher than 1.233v? I can't set the voltage in MSI Afterburner and Sapphire Trixx only goes up to 1.233v.


Hard locked maybe? Or a bios-driver lock?
Tried the bios switch?


----------



## ihatelolcats

try asus gpu tweak, it might go higher. i don't know a way to change the limits in any of the programs. can you edit the bios of 6850s or are they locked?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> How can I set the voltage higher than 1.233v? I can't set the voltage in MSI Afterburner and Sapphire Trixx only goes up to 1.233v.


The only program you can change the limits in is MSI afterburner but the limit should be 1.3 anyway.make sure you have both unlock voltage control and unlock voltage monitoring checked in the settings.Use this to change the limits (only works with MSI afterburner 2.1). Works for me 100%.


----------



## oldcompgeek

Hey ottermanuk: (or anyone) Do you use Afterburner? If so , How can I adjust my voltage? I switched from sapphire trixx and like the afterburner better because its much more in depth but I dont know how to unlock the adjustments on the other settings.I'm running an AMD 6870 by Sapphire on a Fatality 990fx/FX-8120 platform... Thanks


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> The only program you can change the limits in is MSI afterburner but the limit should be 1.3 anyway.make sure you have both unlock voltage control and unlock voltage monitoring checked in the settings.Use this to change the limits (only works with MSI afterburner 2.1). Works for me 100%.


Afterburner 2.1 has expired for me.. I have to get the 2.2 Beta for it to work.. So 2.1 is old now supposedly.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> Hey ottermanuk: (or anyone) Do you use Afterburner? If so , How can I adjust my voltage? I switched from sapphire trixx and like the afterburner better because its much more in depth but I dont know how to unlock the adjustments on the other settings.I'm running an AMD 6870 by Sapphire on a Fatality 990fx/FX-8120 platform... Thanks


Read the above post!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Afterburner 2.1 has expired for me.. I have to get the 2.2 Beta for it to work.. So 2.1 is old now supposedly.
> Read the above post!


Uninstall and reinstall it .You can download it from here.I had one of the newer 2.2 betas installed and went back to 2.1 and have no problems.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Uninstall and reinstall it .You can download it from here.I had one of the newer 2.2 betas installed and went back to 2.1 and have no problems.


I have no problems with 2.2 anyway, i'll just leave it at that


----------



## lozanoa11

Put me down for a MSI 6870 Twin Frozer


----------



## SSJVegeta

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> The only program you can change the limits in is MSI afterburner but the limit should be 1.3 anyway.make sure you have both unlock voltage control and unlock voltage monitoring checked in the settings.Use this to change the limits (only works with MSI afterburner 2.1). Works for me 100%.


I've tried that. It seems MSI Afterburner won't let me change the voltage at all. It doesn't even show the voltage the GPU is running at nor can I change it. ASUS GPU Tweak and Sapphire Trixx only let me set voltage up to 1.233v.


----------



## ihatelolcats

i don't have voltage control in afterburner either, with my 6870
it may just be limited at that for some reason. i found another person with the same problem http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?board_id=9&model=EAH6850+Series&id=20110127221514726&page=1&SLanguage=en-us


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> I've tried that. It seems MSI Afterburner won't let me change the voltage at all. It doesn't even show the voltage the GPU is running at nor can I change it. ASUS GPU Tweak and Sapphire Trixx only let me set voltage up to 1.233v.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i don't have voltage control in afterburner either, with my 6870
> it may just be limited at that for some reason. i found another person with the same problem http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?board_id=9&model=EAH6850+Series&id=20110127221514726&page=1&SLanguage=en-us


Is yours a v2? I'd say that you both have v2's which they limited due to people blowing their cards..
Maybe try older versions of Smartdoctor or a different bios.. Maybe from a v1?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Is yours a v2? I'd say that you both have v2's which they limited due to people blowing their cards..
> Maybe try older versions of Smartdoctor or a different bios.. Maybe from a v1?


how do you tell what version it is


----------



## SSJVegeta

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> how do you tell what version it is


The V2 has two 6-pin power connectors on the GPU. Mine is a V2 card. I've tried an older version of SmartDoctor and the limit was still 1.233v, looks like it's limited by the BIOS.

BTW, can a V1 bios be flashed to the V2 card or will it brick?

I found these bios files:

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=ATI&manufacturer=Asus&model=HD+6850&interface=&memSize=0


----------



## ihatelolcats

i dunno but it won't really be bricked if you bugger up the bios. if you have another card to boot with you can just reflash it


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> The V2 has two 6-pin power connectors on the GPU. Mine is a V2 card. I've tried an older version of SmartDoctor and the limit was still 1.233v, looks like it's limited by the BIOS.
> BTW, can a V1 bios be flashed to the V2 card or will it brick?
> I found these bios files:
> http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=ATI&manufacturer=Asus&model=HD+6850&interface=&memSize=0


They have the bios switch right? I can't see it being of too much harm.. If you have 2 cards you should be fine.
That being said if you screw your card (not too likely) don't come back here and blame me!








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i dunno but it won't really be bricked if you bugger up the bios. if you have another card to boot with you can just reflash it


This
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> how do you tell what version it is


The two power plugs on the v2 supposedly.


----------



## TheCommunityDub

Sapphire 6850
Also if anyone could answer why my 6850 lags on Minecraft!? I got latest drivers and it is going to about 50 Celsius


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheCommunityDub*
> 
> 
> Sapphire 6850
> Also if anyone could answer why my 6850 lags on Minecraft!? I got latest drivers and it is going to about 50 Celsius


I have 2 and i get a slight bit of lag in Minecraft.. It's definetly playable though!

Mine don't go past 55c in Minecraft, so you'd be about right


----------



## Kynes

I got a question for you guys?

I've got my 6870's at 950/1100 @ 1.17V

Well when ever I go higher its unstable so I go to up the voltage. Yet ill even put it at 1.3v and its still not stable and HWMonitor isnt showing the change in voltage.

I just want to get the core to 1ghz but it seems the voltages dont change.

Any idea's?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kynes*
> 
> I got a question for you guys?
> I've got my 6870's at 950/1100 @ 1.17V
> Well when ever I go higher its unstable so I go to up the voltage. Yet ill even put it at 1.3v and its still not stable and HWMonitor isnt showing the change in voltage.
> I just want to get the core to 1ghz but it seems the voltages dont change.
> Any idea's?


temps too high
even 70 may be too high for stability above a certain frequency


----------



## Kynes

Well temps ain't to bad one of the cards is watercooled.

Even when I furmark it the temps ain't at a high enough level before it starts to show instability.

Temps ain't bad I'm just not seeing any voltage changes


----------



## ihatelolcats

oh sorry, what program are you using
and what driver version


----------



## Kynes

oh forgot to mention it.

MSI Afterburner v2.1

Catalyst 12.3 Cap 1

max temp on a 60 second run is 65 and 44 or so on the other.

I'm sure the longer runs will be higher temps just haven't tried it yet.

GPU-Z isnt even showing the voltage changes either.


----------



## ihatelolcats

have you tried other programs like sapphire trixx?


----------



## Kynes

no Haven't tried trixx.

I'll give it go though


----------



## ihatelolcats

if that doesn't work it may be an issue with crossfire, but i don't have experience with that


----------



## Kynes

well interesting installed trixx ran it adjusted the voltages saw that it set in Gpu-z restart fired up msi afterburner and now its working.

Well thanks for the help gonna see how high I can push it now


----------



## ihatelolcats

i don't really like trixx but i've never had much luck with afterburner
i wish you could flash custom bios on these cards ;( avoid crummy software entirely


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i don't really like trixx but i've never had much luck with afterburner
> i wish you could flash custom bios on these cards ;( avoid crummy software entirely


Yeah, same.. I mean after all they have the bios switch..
65c is really good for a crossfire'd card, even if one is watercooled.

I've got two 6850's running at 900-920 most of the time. I've bumped the voltage a bit and it runs great! It runs at about 78c max in kombustor, and about 65-high 60's in real life!









EDIT: I found my 6870 when i had it crashed after it went past 74c, i don't get this with the 6850's interestingly enough!


----------



## axipher

My 6870 gets 1 GHz at stock voltage as long as I keep it below 60 C. If I turn my fan down and it gets above that, folding will constantly crash.


----------



## ihatelolcats

has anyone seen reviews for the 6850 2gb? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102959


----------



## litlit

Count me in!


----------



## mikailmohammed

how are the 6870 in CF????

wanna play some bf3 i have ordered my second 1 already.. using a 1080p monitor and amd quad core.... but when ivy bridge is out i will be updating to that instead.


----------



## D7my

IN


----------



## D7my

guys i need help oc my gpu please =)

also i dont know if i should leave my fan at auto or 100% ?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D7my*
> 
> guys i need help oc my gpu please =)
> also i dont know if i should leave my fan at auto or 100% ?


Make a custom fan profile.. 100% is crazy loud and normal isn't fast enough if you're overclocking..
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D7my*
> 
> 
> IN


Nice games taskbar thing! What's it called?








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mikailmohammed*
> 
> how are the 6870 in CF????
> wanna play some bf3 i have ordered my second 1 already.. using a 1080p monitor and amd quad core.... but when ivy bridge is out i will be updating to that instead.


My 6850's run it fine, my CPU is the bottleneck..
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> has anyone seen reviews for the 6850 2gb? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102959


It'd be just like a 6850 with 2GB (So the vram limitation would be gone).
I've tried to find some in AUS but i couldn't find any.. The price isn't too bad!
.. Then again you could always get a second hand 6950 for that price..


----------



## D7my

Quote:


> Nice games taskbar thing! What's it called?


its called object dock









and the mouse is from CursorFX (i mean they both are programs)


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D7my*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice games taskbar thing! What's it called?
> 
> 
> 
> its called object dock
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and the mouse is from CursorFX (i mean they both are programs)
Click to expand...

Thanks! Getting it now!








I'm content with my default mouse to be honest.. As cool as custom ones go i find it easier having the same mouse between all PC's











I love it! Just marked out a few personal programs and files..


----------



## famous1994

Add me to the list, I have an HIS HD6850

GPU-Z


Picture:


Also, question to those who have X-fired HD6850's, will a 600Watt PSU be sufficient enough to handle two cards in X-fire?


----------



## bmgjet

Yup a decent brand 600W will be enough, Im running 2 high overclocked 6850s with a high overclock FX-8120 on a 620W.


----------



## famous1994

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Yup a decent brand 600W will be enough, Im running 2 high overclocked 6850s with a high overclock FX-8120 on a 620W.


Thanks, it's good to know I could run X-Fire if I wanted to then.


----------



## D7my

6850 owners can you tell me how much FPS's you getting on bf3 & mw3 and other games please ?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D7my*
> 
> 6850 owners can you tell me how much FPS's you getting on bf3 & mw3 and other games please ?


Around 65 on BF3 on a 1600x900 monitor.


----------



## D7my

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Around 65 on BF3 on a 1600x900 monitor.


on my stock sphhaire i get around 55 @ ultra








1360 X 768 reslution
is that okey ?
i also wasnt able to oc my gpu idk why


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

My 6870 is getting 19-30 fps on BF3 on ultra and a 1080p monitor and although the fps is a bit under par, you wouldn't be able to tell, video is smooth and playable. Temps are around the low 40s, generally 42 on idol with a fan speed of 31 and no more than 68 on BF3 with a fan speed of 65-68, fan speed is controlled with Afterburner. Timings are - 1190/1020/3.0v and flawless. Asus cards rock. Hope this gives other people a benchmark to refer to.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

My 6870 is getting 19-30 fps on BF3 on ultra and a 1080p monitor and although the fps is a bit under par, you wouldn't be able to tell, video is smooth and playable. Temps are around the low 40s, generally 42 on idol with a fan speed of 31 and no more than 68 on BF3 with a fan speed of 65-68, fan speed is controlled with Afterburner. Timings are - 1190/1020/3.0v and flawless. Asus cards rock. Hope this gives other people a benchmark to refer to.


----------



## KimiFerrari

I am looking at getting a 2nd hand HIS IceQ X Turbo 6870. Unfortunately a lot of the newegg reviews are saying the card crashes on any new games, and the card currently deactivated. Are owners here having the same problem?

Thanks.


----------



## dan_ep82

I tried it the other night on stock HD6870 CF (usually play on high)
BF3 1920x1080
Everything on Ultra except-
AA off
Post AA on
Blur off
HBAO
Mesh on High

Was getting 30-50fps,it was jumpy etc
So,just wondering whats the highest settings achieved on 6870 CF while getting 60+ FPS?
And drivers etc and oc'd or not

Cheers
Dan


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dan_ep82*
> 
> I tried it the other night on stock HD6870 CF (usually play on high)
> BF3 1920x1080
> Everything on Ultra except-
> AA off
> Post AA on
> Blur off
> HBAO
> Mesh on High
> Was getting 30-50fps,it was jumpy etc
> So,just wondering whats the highest settings achieved on 6870 CF while getting 60+ FPS?
> And drivers etc and oc'd or not
> Cheers
> Dan


It'd be your CPU, not being an Intel fan here.. But 6850's can run it at those settings on high with a 2500k.
It's just the same seems to run nicer with Intel setups, that and the game probably isn't optimized for 6 cores.

My CF 6850's @ 900MHz get about 50+FPS on high most of the time. But they're never being fully used, my CPU sits on 99% most of the time..


----------



## dan_ep82

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> It'd be your CPU, not being an Intel fan here.. But 6850's can run it at those settings on high with a 2500k.
> It's just the same seems to run nicer with Intel setups, that and the game probably isn't optimized for 6 cores.
> My CF 6850's @ 900MHz get about 50+FPS on high most of the time. But they're never being fully used, my CPU sits on 99% most of the time..


At first I thought my CPU would be a bottleneck but I checked it using the in game console and it appears not to be.
My thought was the 1gb VRAM was holding me back as most videos I see are using 1.4-1.5 VRAM


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dan_ep82*
> 
> I tried it the other night on stock HD6870 CF (usually play on high)
> BF3 1920x1080
> Everything on Ultra except-
> AA off
> Post AA on
> Blur off
> HBAO
> Mesh on High
> Was getting 30-50fps,it was jumpy etc
> So,just wondering whats the highest settings achieved on 6870 CF while getting 60+ FPS?
> And drivers etc and oc'd or not
> Cheers
> Dan


HBAO, ultra textures, AA post are probably killing it


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> HBAO, ultra textures, AA post are probably killing it


II have 6850 crossfire and I play all at Ultra except for the HBAO/SSAO thingie which I left disabled plus Anti Aliasing Post which is also disabled.
Steady and smooth... And my cards are still not overclocked

Btw BF3 uses 8 threads, it is one of the few games that can use all the potential CPU's have but it doesnt like hyperthreading. It stutters when Intel users use HT with it.


----------



## bmgjet

8120 (4.5ghz) 8GB 2ghz ram.
6850 CF (1008/1140)
SSD 60GB

BF3
Latest patch.
Reso:1080
Game Settings: Ultra 2X AA every other map, 4X AA Metro (mostly play metro), 0X AA in 3D Mode.
Metro Maps FPS: min-ave-max 110 160 200 (0X AA sits on frame limiter most the time dropping to 160s under heavy frag round bombardment.)
Old Maps FPS: min-ave-max 90 160 200
Karkand Maps FPS: min-ave-max 68 110 200
3D Mode FPS: min-ave-max 40 60 90 (map doesn't seem to matter FPS stays around the same)
Driver: 12.4 alpha

GPU Normal between 94-98%
GPU 3D between 78-89%

Raising the frame rate limiter I hit maxs of 500s on some bits of metro which causes textures to disapare for a bit allowing you to see though walls like the ones down by the lockers at B.
So I only raise the frame rate limiter on non-PB servers since I dont know what the screen shots would look like to them.

Dirt 3
Reso:1080
Game Settings:Max 3D Mode.
3D Mode FPS: min-ave-max 31 55 80
Driver: 12.4 alpha
GPU 3D between 65-75% (has to be a CPU bottleneck.)


----------



## n8t1308

Hey guys i Just got my second 6870 1gb for crossfire and everything is hooked up and plugging away now but... every game I get into (EvE, WoW, TDU2, etc) keeps putting this "AMD Crossfire Technology" banner on the top right hand corner of my screen and its annoying. How do I get it off? I cant find an option in CCC to disable that banner. Thanks in advance for the help


----------



## R4V3N

According to cjl on Tom's Hardware forum

"Right click on the catalyst icon on the taskbar on the lower right. Go to the primary graphics card, then crossfirex settings. There should be an option that says "Show CrossfireX Status Icon (where applicable)". Uncheck it."


----------



## n8t1308

Ah thank you so much! And pic for good fun Cable management be damned....


----------



## mazdaboi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D7my*
> 
> 6850 owners can you tell me how much FPS's you getting on bf3 & mw3 and other games please ?


Running all settings Med (w/6850OC Gigabyte card 820mhz) 45+fps online and around 60 on single player, if i bump to High i get around 35-40fps and 50-55 on single player. Generally play big maps with 30+ players so i am happy with the extra FPS on medium playing at 1920x1080 on a 23" Acer LED monitor

Setup in sig..


----------



## spikexp

6850 OC gigabyte, running between low and medium in 1080p to have a constant 60fps in 64 players multiplayer.


----------



## black7hought

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> II have 6850 crossfire and I play all at Ultra except for the HBAO/SSAO thingie which I left disabled plus Anti Aliasing Post which is also disabled.
> Steady and smooth... And my cards are still not overclocked
> Btw BF3 uses 8 threads, it is one of the few games that can use all the potential CPU's have but it doesnt like hyperthreading. It stutters when Intel users use HT with it.


That must explain why my AMD Phenom II X6 1035T and XFX 6870 ZHFC can run BF3 at 1440 x 900 on High @ 60 FPS and between 40-60 FPS on Ultra.

note: this is by simply clicking the settings selector arrows without changing any individual settings.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dan_ep82*
> 
> At first I thought my CPU would be a bottleneck but I checked it using the in game console and it appears not to be.
> My thought was the 1gb VRAM was holding me back as most videos I see are using 1.4-1.5 VRAM


This too, it kind of sucks hey?


----------



## D7my

am working on OCing my saphhire 6850 right now


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

If you want to free up some vram disable all of your aero settings for more space for your games, you can free upto 200mb on your vram, BF3 uses around 960mb of vram on my 6870 and gives me upto 20fps more. Hope this helps.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> If you want to free up some vram disable all of your aero settings for more space for your games, you can free upto 200mb on your vram, BF3 uses around 960mb of vram on my 6870 and gives me upto 20fps more. Hope this helps.


Yeah, my PC goes off it's face if i don't disable aero.. I might even make it go to the old windows 98 kind of theme..


----------



## thenailedone

Saw the group, thought to myself... "Hey, I got a 6850!" Saw all the hassle of proving it and decided not too









Nailed


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thenailedone*
> 
> Saw the group, thought to myself... "Hey, I got a 6850!" Saw all the hassle of proving it and decided not too
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nailed












Just checked and realized my 6850 + 6870 was removed? I'll resubmit my crossfire 6850's now!


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Yeah, my PC goes off it's face if i don't disable aero.. I might even make it go to the old windows 98 kind of theme..


Have to switch back to aero afterwards, I hate 98' theme, its [email protected]%t. But each to their own I guess.


----------



## dan_ep82

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> Have to switch back to aero afterwards, I hate 98' theme, its [email protected]%t. But each to their own I guess.


Go to BF3.exe
Right click>properties>Compatability>Disable Aero themes

That way it only disables while playing:thumb:


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dan_ep82*
> 
> Go to BF3.exe
> Right click>properties>Compatability>Disable Aero themes
> That way it only disables while playing:thumb:


I asume you meant "disable visual themes" yeah? What ever it is, that is the tip of the day dude. You have saved me the hastle of having to do it manually, you are my hero!! Thanks!!


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dan_ep82*
> 
> Go to BF3.exe
> Right click>properties>Compatability>Disable Aero themes
> That way it only disables while playing:thumb:


I did not know this! +rep


----------



## ihatelolcats

i cant tell that disabling visual themes does anything
but disabling desktop composition frees up 67mb of vram
however if you're playing fullscreen i don't think it makes a difference at all


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i cant tell that disabling visual themes does anything
> but disabling desktop composition frees up 67mb of vram
> however if you're playing fullscreen i don't think it makes a difference at all


Check again, my vram decreases significantly when aero is disengaged from 200ish mb to just 56 or so, big difference, and after aero in turned off BF3 uses 956mb but gives me nearly 60fps in places but not dipping below 40is fps, but before I was getting no more than 40fps and dropped below 19fps (however, video was still playable, it never ceases to amaze me how well these cards do at such low frame rates) watch your frames and see the difference, Fraps is ok but afterburner is better (more stats), but I'm sure you already know that.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i cant tell that disabling visual themes does anything
> but disabling desktop composition frees up 67mb of vram
> however if you're playing fullscreen i don't think it makes a difference at all


Actually, I just checked that and your right, the method posted earlier does only give you a small drop, if you want to take your vram right down- right click on my computer, go to properties then click on "windows experience index" and in the left menu click on "adjust visual effects" then select "adjust for best performance" and hit apply, and watch your vram drop right down. Try to leave the window open so that you can switch it back after you've finished playing. Hope this helps.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i cant tell that disabling visual themes does anything
> but disabling desktop composition frees up 67mb of vram
> however if you're playing fullscreen i don't think it makes a difference at all
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, I just checked that and your right, the method posted earlier does only give you a small drop, if you want to take your vram right down- right click on my computer, go to properties then click on "windows experience index" and in the left menu click on "adjust visual effects" then select "adjust for best performance" and hit apply, and watch your vram drop right down. Try to leave the window open so that you can switch it back after you've finished playing. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Run Windows in classic mode on a separate user account that is just for gaming:


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Run Windows in classic mode on a separate user account that is just for gaming:


Hmmm, you might have something there....


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Run Windows in classic mode on a separate user account that is just for gaming:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm, you might have something there....
Click to expand...

First thing I do on a fresh install is make a clean image after installing basic programs (Ninite is awesome) then make 2 additional accounts with standard permissions: Media and Game.

Here's why:
- All media and game installations are stored on a separate hard drive, makes migrating between installs and machines easy when they all have the same exact structure
- Media account automatically loads up Windows Media player and uses just my TV and Surround sound
- Gaming account uses Eyefinity on my 3 monitors and my head phones
- Main account uses extended desktop with a nice Hydravision array set up.


----------



## D7my

guys sometimes when i oc my gpu using sphhaire trixx my screen shuts off

anyone knows the reason ?


----------



## Ken1649

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *D7my*
> 
> guys sometimes when i oc my gpu using sphhaire trixx my screen shuts off
> 
> anyone knows the reason ?


Because you push it too far and the drivers protect the card from damage.


----------



## dan_ep82

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> I asume you meant "disable visual themes" yeah? What ever it is, that is the tip of the day dude. You have saved me the hastle of having to do it manually, you are my hero!! Thanks!!


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I did not know this! +rep


Yea,sorry I didn't check the wording,no problem and thanks:thumb:


----------



## Anomalies

Hello, [Official] AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870 Owners Thread.

I'm having problems with my new Sapphire 6850 which I bought after my 8800GT died. I'm trying to run it on an Asus P5n-e SLI motherboard, and there seem to be compitability errors (I know for sure it is the combination, tried multiple P5n-e SLIs, multiple graphic cards). I'm hoping it's a known problem with an easy fix, but maybe it's just the ancient chipset of the motherboard that's blocking my way. The combination just gives me a black screen (no BIOS, no signal, no nothing) but not all the time (!). I've even ran Skyrim on it the other day, and when I turned my pc on later that day it was back to the no signal.

Anyway, I have an option to cheaply acquire an Asus P5Q motherboard, which I know is also quite old, but as far as I know doesn't have the compitability issues with AMD cards. (I tested this on an acquintance's P5Q with my 6850) Does anyone else have this motherboard (P5Q) and does this run along with an 6850, smoothly? Or does anyone have a cheaper/intelligent suggestion?

For suggestions of other motherboards, I have an Intel Q6600 as my CPU.


----------



## D7my

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Anomalies*
> 
> Hello, [Official] AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870 Owners Thread.
> I'm having problems with my new Sapphire 6850 which I bought after my 8800GT died. I'm trying to run it on an Asus P5n-e SLI motherboard, and there seem to be compitability errors (I know for sure it is the combination, tried multiple P5n-e SLIs, multiple graphic cards). I'm hoping it's a known problem with an easy fix, but maybe it's just the ancient chipset of the motherboard that's blocking my way. The combination just gives me a black screen (no BIOS, no signal, no nothing) but not all the time (!). I've even ran Skyrim on it the other day, and when I turned my pc on later that day it was back to the no signal.
> Anyway, I have an option to cheaply acquire an Asus P5Q motherboard, which I know is also quite old, but as far as I know doesn't have the compitability issues with AMD cards. (I tested this on an acquintance's P5Q with my 6850) Does anyone else have this motherboard (P5Q) and does this run along with an 6850, smoothly? Or does anyone have a cheaper/intelligent suggestion?
> For suggestions of other motherboards, I have an Intel Q6600 as my CPU.


i suggest that you post ur problem in saphhire forums maybe


----------



## computech770

How can I set the voltage higher than 1.233v? I can't set the voltage in MSI Afterburner and Sapphire Trixx only goes up to 1.233v.


----------



## bmgjet

Maybe thats all your card supports. Is it duel or single PCI-E power connectored.
My card with 2 power connectors does 1.3V where the one with only 1 connector only does 1.24V before it just black screens.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Maybe thats all your card supports. Is it duel or single PCI-E power connectored.
> My card with 2 power connectors does 1.3V where the one with only 1 connector only does 1.24V before it just black screens.


Mine's 1 connector and goes to 1.3v


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Maybe thats all your card supports. Is it duel or single PCI-E power connectored.
> My card with 2 power connectors does 1.3V where the one with only 1 connector only does 1.24V before it just black screens.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Mine's 1 connector and goes to 1.3v


As i've said you guys probably (i know some of you do) have revised cards, which have probably had a hard limiter put on there for the voltage..









I know that my second 6850 is a v2 which is identical apart from the brand of caps (from what i can see).


----------



## bmgjet

One card is release date V1 other card is from christmas and V2.1.
Difference beeing.
Old one has 2 PCI-E connectors, Big heat sinks on VRM, 2 inches longer and a lot more resistors on the bottom.
New ones has 1, Tiny VRM heat sink. Card is shorter with pci-e connector in different location,


----------



## smoke420

my v1's (with 1 pci-e connector) have done just over 1.4v with the msi afterburner volt limiter removed (with the limiter 1.3) but it didn't help much and with voltage that high temps are a real issue.I used to do suicide benchmark runs with lots of voltage just for good scores(very stupid on my budget)but at the time I needed that much voltage to get over 975 on the core and in one run of heaven my cards hit 99c core and over 104cVRM's(only stable enough for benches).Now with much better cooling (as good as i can afford) i can get these babies to 1ghz stable on 1.21v and 1.23v . temps on a cool day don't hit 60c.


----------



## SSJVegeta

My Asus 6850 is V2 with 2 power connectors and only goes up to 1.233v. I managed to get it stable at 980/1150 with 1.233v so I'm not bothered. I purchased a second one which was only stable at 940/1000 with 1.233v and the fan was nearly twice as loud with a high pitched whine








so I gave it back to the store and also decided against CF. Guess I got lucky with the first one since it OC's so well


----------



## fishyflanker

Hi there Ive got an Asus 6850 graphics card and its preforming extremely poorly. Ive done a 3D mark test and the results are very worrying.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3204918

All games are lagging which they weren't before (DIRT is now unplayable) The only thing I can think of which may of caused it was the installation of shogun 2.

Ive now reformatted my hard drive and still its produced these results

Ive just updated to the latest AMD drivers and still nothing. If someone has any ideas please let me know Thanks

Processor
AMD FX-4100
Processor clock3618 MHz
Physical / logical processors1 / 4
# of cores2
Graphics Card
Graphics Card
AMD Radeon HD 6850
VendorAsustek Computer, Inc.
# of cards1
SLI / CrossFire Off
Memory1024 MB
Core clock100 MHz
Memory clock150 MHz
Driver name
Driver version8.782.0.0
Driver statusNot FM Approved


----------



## Krusher33

I don't know how to tell what mine is?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I don't know how to tell what mine is?


It'd be on the box probably, i know my second 6850 was. (or on a label on the back of it). A later bios should also tell you.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fishyflanker*
> 
> Hi there Ive got an Asus 6850 graphics card and its preforming extremely poorly. Ive done a 3D mark test and the results are very worrying.
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3204918
> All games are lagging which they weren't before (DIRT is now unplayable) The only thing I can think of which may of caused it was the installation of shogun 2.
> Ive now reformatted my hard drive and still its produced these results
> Ive just updated to the latest AMD drivers and still nothing. If someone has any ideas please let me know Thanks
> Processor
> AMD FX-4100
> Processor clock3618 MHz
> Physical / logical processors1 / 4
> # of cores2
> Graphics Card
> Graphics Card
> AMD Radeon HD 6850
> VendorAsustek Computer, Inc.
> # of cards1
> SLI / CrossFire Off
> Memory1024 MB
> Core clock100 MHz
> Memory clock150 MHz
> Driver name
> Driver version8.782.0.0
> Driver statusNot FM Approved


RMA it, sounds defective to be honest..
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SSJVegeta*
> 
> My Asus 6850 is V2 with 2 power connectors and only goes up to 1.233v. I managed to get it stable at 980/1150 with 1.233v so I'm not bothered. I purchased a second one which was only stable at 940/1000 with 1.233v and the fan was nearly twice as loud with a high pitched whine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so I gave it back to the store and also decided against CF. Guess I got lucky with the first one since it OC's so well


Yeah, i have this problem too.. One of my cards is slightly louder then the other. It's not too bad though.
I bet a single one of my two cards can do 1000 core easily, but they sit at 900 most of the time with little to no voltage increase. I do regret going crossfire because i could have gotten a 2500k and kept my 6870 for only $100 more. It is nice though, but i wish i went with the 2500k etc.


----------



## fishyflanker

This is really weird Ive just plugged my old hd 6450 in and the same is happening

Graphics Card
AMD Radeon HD 6450
VendorUnknown
# of cards1
SLI / CrossFire Off
Memory1024 MB
Core clock100 MHz
Memory clock150 MHz
Driver name
Driver version8.951.0.0

Both core clock and memory clock stuck

Any ideas again

Thanks very much

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3206812;jsessionid=n33ib07nado4157jglq3mqd9m


----------



## Ken1649

Uninstall then re-install the drivers should fix it. Also, uninstall Afterburner, Trixx or the kind.


----------



## fishyflanker

Ive fully reformatted and removed everything and started from scratch and still Im having the same problem. I had the Asus smart doctor on which came with the 6850 card but that has now been removed


----------



## Ken1649

Sorry not to argue with you but that's the suggestion for you to try first. If that doesn't work, run the patch below. Good luck.

AMD_Catalyst_MSIAB_patch.zip 535k .zip file


----------



## fishyflanker

Appreciate your help


----------



## fishyflanker

Genuinely offering £5 via paypal if someone can think of a fix for this









Just did the Furmark stress test on the old 6450 and got


----------



## Redwoodz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fishyflanker*
> 
> This is really weird Ive just plugged my old hd 6450 in and the same is happening
> Graphics Card
> AMD Radeon HD 6450
> VendorUnknown
> # of cards1
> SLI / CrossFire Off
> Memory1024 MB
> Core clock100 MHz
> Memory clock150 MHz
> Driver name
> Driver version8.951.0.0
> Both core clock and memory clock stuck
> Any ideas again
> Thanks very much
> http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3206812;jsessionid=n33ib07nado4157jglq3mqd9m


^ Are you sure that's not just 2D or idle clocks? Should go to full speed under load. Also core/mem speeds are always wrong in 3dmark reports.


----------



## fishyflanker

The last test showed the clocks at 625 and 400 on furmark so now im compltely baffled. 2FPS though? Really dont know what else to do

Tried the patch that was posted and I cant see any difference


----------



## Redwoodz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fishyflanker*
> 
> The last test showed the clocks at 625 and 400 on furmark so now im compltely baffled. 2FPS though? Really dont know what else to do
> Tried the patch that was posted and I cant see any difference


Yeah well mark11 would murder a 6450 so that may be perfectly fine.Maybe try running mark 06 and compare.









BTW guys does a 6790 at 1100MHz count as a 6850 ?









http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/7887c/


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fishyflanker*
> 
> Genuinely offering £5 via paypal if someone can think of a fix for this
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just did the Furmark stress test on the old 6450 and got


Older drivers? Re-install Afterburner etc.. Try "overclocking" it. Flash a bios from techpowerup...
Flash your motherboard bios to the latest one/the same one to make sure it's not buggy/reset all settings.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fishyflanker*
> 
> The last test showed the clocks at 625 and 400 on furmark so now im compltely baffled. 2FPS though? Really dont know what else to do
> Tried the patch that was posted and I cant see any difference


What motherboard are you using? Have you tried a different PCIe slot?

It would help immensely if you could fill in your specs.


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Redwoodz*
> 
> Yeah well mark11 would murder a 6450 so that may be perfectly fine.Maybe try running mark 06 and compare.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BTW guys does a 6790 at 1100MHz count as a 6850 ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/7887c/


Pixel rate is way slower, Stock the 6850 its 24.8 and overclocked to 1ghz it gets to 32.3


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Pixel rate is way slower, Stock the 6850 its 24.8 and overclocked to 1ghz it gets to 32.3


I didn't think there would have been such a substantial difference between a 6790 and a 6850! Oh well it's not alot worse in any sense.. Even less with the 6850 and the 6870. In most cases the 6870 just runs hotter and can't overclock as much (also needs 2x 6 pins as opposed to 1). While getting a 5% boost in some games clock for clock.


----------



## StaticFX

Please add me to the "club"
XFX Radeon 6870 HD Dual Dissipation
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/specHR/images/BZ00354a.jpg










right off the bat i have a question for you all:

exact card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521&Tpk=HD-687A-ZDFC

ok... i picked up this card not long ago.. and I am having issues with overclocking. Ok, even if i enable the Overdrive it can crash games like BF3

I contacted XFX and they are saying that the card may ne be able to handle overclocking???? sounds like a blowoff to me

here is the go between with XFX
Quote:


> [ 4/13/2012 1:42:17 PM] I cannot overclock the GFX card without issues. Actually, if i even enable the AMD overdrive. Games like BF3 crash. on my previous 4850 hd it worked fine... no good anymore. Help!
> 
> [KEVIN_C 4/13/2012 9:16:13 PM] Hello just to confirm if you do not enable any overdrive options the card works fine?
> 
> [ 4/13/2012 11:22:16 PM] Yes. And I have tried it in windows7 premium, ultimate, and windows 8. Using the latest catalyst drivers.
> 
> [KEVIN_C 4/13/2012 11:32:21 PM] Your system may just not be able to handle a 6870 overclocked. You may just need to keep it at stock speeds for best performance.
> 
> [ 4/14/2012 12:42:02 AM] Because of the psu? Hmmm. But then why does it crash when I don`t overclock, but just enable the overdrive?
> 
> [MARK_C 4/18/2012 6:01:10 PM] Hello , Power can cause instability and hinder overclockability but if the problem is only when overclocked then the card may just not be able to handle those higher frequencies. Thank you. Mark


I have been told to try Trixx and not use overdrive.. which i will. but other than that, does anyone know a reason why it doesnt work?


----------



## Krusher33

Because of Overdrive's instability. Try Trixx or Afterburner as suggested. You'll have to do some changes to the configuration files to allow Afterburner to unlock your voltage settings.


----------



## a pet rock

So, I've got a thread about this here but I was hoping maybe somebody in this club could help me out. My GPU fan is stuck at 100% and I can't change it through Afterburner or Overdrive. Already tried replugging it in and a driver reinstall. Hope someone here has some suggestions.


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> So, I've got a thread about this here but I was hoping maybe somebody in this club could help me out. My GPU fan is stuck at 100% and I can't change it through Afterburner or Overdrive. Already tried replugging it in and a driver reinstall. Hope someone here has some suggestions.


What temp is your card?
Maybe the FANs voltage reg has blowen so it only ever gets the full 12V.


----------



## a pet rock

It's idling at a constant 36C. That leads me to believe that the heatsink is working so it's not doing an override to keep itself cool.

If it is that the fan's voltage reg has blown, how would I go about fixing it?


----------



## bmgjet

RMA


----------



## arrow0309

Edit


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> It's idling at a constant 36C. That leads me to believe that the heatsink is working so it's not doing an override to keep itself cool.
> If it is that the fan's voltage reg has blown, how would I go about fixing it?


If nothing else is wrong with the card and you don't want to RMA because its a good overclocker or just cant get a RMA..I would suggest finding a aftermarket cooler.Most aftermarket coolers are going to be much quieter even at full speed..I can't hear mine at any speed.


----------



## Krusher33

I 2nd about RMA and I 2nd about aftermarket cooler.

It sounds to me more of an issue with the card if you've done a driver re-install and what not.


----------



## StaticFX

Nope... Trixx doesnt work either. Even if i just bump the clock to 950 BF3 freezes up within 2 minutes.

I cant seem to overclock at all. Could it be something in the rest of my system? not enough power?

thanks


----------



## Krusher33

Go to your profile and fill in your rig specs so that we can see what you're running on.


----------



## StaticFX

it is filled out?? why isnt it showing?

nevermind... had to re-set it in the sig


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> It's idling at a constant 36C. That leads me to believe that the heatsink is working so it's not doing an override to keep itself cool.
> If it is that the fan's voltage reg has blown, how would I go about fixing it?
> 
> 
> 
> If nothing else is wrong with the card and you don't want to RMA because its a good overclocker or just cant get a RMA..I would suggest finding a aftermarket cooler.Most aftermarket coolers are going to be much quieter even at full speed..I can't hear mine at any speed.
Click to expand...

I have to laugh because of this. Not because it's wrong but because that's what I came from. I had a twin turbo pro on it and had to take it off so that it would fit in my new case. It's just that now with the stock fan it's broken. Kinda sucks. I think I'll try and just deal for a month until I get cash for a new card. Music over it isn't too terribly bad.


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> I had a twin turbo pro


That will explain the problem. They tend to burn out the Fan control circuit on boards with poor quality ones because it pulls more Amps though it then it was designed for with the single stock fan.

If you want something completely silent,
http://www.overclock.net/t/1203636/official-amd-ati-gpu-mod-club-aka-the-red-mod

Doesnt even matter where the rad is mounted really. Since iv got 3 Rads inside my case I have 1 rad just taped onto the back of the other sitting on the bottom of the case and temps are still really good.
Max temp never goes over 50C.


----------



## a pet rock

I wasn't able to hook up the TTP to my card because there weren't enough pins on the card. Ran it straight through the PSU. Unless that could also fry it?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *StaticFX*
> 
> Nope... Trixx doesnt work either. Even if i just bump the clock to 950 BF3 freezes up within 2 minutes.
> I cant seem to overclock at all. Could it be something in the rest of my system? not enough power?
> thanks


You sure Overdrive isn't still messing with the settings? Maybe uninstall just Overdrive if possible?

I always use Afterburner and then do these steps in the Afterburner.cfg file:

Seek UnofficialOverclockingEULA field and add following text:
*I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it*
Set UnofficialOverclockingMode to 1 to keep PowerPlay active (may not work on old ASICs), 2 to traditionally disable PowerPlay or to 0 to temporary disable unofficial overclocking path
I've tried Trixx once before too but had no luck with it. And it's a Sapphire card for crying out loud and still didn't have luck.


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> I wasn't able to hook up the TTP to my card because there weren't enough pins on the card. Ran it straight through the PSU. Unless that could also fry it?


If its ran straight off the PSU then it shouldn't of damaged it unless you left the fan header on the card empty and it shorted out some of the pins some how.


----------



## a pet rock

Yeah, the fan header was empty but I have no idea how I could've possibly shorted it. Nothing was even close to the fan header on the card.


----------



## ihatelolcats

can speedfan control it?


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> can speedfan control it?


Just tried it, no luck. Seems to be a hardware issue unfortunately.


----------



## ihatelolcats

see if there are hidden graphics cards installed
http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?64229-How-to-Display-Hidden-Devices-Drivers
if so get rid of them, driver sweeper, and reinstall


----------



## a pet rock

There's a PCI Simple Communications Controller that shows up with a yellow triangle on it, however nothing is greyed out as suggested by the link. This would mean that there's something plugged in to the PCI slot and it doesn't know what it is? I'm running games just fine, and I've reinstalled drivers. What do?


----------



## ihatelolcats

i think this will fix the yellow triangle but im at a loss about what to do to fix the graphics card fan. for now
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18532&ProdId=3144&lang=eng


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i think this will fix the yellow triangle but im at a loss about what to do to fix the graphics card fan. for now
> http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18532&ProdId=3144&lang=eng


It did fix that, thanks. Too bad about the fan.


----------



## StaticFX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> see if there are hidden graphics cards installed
> http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?64229-How-to-Display-Hidden-Devices-Drivers
> if so get rid of them, driver sweeper, and reinstall


nice... it seems i still had the 4850 drivers/device in there.

Re-installed MSi - did the unlock trick... didnt make any difference as far as voltage.
... Ran Kombuster and Driver crashes after a few minutes.

So the stats stand at:

AMD overdrive: crashes
TRIXX: crashes
ASUS GPU tweak: crashes
MSi: crashes

sigh... this sucks.


----------



## ihatelolcats

what temperatures and clock is it crashing at?


----------



## StaticFX

Core/Mem 950 / 1100 - 71 degrees (crashes less than 3 mins)

defaults of 900/1050 work fine and the temps stabilize at 89 degrees after about 10 mins

(using Kombustor)


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *StaticFX*
> 
> Core/Mem 950 / 1100 - 71 degrees (crashes less than 3 mins)
> defaults of 900/1050 work fine and the temps stabilize at 89 degrees after about 10 mins
> (using Kombustor)


Those temps aren't killing the card but the HD6800's do errors when they get over 65-70 degrees.

Do you have the fan on at 80-100% when testing?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *StaticFX*
> 
> Core/Mem 950 / 1100 - 71 degrees (crashes less than 3 mins)
> defaults of 900/1050 work fine and the temps stabilize at 89 degrees after about 10 mins
> (using Kombustor)


i can't go past 930 core regardless of voltage even with aftermarket cooling
people think these are great overclocking cards but i haven't seen it
just be happy with stock clocks imo, especially at 89 degrees i don't think you will be able to do a significant overclock. not worth the hassle for 10 mhz


----------



## Krusher33

Yeah, I think we're beginning to see a lot of 6870's not doing as good of overclocks as 6850's are lately.


----------



## StaticFX

the fan is on auto and its upping to 80% at stock core.... if i set it to 100%, then it stays around 80 degrees full load
i am surprised actually that it gets that high with the dual fans and ENORMOUS heat sinks this thing has on it. it idles at 46 Deg 33% fan.. super quiet too

930... thats all? insane compared to how high over stock i could could push my 4850.

oh well.. its still much better than my old card


----------



## Krusher33

Those are high temps at stock voltage...


----------



## Guovssohas

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Those temps aren't killing the card but the HD6800's do errors when they get over 65-70 degrees.
> Do you have the fan on at 80-100% when testing?


My xfx 6870 @ 980/1125 stock voltage never crashes with temps well above 70c, 77c to be exact with auto-fan. It's the dual-fan model. Tested it with OCCT for about 30mins and i can game for hours.

980/1125 is the highest i've ever tried.


----------



## StaticFX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Guovssohas*
> 
> My xfx 6870 @ 980/1125 stock voltage never crashes with temps well above 70c, 77c to be exact with auto-fan. It's the dual-fan model. Tested it with OCCT for about 30mins and i can game for hours.
> 980/1125 is the highest i've ever tried.


which dual fan card do you have??

Exact model... or fill out your rig info


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Guovssohas*
> 
> My xfx 6870 @ 980/1125 stock voltage never crashes with temps well above 70c, 77c to be exact with auto-fan. It's the dual-fan model. Tested it with OCCT for about 30mins and i can game for hours.
> 980/1125 is the highest i've ever tried.


I didn't say crash.

And I guess I should correct myself. It's *commonly* found that over 70 degrees... so on so forth.

I didn't believe it till I saw it for myself. I kept getting errors during stress test at 950/1100 with stock cooling and temps going over 70. I slapped a Kuhler 620 on it and now the temps stays below 65 and I can game without problems at 1000/1200 and fold at 1030/1250. If rig left unattended, it'll fold at 1060/1250.


----------



## Guovssohas

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *StaticFX*
> 
> which dual fan card do you have??
> Exact model... or fill out your rig info


Not sure, but it isn't a black edition. The store i bought it from has two models, a 1gb(which i have) and a 2gb. Are there several models of this card?


----------



## StaticFX

yes... the one i have is the XFX Dual Dissipation 6870

can you post a link to the card in the store you got it?


----------



## Guovssohas

I have this one;

http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=623768


----------



## BassMekanik

Hi. Please add me. I have Radeon 6870. Freq: 915/4200.


----------



## Matt-Matt

6850's have been known for higher clocks all along.. Card makers are also releasing 2nd revisions/versions of card with lesser cooling to cut costs.
6850's are a better crossfire approach, as opposed to dual 6870's.. You'll find that your 6870 may also not have had the cooler applied properly. (Tighten the screws on it). Doing so dropped my temps by about 2-4c and mine weren't even faulty..

As for the 4850 driver problem.. I had that EXACT same problem, even after using driver sweeper etc. Programs would still detect that i had a 4850. Only way to fix was a fresh install I'm afraid. Even if there is a fix, I'd suggest doing so just to clean out the crap from programs/hardware being installed!


----------



## StaticFX

thats the exact one i have...

I am thinking that my systems is limiting the OC.. since the rest of my system is a bit older









oh well.. playing Diablo III beta right now and it couldnt look better. very happy.... (and FYI the game is all i was hoping for.. and more!!)


----------



## D77ooM

How is the VRAM temps ?


----------



## von rottes

Only thing I like about USPS.... Free Saturday delivery


----------



## amdzack

after an hour searching for HD6800 user thread..at last i found this thread..
glad still active ^_^
by the way here my baby..


----------



## a pet rock

I don't know if this has already been posted here, but I just found out about this in my search for a fan fix. While this didn't solve my problem (still looks like a hardware issue) it may be useful for others. This is specific to the XFX 6850 model ZNFC.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/video/xfx-issues-fix-hd-6850-high-idle-fan-speed/


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

I have just run kombustor on my system and at 1020/1180 3.0v I got a steady 61oc with a fan speed of 79%. I feel for you guys having problems with cooling, but I have to say ASUS have done a great job with their cooling system even if it is a little noisy past the 60% mark.
If you are thinking of getting one of these cards seriously consider ASUS, you won't be disappointed. These cards are just under par with a GTX 560Ti and with a 6870 overclocked it probably matches them. I have started playing STALKER call of pripyat complete and with everything ramped up and a directx 11 enhanced full dynamic lighting I get about 60-70 fps at stock and well over a 100 with the overclock. This card never ceases to amaze me, I have had as low as 19 fps but still had a flawless gameplay.

Any one know if a 6870 and a 6850 work well together? Or is it still up in the air on that topic?


----------



## bmgjet

Voltage doesnt even go up to 3.0V
6870 and 6850 in cross fire will only perform like 2X 6850s.


----------



## ihatelolcats

maybe 1.3v


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Voltage doesnt even go up to 3.0V
> 6870 and 6850 in cross fire will only perform like 2X 6850s.


^Lies. And I wont even say nothing else cause it isnt the 1st time I correct this person about the crossfire.


----------



## macarule

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> ^Lies. And I wont even say nothing else cause it isnt the 1st time I correct this person about the crossfire.


That is true, the fastest card only runs at the same speed as the slowest card


----------



## Ken1649

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> ^Lies. And I wont even say nothing else cause it isnt the 1st time I correct this person about the crossfire.
> 
> 
> 
> That is true, the fastest card only runs at the same speed as the slowest card
Click to expand...

 Have a look here Crossfiring between different card of the same series


----------



## hoven

Been using the Sapphire HD 6850 for almost a year now, performs darn well in most games for it's price. I must say though..i read some of the post that they're getting idle temps of 40C and some at 30C. Mine idle at a constant 50-52C and 44C was the lowest i have seen so far. Stock cooler, not overclocked and have a decent airflow with my NZXT Phantom 410. Load temps sometimes hit the 70C mark (not a constant though, mostly hovering at 60+C) when playing BF3. I use a can of air to blow the dust out periodically, but some areas are hard to get to..
Never taken apart the cooler before..afraid that i might messed up the whole thing.

There appear to be minor rusting on the screws on the PCB board, and some on the back the the video card. No idea how it happened..


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hoven*
> 
> Been using the Sapphire HD 6850 for almost a year now, performs darn well in most games for it's price. I must say though..i read some of the post that they're getting idle temps of 40C and some at 30C. Mine idle at a constant 50-52C and 44C was the lowest i have seen so far. Stock cooler, not overclocked and have a decent airflow with my NZXT Phantom 410. Load temps sometimes hit the 70C mark (not a constant though, mostly hovering at 60+C) when playing BF3. I use a can of air to blow the dust out periodically, but some areas are hard to get to..
> Never taken apart the cooler before..afraid that i might messed up the whole thing.
> There appear to be minor rusting on the screws on the PCB board, and some on the back the the video card. No idea how it happened..


I have taken mine apart a couple of times. It's just 4 screws from what I remember. When I first got mine I thought I was going to change it out for a passive cooler but it was too big for the case. So I had to put the stock cooler back on with a fresh TIM and it would idle mid-30's during winter.

The 2nd time is to put my Kuhler 620 on it.

I don't remember there being a sticker or paint over the screws. And I sorta kinda remember that it doesn't void the warranty just removing the cooler and putting it back on. I think it was any sort of modification to the cooler or card and it gets voided.

But don't take my word for it on the warranty thingy... my memory isn't exactly a high end model.


----------



## ihatelolcats

yeah. they have no way of knowing if you remove the heatsink


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> I have just run kombustor on my system and at 1020/1180 3.0v I got a steady 61oc with a fan speed of 79%. I feel for you guys having problems with cooling, but I have to say ASUS have done a great job with their cooling system even if it is a little noisy past the 60% mark.
> If you are thinking of getting one of these cards seriously consider ASUS, you won't be disappointed. These cards are just under par with a GTX 560Ti and with a 6870 overclocked it probably matches them. I have started playing STALKER call of pripyat complete and with everything ramped up and a directx 11 enhanced full dynamic lighting I get about 60-70 fps at stock and well over a 100 with the overclock. This card never ceases to amaze me, I have had as low as 19 fps but still had a flawless gameplay.
> Any one know if a 6870 and a 6850 work well together? Or is it still up in the air on that topic?


It's possible, i used to have a 6870 Hawk. It wasn't too bad. Only thing is if you overclock both in Afterburner, they'll need to be on different profiles. And make sure you have a sidefan and watch temps.









The thing i hated about it was that one card was alot bigger then the other and looked completely different, it was also harder to cool 2x cards that had different heatsync/fans on them..
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Voltage doesnt even go up to 3.0V
> 6870 and 6850 in cross fire will only perform like 2X 6850s.


It won't, you'll get slightly better score. If you're running them at stock-reference you'll get one card running at 775MHz and with 960 shaders and the other will have 900MHz and 1120 shaders (or whatever 6870 has). I'd suggest running them both at the same clockspeed though.
I suggest getting 2x 6850 if you're going to crossfire as a 6850 uses less power and creates less heat. Along with only using one power connector!

bmgjet you're right about older generation cards - (Say a 4850 and a 4870) In that case the 4870's corepseed/memory would downclock. But since the 5xxx series it hasn't.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> maybe 1.3v


1.3v is the highest you should go on air. (The max Afterburner allows without unofficial overclocking) - This says something!
You could probably do 1.35 or 1.4v on water for a 24/7 overclock. Depends how long you want your card though!








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I have taken mine apart a couple of times. It's just 4 screws from what I remember. When I first got mine I thought I was going to change it out for a passive cooler but it was too big for the case. So I had to put the stock cooler back on with a fresh TIM and it would idle mid-30's during winter.
> The 2nd time is to put my Kuhler 620 on it.
> I don't remember there being a sticker or paint over the screws. And I sorta kinda remember that it doesn't void the warranty just removing the cooler and putting it back on. I think it was any sort of modification to the cooler or card and it gets voided.
> But don't take my word for it on the warranty thingy... my memory isn't exactly a high end model.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> yeah. they have no way of knowing if you remove the heatsink


I know that MSI will void your warranty if they can prove that you've tampered with it, but as long as you don't tear any stickers you're fine!


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> It won't, you'll get slightly better score. If you're running them at stock-reference you'll get one card running at 775MHz and with 960 shaders and the other will have 900MHz and 1120 shaders (or whatever 6870 has). I'd suggest running them both at the same clockspeed though.
> I suggest getting 2x 6850 if you're going to crossfire as a 6850 uses less power and creates less heat. Along with only using one power connector!
> bmgjet you're right about older generation cards - (Say a 4850 and a 4870) In that case the 4870's corepseed/memory would downclock. But since the 5xxx series it hasn't.


I know for a fact that 6850 cf with 6870 only performs like 2 6850s.
Thats what my original set up was.
But then swapped the 6870 with my mate for his new 6850 + $40 my way.
3d mark score didnt change at all.
And smoothness of games went up a lot since both cards run at 98-99% instead of one at 98-99% and the other only at 82-85%.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> I know for a fact that 6850 cf with 6870 only performs like 2 6850s.
> Thats what my original set up was.
> But then swapped the 6870 with my mate for his new 6850 + $40 my way.
> 3d mark score didnt change at all.
> And smoothness of games went up a lot since both cards run at 98-99% instead of one at 98-99% and the other only at 82-85%.


I did notice it was smoother with 2 of the same, yes. I do suggest getting 2x 6850 or 2x 6870 to match. Rather than one of each it does perform slightly better in games that don't support Crossfire though!


----------



## macarule

What Kind of 3DMARK performance scores do you guys get with your HD6870?


----------



## AllGamer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> What Kind of 3DMARK performance scores do you guys get with your HD6870?


3Dmark Vantage (aka 3Dmark 10) http://3dmark.com/3dmv/4030672

still haven't got time to run it on 3Dmark 11 yet


----------



## shadowhero18

MSI 6870 HAWK


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hoven*
> 
> Been using the Sapphire HD 6850 for almost a year now, performs darn well in most games for it's price. I must say though..i read some of the post that they're getting idle temps of 40C and some at 30C. Mine idle at a constant 50-52C and 44C was the lowest i have seen so far. Stock cooler, not overclocked and have a decent airflow with my NZXT Phantom 410. Load temps sometimes hit the 70C mark (not a constant though, mostly hovering at 60+C) when playing BF3. I use a can of air to blow the dust out periodically, but some areas are hard to get to..
> Never taken apart the cooler before..afraid that i might messed up the whole thing.
> There appear to be minor rusting on the screws on the PCB board, and some on the back the the video card. No idea how it happened..


sounds to me like you might have bad TIM...
or possibly a loose heatsink

Mine idles at 33c and full load is around 60c but I also use a custom fan curve








and mine is also a sapphire 6870

and MAN do those heat pipes get hot under a load


----------



## ihatelolcats

new trixx is out by the way


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> What Kind of 3DMARK performance scores do you guys get with your HD6870?


Here's an old 3DMark11:

http://www.pctunerup.com/up/image.php?src=_201012/20101219193626_980.1150.10.12.jpg


----------



## ihatelolcats

has anyone been able to undervolt his 6870? the new trixx software has the option to go below 1.175v but it doesnt seem to work...at least not all the time.


----------



## bongpacks

I want to know if 58C is an acceptable idle temp for a XFX Radeon HD 6870 DD 1GB? XFX techs are telling me it's normal for these cards to idle up to 65C but they're probably trained to play down problems to decrease the potential for having to honor a warranty. All the idle temps I can find on the net for this card are in the 30's, even the reference card runs idles in the low 40's. Should I RMA or not? Case has plenty or airflow, even running with the side panel off, fans set manually to 100% and a house fan blowing air into the case I get 55C idle.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> I want to know if 58C is an acceptable idle temp for a XFX Radeon HD 6870 DD 1GB? XFX techs are telling me it's normal for these cards to idle up to 65C but they're probably trained to play down problems to decrease the potential for having to honor a warranty. All the idle temps I can find on the net for this card are in the 30's, even the reference card runs idles in the low 40's. Should I RMA or not? Case has plenty or airflow, even running with the side panel off, fans set manually to 100% and a house fan blowing air into the case I get 55C idle.


is it stuck in 3d mode?


----------



## bongpacks

I don't know, runnning dual monitors. Stock clocks, even running single monitor it still idles at around 56C.


----------



## ihatelolcats

well check and see what the clock and voltage are when its idle


----------



## bongpacks

GPU clock is at 300MHz, memory clock at 1050MHz. 58C with 42% fan on auto, only voltage i can see with GPU-Z is 1.175 which I believe is stock voltage.


----------



## bongpacks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> GPU clock is at 300MHz, memory clock at 1050MHz. 58C with 42% fan on auto, only voltage i can see with GPU-Z is 1.175 which I believe is stock voltage.


Seems like that's the lowest the clocks will go with dual monitors, if I disable one monitor I get clocks of GPU 100MHz and memory 150MHz. Temp drops to 45C. When I have tried to overclock this card just using catalyst control center I can't get it above 950 core with memory at stock and I can't overclock it at all with dual monitors or it goes into an endless loop of driver crashes. 45C still isn't very low considering the reference cards run like 40C-45C and this has dual fans and heatpipes and cost me more $.


----------



## bmgjet

You may need to remove the heatsink and lap it a little bit with some new thermal compound/
Iv seen a 6870 BE with the exposed heat pipes on the block have a very uneven base.
Was so bad that the middle of the core wasnt making contact because the heat pipes stuck up so much more.

Was idling around 55C with max load at 90C. After very light lapp and new thermal compound it was down to 34C idle and max load of 69C.


----------



## Matt-Matt

I'd RMA it, seeing as the cooler can't provide sufficent cooling.. My 6870 idle'd at like 33c WITH the 6850 running below it. I did notice that i got stuck at the 300/1050 clock quite a bit.. Try closing and re-opening afterburner/restarting your PC. It fixed my issue.

Load i got about 70c


----------



## bmgjet

Doubt they would accept return of it.
My dealings with trying to return cards that run hot are they dont care until its hitting thermal shut down or the fan has run a bearing.


----------



## bongpacks

Guess I'll RMA it and hope I get a better one next time around, if not I'll pop the heatsink off and check things out I guess. I couldn't find a general computer problem type thread on the forums so I'll just ask here, what is likely to be the problem when on the rare occasion my computer won't power on and the power button becomes unresponsive until I switch the PSU off and let the charge drain from it, then turn it back on any everything runs like normal? System is stock clocks, only happens like once in every maybe 10-15 times I power on my system when it's been off overnight so I can't really diagnose it unfortunately.


----------



## ihatelolcats

it should go down to 0.95v for 2d clocks right?


----------



## macarule

Heres my 3DMark Score








http://3dmark.com/3dmv/4044377;jsessionid=a7r878h9u28i5v00qln6fhur


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> GPU clock is at 300MHz, memory clock at 1050MHz. 58C with 42% fan on auto, only voltage i can see with GPU-Z is 1.175 which I believe is stock voltage.


Im running dual monitors so i can tell you for sure the clocks are normal but the voltage is not.my idle is usually low 40's. 42c at 250/1000 top and 36c at 300/300 bottom depending on ambient temp both with 0.945volts your voltage should read no higher than this in 2d mode.If it is thats your problem .This is with a lot of work keeping my temps down aftermarket coolers and multiple case fans(around 15) at full speed in a 932 HAF (high air flow) case.You have to remember dual monitors makes a big difference so if your comparing temps make sure your doing it with a similar set up also most review sites use test benches so thats not comparable to a normal case either.Id say with dual monitors you can expect to see idle temps just above 50c and if you throw in hot ambient temps its possible to get 58c in worse case situations.when I got the cards the first step for me was removing the coolers and cleaning the old crap off and using some shin-etsu and that alone was good for 12c cooler load temps.I swear they hire monkeys to put these cards together there was enough compound on one card to apply to 6.

The other problem sounds like your psu is on its way out.had it happen with two systems one of them had a motherboard shorting on the case not using enough stand offs so sometimes the motherboard would touch the back of the case with the wait of my old cooler flexing it.The other I was overclocking and pushed the psu too far and it went into protection and was never the same again.Sometimes it would work fine and others it would not respond at all no boot no post nothing.


----------



## bongpacks

So if I understand this correctly, when at idle my GPU should lower it's voltage to reduce power consumption much like my CPU does with the cool 'n quiet tech? If so it's definitely pegged at 1.175 and not undervolting itself at idle, I can't find any BIOS settings I have that may be interfering with the GPUs power saving features if any exist, not sure what the problem is. Thanks for your replies.



That's with a single monitor at idle.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> So if I understand this correctly, when at idle my GPU should lower it's voltage to reduce power consumption much like my CPU does with the cool 'n quiet tech? If so it's definitely pegged at 1.175 and not undervolting itself at idle, I can't find any BIOS settings I have that may be interfering with the GPUs power saving features if any exist, not sure what the problem is. Thanks for your replies.
> 
> That's with a single monitor at idle.


yeppers
i wouldnt worry too much though mine is stuck on 3D clocks so it idles at 60


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> So if I understand this correctly, when at idle my GPU should lower it's voltage to reduce power consumption much like my CPU does with the cool 'n quiet tech? If so it's definitely pegged at 1.175 and not undervolting itself at idle, I can't find any BIOS settings I have that may be interfering with the GPUs power saving features if any exist, not sure what the problem is. Thanks for your replies.
> 
> That's with a single monitor at idle.


try using afterburner to monitor voltage see if it changes, gpu-z puts my cards in 3d mode temporarily and ulps doesn't work with it on.only thing i used it for was monitoring vrm temps. Make sure AMD overdrive is disabled gpu-z is off and see if the reset button in afterburner drops your voltage.


----------



## bongpacks

Downloaded afterburner but it's not showing me voltages, any tips? Found options to unlock voltage monitoring and control, neither did anything though.


----------



## ihatelolcats

it doesnt show voltages for me either. try this http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=338906


----------



## bongpacks

Enabled unofficial overclocking mode, still no voltages.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> Enabled unofficial overclocking mode, still no voltages.


Try flicking the bios switch? Or flashing the new bios from their site! Sounds like it's a bios related problem!


----------



## bongpacks

Don't think there are any BIOS updates for this card yet.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> Don't think there are any BIOS updates for this card yet.


Just re-flash it then!


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> Don't think there are any BIOS updates for this card yet.


Not all the 6870's support the soft. voltage control (I2C interface), it seems your card doesn't for its different vrm.
You may have a good Xfx vrm solution with 8 phase but it's the controller that lacks of the I2C.
You can only play with core and memory clocks, with or without afterburner.


----------



## Adonis

Bought this from a member here on OCN, Should get in on Saturday in the mail.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Video+Cards-_-Sapphire+Tech-_-14102948


----------



## hoven

Been thinking of taking apart my Sapphire HD 6850 to replace the thermal compound (Thermaltake Chill Factor II) and probably resit the heatsink. Currently idling at 50-53C and a max load temp of 70C, ambient temp of roughly 25C. I know that kind of temp probably won't hurt the GPU..but i don't find this temperature normal when other people have theirs idle way below that temperature..
The only thing that i'm worry about is how to take apart the video card. Probably will spend some time googling it and get comfortable before doing anything.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hoven*
> 
> Been thinking of taking apart my Sapphire HD 6850 to replace the thermal compound (Thermaltake Chill Factor II) and probably resit the heatsink. Currently idling at 50-53C and a max load temp of 70C, ambient temp of roughly 25C. I know that kind of temp probably won't hurt the GPU..but i don't find this temperature normal when other people have theirs idle way below that temperature..
> The only thing that i'm worry about is how to take apart the video card. Probably will spend some time googling it and get comfortable before doing anything.


I have a Sapphire 6850 and it was just 4 screws. I was concerned at first because it was stuck on there from the TIM. Probably should do the trick of warming it up with a load test and then remove it.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Not all the 6870's support the soft. voltage control (I2C interface), it seems your card doesn't for its different vrm.
> You may have a good Xfx vrm solution with 8 phase but it's the controller that lacks of the I2C.
> You can only play with core and memory clocks, with or without afterburner.


what is the reason undervolting doesn't work when overvolting does


----------



## bongpacks

Definite RMA, XFX techs told me anything above 90C on this card is considered overheating so I ran FurMark on it and temps crawled to 92C before I shut it off. If newegg won't RMA it then XFX certainly will.


----------



## bongpacks

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> Definite RMA, XFX techs told me anything above 90C on this card is considered overheating so I ran FurMark on it and temps crawled to 92C before I shut it off. If newegg won't RMA it then XFX certainly will.


Newegg let me RMA the card even though it was 2 days past my return period, they did say however if i had any problems with the replacement they're sending me that I would have to take it up with XFX. Hope the new card runs cooler, if not i'll pop the heatsink off and throw some arctic silver on the damn thing since I believe doing so won't void my lifetime warranty with XFX? Anyone had any experience with that? I think it's as simple as removing 4 screws but I'd like to know if anyone has done so and if it voided their warranty.


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bongpacks*
> 
> Newegg let me RMA the card even though it was 2 days past my return period, they did say however if i had any problems with the replacement they're sending me that I would have to take it up with XFX. Hope the new card runs cooler, if not i'll pop the heatsink off and throw some arctic silver on the damn thing since I believe doing so won't void my lifetime warranty with XFX? Anyone had any experience with that? I think it's as simple as removing 4 screws but I'd like to know if anyone has done so and if it voided their warranty.


cool








I would if the replacement overheats just rma it.
cos I "THINK" removing the heatsink/replacing the TIM voids the warranty

And although I use AS5 on my GPU and NB's It's not suggested you use a conductive thermal paste on them as is could easily cause a short...instead get some MX-4, I hear its better then AS5 anyways
~I need to do the same~


----------



## ihatelolcats

how do 2 6870s do in skyrim, bf3, other newer games? i might be able to get another one cheap
im worried about crossfire problems like flickering, microstutter, etc


----------



## bmgjet

They should perform awesomely.
The only 2 problems youll come across are CPU bottlenecks and Vram bottlenecks.
I havnt played skyrim since I clocked it the first 2 weeks it came out. Back then it was very CPU bottle necked since it only ran on 1 thread and cross fire also only uses the same 1 thread so I was only getting FPS of 80s on high and it would drop down to 40 in some places.
But iv heard they have fixed that up.

BF3 if you have the 1GB versions of 6870 you will find you will get some lag spikes on the back to karkand maps if your on ultra and 4X AA since those maps are very heavy on the Vram.
Youll have to drop to 2X AA or even 0X AA to keep it nice and smooth.

If you have a SSD it helps quite a bit as well since swaping the vram in is a lot quicker from a SSD.
Also overclocking the memory helps.

I havnt had any microstuttering with my 6850's, Pritty sure its because I have a SSD which the game is installed on and my cards are both highly overclocked.

I have had flickering problems but only on 2 things. Serious sam and once or twice a hour with firefox if im streaming a long video. (probably flash problem more likely)


----------



## ihatelolcats

thanks for the info


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> They should perform awesomely.
> The only 2 problems youll come across are CPU bottlenecks and Vram bottlenecks.
> I havnt played skyrim since I clocked it the first 2 weeks it came out. Back then it was very CPU bottle necked since it only ran on 1 thread and cross fire also only uses the same 1 thread so I was only getting FPS of 80s on high and it would drop down to 40 in some places.
> But iv heard they have fixed that up.
> BF3 if you have the 1GB versions of 6870 you will find you will get some lag spikes on the back to karkand maps if your on ultra and 4X AA since those maps are very heavy on the Vram.
> Youll have to drop to 2X AA or even 0X AA to keep it nice and smooth.
> If you have a SSD it helps quite a bit as well since swaping the vram in is a lot quicker from a SSD.
> Also overclocking the memory helps.
> I havnt had any microstuttering with my 6850's, Pritty sure its because I have a SSD which the game is installed on and my cards are both highly overclocked.
> I have had flickering problems but only on 2 things. Serious sam and once or twice a hour with firefox if im streaming a long video. (probably flash problem more likely)


I've found exactly the same things with my 6850 setup! I might move BF3 to my SSD if it's going to net me better performance..
Mind you that's my SSD basically filled.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hoven*
> 
> Been using the Sapphire HD 6850 for almost a year now, performs darn well in most games for it's price. I must say though..i read some of the post that they're getting idle temps of 40C and some at 30C. Mine idle at a constant 50-52C and 44C was the lowest i have seen so far. Stock cooler, not overclocked and have a decent airflow with my NZXT Phantom 410. Load temps sometimes hit the 70C mark (not a constant though, mostly hovering at 60+C) when playing BF3. I use a can of air to blow the dust out periodically, but some areas are hard to get to..
> Never taken apart the cooler before..afraid that i might messed up the whole thing.
> There appear to be minor rusting on the screws on the PCB board, and some on the back the the video card. No idea how it happened..


Try it on S.T.A.L.K.E.R call of pripyat or better yet Risen 2, then watch your temps, if you get decent temps on those two you can be secure in the knowledge that your card is bullet proof. IMO. Can anyone think of a more intense game for testing a GPU?


----------



## hoven

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> Try it on S.T.A.L.K.E.R call of pripyat or better yet Risen 2, then watch your temps, if you get decent temps on those two you can be secure in the knowledge that your card is bullet proof. IMO. Can anyone think of a more intense game for testing a GPU?


I occasionally play BF3, and the temps are pretty much the same for any game, 55-65C under load. Decided to take apart my GPU , apply new thermal paste (Thermaltake Chill Factor II, when i get it), resit the heatsink and see how thing goes. Just hope I don't mess things up.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hoven*
> 
> I occasionally play BF3, and the temps are pretty much the same for any game, 55-65C under load. Decided to take apart my GPU , apply new thermal paste (Thermaltake Chill Factor II, when i get it), resit the heatsink and see how thing goes. Just hope I don't mess things up.


Dude, with temps like that why the hell would you want to mess with it for? Save the paste for your CPU, cos those temps are low and I cant see it getting any better. I get around 67C with my fan at 78%. And I know my cooler is one of the better ones.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> Dude, with temps like that why the hell would you want to mess with it for? Save the paste for your CPU, cos those temps are low and I cant see it getting any better. I get around 67C with my fan at 78%. And I know my cooler is one of the better ones.


Why does your card run at 2.99v?


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Why does your card run at 2.99v?


Thats the voltage I use to get a 1190/1020 clock. Thats how I know my cooler is pretty good.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> Thats the voltage I use to get a 1190/1020 clock. Thats how I know my cooler is pretty good.


Surely acceptable voltage for a 6850 is in the 1.25v range?


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Surely acceptable voltage for a 6850 is in the 1.25v range?


6870


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> 6870


screenshot of gpu-z showing you have 2.99v on your chip

i don't want to make you look bad but im fairly certain if you put 3v on barts it would turn a nice shiny chip into a black hole on the pcb


----------



## smoke420

^could not agree more and maybe its just me but most people that don't specify post there clocks core than mem..Im sure he means 1020/1190 at 1.299v....screenshots please

@ hoven you should fill in your rig specs so we can better assist you.its been a while since ive been on stock coolers but I don't think mid 60's while gaming is too bad.and your idle temps are fine if your running more than one monitor as the memory won't downclock in 2d mode as much if at all.
This is why you should fill in your specs.
Taking these coolers apart is very easy if thats what you decide to do just a few screws and for me it helped a lot because way too much compound was used and the coolers were loose on top of that.

After my second monitor is activated and with aftermarket cooling my main card will go from 35c to 42c in less than 2 mins with no load and eventually settle at 44-45c idle.
Stock one monitor

stock 2 monitors after 2 minutes


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> ^could not agree more and maybe its just me but most people that don't specify post there clocks core than mem..Im sure he means 1020/1190 at 1.299v....screenshots please
> @ hoven you should fill in your rig specs so we can better assist you.its been a while since ive been on stock coolers but I don't think mid 60's while gaming is too bad.and your idle temps are fine if your running more than one monitor as the memory won't downclock in 2d mode as much if at all.
> This is why you should fill in your specs.
> Taking these coolers apart is very easy if thats what you decide to do just a few screws and for me it helped a lot because way too much compound was used and the coolers were loose on top of that.
> After my second monitor is activated and with aftermarket cooling my main card will go from 35c to 42c in less than 2 mins with no load and eventually settle at 44-45c idle.
> Stock one monitor
> 
> stock 2 monitors after 2 minutes


Yeah, 1.299 is in the normal sort of range!


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> screenshot of gpu-z showing you have 2.99v on your chip
> i don't want to make you look bad but im fairly certain if you put 3v on barts it would turn a nice shiny chip into a black hole on the pcb


I appreciate your input, but the 2.99v is necessary to reach the 1020/1188 clock, and as far as I'm aware a catastrophic meltdown can be avoided with adequate cooling, my GPU never goes above 70C and after six - seven months it's still here and just as strong as ever. The reality is that we can only go on what we know, we know nothing of the long term effects of over clocking/voltageing. So far it is a tried and true method and if it ain't broke don't fix it!







.


----------



## Krusher33




----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> I appreciate your input, but the 2.99v is necessary to reach the 1020/1188 clock, and as far as I'm aware a catastrophic meltdown can be avoided with adequate cooling, my GPU never goes above 70C and after six - seven months it's still here and just as strong as ever. The reality is that we can only go on what we know, we know nothing of the long term effects of over clocking/voltageing. So far it is a tried and true method and if it ain't broke don't fix it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .


cool screenshot bro


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Am I correct in the assumption that so long as the GPU is kept cool there shouldn't be a problem?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> Am I correct in the assumption that so long as the GPU is kept cool there shouldn't be a problem?


You also have to worry about vrm temps and they would melt as soon as any load was put on the card at that voltage.we are asking for a screen shot for a reason you are running 1.299 not 2.99 there is a very big difference.


----------



## Krusher33

VERY big! 2.99v is like... beyond LN2 cooling and volt mod needed, lol


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cosmic_Flash*
> 
> I appreciate your input, but the 2.99v is necessary to reach the 1020/1188 clock, and as far as I'm aware a catastrophic meltdown can be avoided with adequate cooling, my GPU never goes above 70C and after six - seven months it's still here and just as strong as ever. The reality is that we can only go on what we know, we know nothing of the long term effects of over clocking/voltageing. So far it is a tried and true method and if it ain't broke don't fix it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .


/facepalm

Bro, my 6870 is running at 1000/1100 on STOCK VOLTAGE...
I'm quite sure, as everyone has suggested you are on 1.299v not 2.99v....seeing as even most CPUs would FRY at those voltages


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> /facepalm
> Bro, my 6870 is running at 1000/1100 on STOCK VOLTAGE...
> I'm quite sure, as everyone has suggested you are on 1.299v not 2.99v....seeing as even most CPUs would FRY at those voltages


Most CPU's fry at about 1.7v.. So a graphics card would fry before that.. I assume you're using afterburner which means even if you unlock it the max to run isn't much above 1.3v.

Not to say the card would have stopped working along time ago. Get us an Afterburner shot with 2.99v on it... Then and only then will be believe you!









It's only human to make an error, especially with numbers.

EDIT: On another topic, my second card won't overclock at all... I just noticed it was running at 860MHz., whereas the top one was running at 880MHz. (Currently tweaking core/memory clocks) as it's cooling down here!


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> You also have to worry about vrm temps and they would melt as soon as any load was put on the card at that voltage.we are asking for a screen shot for a reason you are running 1.299 not 2.99 there is a very big difference.


I was going to correct myself last night but fell asleep, yes it is 1.299, not 2.99. It is a mistake on my part and I apologise for any confusion this has caused, and as a veteran gamer and seasoned custom builder I can't believe I made a n00b mistake like this one (f***ing Dyslexia). Won't happen again.


----------



## smoke420

For those guys stuck in 3d mode using MSI afterburner its probably the problem.I just noticed my cards were stuck in 3d mode but nothing was running. killed the oovoo process (was not signed in just running in the back round)and they went into 2d weird.the only thing I changed was using my custom 3d profiles.It seems that if I dont use custom profiles for automatic 2d/3d switching the program doesn't needlessly switch to 3d when oovoo is running.the fix is easy set an application profile in msi on screen display server for the program causing the problem and set application detection level to none and done.

Before you say I don't use oovoo it doesn't matter this could still be useful to you.Kill processes until you find your problem and do the same it should work.


----------



## Cosmic_Flash

Sniper Elite V2 is an epic game, I am a sniper by nature so this game fits me like a glove. Anyway, I am getting 60-80 fps with ultra setting. Just thought you'd want to know.


----------



## axipher

Got some new thermal pads finally:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13407/thr-112/Phobya_Thermal_Pad_XT_120mm_x_20mm_x_05mm_-_7Wmk_V-Regs_RAM_Ramplex_Koolance_MIPs_Innovatek_19099.html?tl=g8c487s1288

Also got some Aluminum heatsinks from *BWG* and cut them to fit the VRM's. The VRM's have a weird plastic on them though that the thermal pads don't like to stick to very well, so I resorted to zip-ties to get the job done of holding them in place.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Got some new thermal pads finally:
> http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13407/thr-112/Phobya_Thermal_Pad_XT_120mm_x_20mm_x_05mm_-_7Wmk_V-Regs_RAM_Ramplex_Koolance_MIPs_Innovatek_19099.html?tl=g8c487s1288
> Also got some Aluminum heatsinks from *BWG* and cut them to fit the VRM's. The VRM's have a weird plastic on them though that the thermal pads don't like to stick to very well, so I resorted to zip-ties to get the job done of holding them in place.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


The stock sinks weren't good enough on the VRM's? I left mine on, on my HD6850. The fact they screw on was convenient.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Got some new thermal pads finally:
> http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13407/thr-112/Phobya_Thermal_Pad_XT_120mm_x_20mm_x_05mm_-_7Wmk_V-Regs_RAM_Ramplex_Koolance_MIPs_Innovatek_19099.html?tl=g8c487s1288
> Also got some Aluminum heatsinks from *BWG* and cut them to fit the VRM's. The VRM's have a weird plastic on them though that the thermal pads don't like to stick to very well, so I resorted to zip-ties to get the job done of holding them in place.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The stock sinks weren't good enough on the VRM's? I left mine on, on my HD6850. The fact they screw on was convenient.
Click to expand...

Well the stock cooler covers them, but I'm using a VF3000A which comes with no heat sinks for the VRM's so I've been running them without cooling for the last year. At stock voltage they manage to stay below 80 C but as soon as I start adding the tiniest bit of voltage, they heat up super fast.

I was hoping to find a VRM heat sink for them with 69 mm hole spacing, but the only ones I can find are too wide so I had to use these instead.


----------



## Tokkan

These last days I almost filled an RMA for my 2nd/Slave Sapphire HD6850, its a newer revision and I never really had access to it.
As a slave I couldnt OC it, couldnt see the volts she was using, couldnt do anything besides using it has a slave card in CF, couldnt use it as a main card cause for some weird reason both cards would show up but I couldnt enable crossfire.
They always worked fine except in BF3, where I keep getting BSOD's while having crossfire enabled.
The other day I exchanged positions in a last try to get it working and with the newer driver(12.4) I gained voltage control through Sapphire Trixx only and voltage monitoring through GPU-Z.
So I started doing OC'ed runs on Uningine 3.0, OCCT, Furmark, other games I play.
After doing all of this I was getting optimist cause I didnt get a BSOD and they were stable, without voltage adjustments I managed to get 900/1100 @1.150 and keeping temps under 65 with auto fan.

Decided to give BF3 a go, after 20min's with temps arround 56ºC BSOD(*This was at stock settings*).
I turn off crossfire and use my newer revision card as my main GPU and it gives me no problems running BF3, I basicly only get BSOD's on BF3 while using crossfire and Im getting tired.
Every benchmark I run, it doesnt give me a bsod runs stable even with a minor overclock on them, I try to run BF3 at stock and I get a bsod.
Any1 had/has similar problems?


----------



## ihatelolcats

is it always the same error message in the bsod? what is the message?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> These last days I almost filled an RMA for my 2nd/Slave Sapphire HD6850, its a newer revision and I never really had access to it.
> As a slave I couldnt OC it, couldnt see the volts she was using, couldnt do anything besides using it has a slave card in CF, couldnt use it as a main card cause for some weird reason both cards would show up but I couldnt enable crossfire.
> They always worked fine except in BF3, where I keep getting BSOD's while having crossfire enabled.
> The other day I exchanged positions in a last try to get it working and with the newer driver(12.4) I gained voltage control through Sapphire Trixx only and voltage monitoring through GPU-Z.
> So I started doing OC'ed runs on Uningine 3.0, OCCT, Furmark, other games I play.
> After doing all of this I was getting optimist cause I didnt get a BSOD and they were stable, without voltage adjustments I managed to get 900/1100 @1.150 and keeping temps under 65 with auto fan.
> Decided to give BF3 a go, after 20min's with temps arround 56ºC BSOD(*This was at stock settings*).
> I turn off crossfire and use my newer revision card as my main GPU and it gives me no problems running BF3, I basicly only get BSOD's on BF3 while using crossfire and Im getting tired.
> Every benchmark I run, it doesnt give me a bsod runs stable even with a minor overclock on them, I try to run BF3 at stock and I get a bsod.
> Any1 had/has similar problems?


The best drivers for me so far were 12.3, 12.4 isn't stable on BF3 at all for me.. I might try the newer caps though.
I get all sorts of colour errors in BF3 with 12.4 and then once the game starts it lags like crazy and then my computer locks up for a few seconds.. Is anyone else having this problem? I'm running on 12.3 fine now. 12.2 was also good for my setup!

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Got some new thermal pads finally:
> http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13407/thr-112/Phobya_Thermal_Pad_XT_120mm_x_20mm_x_05mm_-_7Wmk_V-Regs_RAM_Ramplex_Koolance_MIPs_Innovatek_19099.html?tl=g8c487s1288
> Also got some Aluminum heatsinks from *BWG* and cut them to fit the VRM's. The VRM's have a weird plastic on them though that the thermal pads don't like to stick to very well, so I resorted to zip-ties to get the job done of holding them in place.


Wow nice! I'm looking at getting some of these. Just so I can sit them on my cards.
How do you guys check your VRM temps btw?


----------



## smoke420

VRM temps are in GPU-Z under VREG temp.It doesn't work with all cards.For me there are two temps vreg1 is my VRM's and im not sure what vreg2 is and the temp doesn't really change anyway


----------



## bmgjet

On mine Vreg 1 (main big VRM) Vreg2 (memory voltage regulator. Normally sits around 25C)


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> On mine Vreg 1 (main big VRM) Vreg2 (memory voltage regulator. Normally sits around 25C)


I see, all my temps are the same. The highest I see at 940/1100 is 72c so I'm assuming that's the VRM's.. Which is a good temp yes?
Just found out that they can run at 940MHz under stock voltage fine.. Just needs to have the cooler roaring!


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Well the stock cooler covers them, but I'm using a VF3000A which comes with no heat sinks for the VRM's so I've been running them without cooling for the last year. At stock voltage they manage to stay below 80 C but as soon as I start adding the tiniest bit of voltage, they heat up super fast.
> I was hoping to find a VRM heat sink for them with 69 mm hole spacing, but the only ones I can find are too wide so I had to use these instead.


Oooh, roger roger. And that really sucks. But I'm glad it's working though. I just feel like the zip tie over the top is limiting the efficiency of the sinks.

If someone has one for whatever reason, I'll see if I can nab it for ya.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Also I've got some Thermalright Chill factor sitting here. It's in a zip-lock bag as it came with a Thermalright Macho cooler from a rig for a friend. Is this stuff safe to use on my 6850's? Also how much would I be needing etc?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> is it always the same error message in the bsod? what is the message?


Its a BSOD on atikmdag.sys
+
0x000000A IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL


----------



## macarule

Should be getting my second HIS HD6870 iceQ X turbo X in the next week







took my a while to hunt one down! they are very limited here in Australia...


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Its a BSOD on atikmdag.sys
> +
> 0x000000A IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL


Found a lot of questions not to many answers someone suggested heat but i doubt it and others say its a driver issue related to CCC more likely id say.try killing the processes mom.exe and ccc.exe before starting the game see if it helps.


----------



## MiyukiChan

I've got some issues with my 6870's i'm doing an overclock to 1000/1125 and it works just fine.. for a while but like in the middle of a game the screen just messes up like i get lines all over and the image get's split into two however the game still runs smoothly? I'm really confused. The temp's are just fine also!


----------



## Guovssohas

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> I've got some issues with my 6870's i'm doing an overclock to 1000/1125 and it works just fine.. for a while but like in the middle of a game the screen just messes up like i get lines all over and the image get's split into two however the game still runs smoothly? I'm really confused. The temp's are just fine also!


What's your temps when this happens?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Its a BSOD on atikmdag.sys
> +
> 0x000000A IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL


also try disabling any monitoring software that reads the graphics
do you use any antivirus or other protection software? disable it


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Found a lot of questions not to many answers someone suggested heat but i doubt it and others say its a driver issue related to CCC more likely id say.try killing the processes mom.exe and ccc.exe before starting the game see if it helps.


It's a driver/overclocking issue. I only get this when I'm running my cards at a moderate overclock. You may want to try adding more voltage.. But if you run them at stock you shouldn't be getting this! (at least i don't)


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Guovssohas*
> 
> What's your temps when this happens?


Not more then 60-67 ~


----------



## Tokkan

Shutting down mom.exe+ccc.exe+all monitoring programs didnt work, it still bsod. this time was 0x00000024.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> It's a driver/overclocking issue. I only get this when I'm running my cards at a moderate overclock. You may want to try adding more voltage.. But if you run them at stock you shouldn't be getting this! (at least i don't)


Driver/Overclocking issue? Its doing this exact same thing since early beta for BF3, tried all drivers and all beta's. All caps. It still does it and thatswithout any OC on it.
I can play Skyrim heavily modded without any problems, I run OCCT during 1 night with my overclock on, it was still running in the morning.
Did the same with the following programs, Uningine Heaven Benchmark and Furmark. OCCT managed to get my cards up to 76c without getting a BSOD.
Heard lots of people say its a VRAM management issue in BF3, I'd love to actually know wheres the problem, Software or Hardware related cause I need something solid if Im gonna RMA this card.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> Not more then 60-67 ~


55c(BF3 Custom fan profile at 100%) good enough for you?

I have no idea of what to do to these cards. I have to turn off crossfire whenever I wish to play BF3.
It usually takes 10min's to bsod with xfire on


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Shutting down mom.exe+ccc.exe+all monitoring programs didnt work, it still bsod. this time was 0x00000024.
> Driver/Overclocking issue? Its doing this exact same thing since early beta for BF3, tried all drivers and all beta's. All caps. It still does it and thatswithout any OC on it.
> I can play Skyrim heavily modded without any problems, I run OCCT during 1 night with my overclock on, it was still running in the morning.
> Did the same with the following programs, Uningine Heaven Benchmark and Furmark. OCCT managed to get my cards up to 76c without getting a BSOD.
> Heard lots of people say its a VRAM management issue in BF3, I'd love to actually know wheres the problem, Software or Hardware related cause I need something solid if Im gonna RMA this card.
> 55c(BF3 Custom fan profile at 100%) good enough for you?
> I have no idea of what to do to these cards. I have to turn off crossfire whenever I wish to play BF3.
> It usually takes 10min's to bsod with xfire on


Oh temperature is not my issue and it works wonderful in crossfire also it's just when i'm trying to overclock past 980 / 4400 it happens.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Shutting down mom.exe+ccc.exe+all monitoring programs didnt work, it still bsod. this time was 0x00000024.
> Driver/Overclocking issue? Its doing this exact same thing since early beta for BF3, tried all drivers and all beta's. All caps. It still does it and thatswithout any OC on it.
> I can play Skyrim heavily modded without any problems, I run OCCT during 1 night with my overclock on, it was still running in the morning.
> Did the same with the following programs, Uningine Heaven Benchmark and Furmark. OCCT managed to get my cards up to 76c without getting a BSOD.
> Heard lots of people say its a VRAM management issue in BF3, I'd love to actually know wheres the problem, Software or Hardware related cause I need something solid if Im gonna RMA this card.
> 55c(BF3 Custom fan profile at 100%) good enough for you?
> I have no idea of what to do to these cards. I have to turn off crossfire whenever I wish to play BF3.
> It usually takes 10min's to bsod with xfire on


I can run it on both of my cards fine.. It's just when i overclock with afterburner at least..
You should try the system with both cards.. Try it with the bottom one first, 'cause that sounds to be the problem one.. Seeing as it happens after a while.
Try both of them by themselves, this is something i have to do... See if both are working as they should! As for the VRAM.... I was logging some GPU-Z stuff for temperature(s) when I was trying to lower voltages/overclock. I was using BF3 to stress it (it's rather good). Basically GPU-Z reported 1.7GB of VRAM being used.. While the cards are only 1GB?

But for BF3, VRAM is the limiting factor here.. That and our cards are good, but not great. If i paired mine with a better CPU i'd have much better FPS. But within the next week i should know. (Going to Ivy hopefully!)
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> Oh temperature is not my issue and it works wonderful in crossfire also it's just when i'm trying to overclock past 980 / 4400 it happens.


Well I mainly play BF3... Generally when I get a crash it's in that. All the other games don't really stress the cards as much..
So it's basically when I'm playing BF3 overclocked i get that error. Ending the AMD programs could fix the issue.. But it sounds like a driver issue to me, not a CCC one.
Have you tried 12.4 yet? and the caps? My 6850's were playing up.. I thought it was the drivers. Haven't installed since. Turns out it was the CFX connector. I need to get a longer one - It's too stretched!


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I can run it on both of my cards fine.. It's just when i overclock with afterburner at least..
> You should try the system with both cards.. Try it with the bottom one first, 'cause that sounds to be the problem one.. Seeing as it happens after a while.
> Try both of them by themselves, this is something i have to do... See if both are working as they should! As for the VRAM.... I was logging some GPU-Z stuff for temperature(s) when I was trying to lower voltages/overclock.


I already did that, both cards run fine with no bsod's or anything. Just smooth gameplay.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I was using BF3 to stress it (it's rather good). Basically GPU-Z reported 1.7GB of VRAM being used.. While the cards are only 1GB?
> But for BF3, VRAM is the limiting factor here.. That and our cards are good, but not great. If i paired mine with a better CPU i'd have much better FPS. But within the next week i should know. (Going to Ivy hopefully!)


What I heard isn that we run into VRAM problems, BF3 it self has problems addressing VRAM. For what I understood when crossfire is enabled BF3 has to keep a copy of the data in both cards, but it fails to do that on one of the cards so it bsod's.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Well I mainly play BF3... Generally when I get a crash it's in that. All the other games don't really stress the cards as much..
> So it's basically when I'm playing BF3 overclocked i get that error. Ending the AMD programs could fix the issue.. But it sounds like a driver issue to me, not a CCC one.
> Have you tried 12.4 yet? and the caps? My 6850's were playing up.. I thought it was the drivers. Haven't installed since. Turns out it was the CFX connector. I need to get a longer one - It's too stretched!


Im using 12.4 with the most recent caps, also tried 12.3 with the 12.3 caps or 12.4 caps still did it.
Cleaned the drivers everytime with ATIman Uninstaller, enableulps is disabled. Crossfire is enabled, bridge is connected, both cards are being fed.

Guess Im gonna try one thing... Now that Im thinking I have no idea if both cards are being supplied enough power.
And like you said most programs dont really stress the GPU's like BF3 does, plus on all the GPU stress I did, they run stable but they also didnt stress the CPU...

Gonna turn off all my overclocks and downclock the cards, see if it still bsod's.

Thanks for atleast hearing me out to all of you. Its easier to think when some1 listening and giving opinions.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Guess Im gonna try one thing... Now that Im thinking I have no idea if both cards are being supplied enough power.


Do you have StealthXtream I or II?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Do you have StealthXtream I or II?


StealthXstream II


----------



## a pet rock

That PSU will be plenty for 1090T+2x6850s. If you still think you have a problem, run P95 and Furmark at the same time. I will guarantee you 100% that pulls more power than BF3 could ever possibly hope to pull. If you really are having a power issue, it's because your hardware is defective, not because you bought the wrong PSU.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> That PSU will be plenty for 1090T+2x6850s. If you still think you have a problem, run P95 and Furmark at the same time. I will guarantee you 100% that pulls more power than BF3 could ever possibly hope to pull. If you really are having a power issue, it's because your hardware is defective, not because you bought the wrong PSU.


I didnt say I bought the wrong PSU lol
And Im trying to figure if theres something wrong with the hardware actually.

Anyway, here's an update. With the stock values on everything it didnt give me any bsod.
Gonna re-test my OC's... It was able to hold Prime95 12h's...


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> I didnt say I bought the wrong PSU lol
> And Im trying to figure if theres something wrong with the hardware actually.
> Anyway, here's an update. *With the stock values on everything it didnt give me any bsod.*
> Gonna re-test my OC's... It was able to hold Prime95 12h's...


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Shutting down mom.exe+ccc.exe+all monitoring programs didnt work, it still bsod. this time was 0x00000024.
> Driver/Overclocking issue? Its doing this exact same thing since early beta for BF3, tried all drivers and all beta's. All caps. It still does it and thats*without any OC on it.*


uhhh wat?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> uhhh wat?


GPU OC != SYSTEM OC


----------



## cytrik

cytrik
HIS IceQ X Turbo Radeon HD 6850
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/2zbsv/ (proof)

sorry late to the game, i was away from OC for a while xP


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Got some new thermal pads finally:
> http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13407/thr-112/Phobya_Thermal_Pad_XT_120mm_x_20mm_x_05mm_-_7Wmk_V-Regs_RAM_Ramplex_Koolance_MIPs_Innovatek_19099.html?tl=g8c487s1288
> Also got some Aluminum heatsinks from *BWG* and cut them to fit the VRM's. The VRM's have a weird plastic on them though that the thermal pads don't like to stick to very well, so I resorted to zip-ties to get the job done of holding them in place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow nice! I'm looking at getting some of these. Just so I can sit them on my cards.
> How do you guys check your VRM temps btw?
Click to expand...

Thanks









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Well the stock cooler covers them, but I'm using a VF3000A which comes with no heat sinks for the VRM's so I've been running them without cooling for the last year. At stock voltage they manage to stay below 80 C but as soon as I start adding the tiniest bit of voltage, they heat up super fast.
> I was hoping to find a VRM heat sink for them with 69 mm hole spacing, but the only ones I can find are too wide so I had to use these instead.
> 
> 
> 
> Oooh, roger roger. And that really sucks. But I'm glad it's working though. I just feel like the zip tie over the top is limiting the efficiency of the sinks.
> 
> If someone has one for whatever reason, I'll see if I can nab it for ya.
Click to expand...

Well considering I ran over a year with no heat sinks at all, I think anything is better. Since I have two 92 mm fans on that cooler blowing directly on them, it should be decent.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> I've got some issues with my 6870's i'm doing an overclock to 1000/1125 and it works just fine.. for a while but like in the middle of a game the screen just messes up like i get lines all over and the image get's split into two however the game still runs smoothly? I'm really confused. The temp's are just fine also!


It's your memory, you must be in the same boat as me, I can't even get 1100 on the memory stable. FFXIV would continuously crash on me at anything over 1075 on the memory and folding would fail constantly on anything over 1050 on the memory. But I can hit 1000 on the core no problem with stock voltage.


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well considering I ran over a year with no heat sinks at all, I think anything is better. Since I have two 92 mm fans on that cooler blowing directly on them, it should be decent.
> It's your memory, you must be in the same boat as me, I can't even get 1100 on the memory stable. FFXIV would continuously crash on me at anything over 1075 on the memory and folding would fail constantly on anything over 1050 on the memory. But I can hit 1000 on the core no problem with stock voltage.


Thanks


----------



## macarule

Guys here with CF, what type of temps do you get on your top cards?


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Guys here with CF, what type of temps do you get on your top cards?


I'm getting 67-75c with overclocked cards but i replaced the themal grease with noctuas H-1


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> I'm getting 67-75c with overclocked cards but i replaced the themal grease with noctuas H-1


I was getting 80 on my top card for awhile with reference coolers. With non-reference I dropped it to 55.


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> I was getting 80 on my top card for awhile with reference coolers. With non-reference I dropped it to 55.


Which non-reference is that? I'm using the Asus DirectCU


----------



## a pet rock

Accelero Twin Turbo Pro. I also had to switch up my case airflow to a whole ton of intake in order to keep air moving through the GPU space.


----------



## Prpntblr95

May I be added?
HIS Radeon HD 6850


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Guys here with CF, what type of temps do you get on your top cards?


mid 70's before aftermarket cooling now mid 50's in most games overclocked to 1000/1100 1.299


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Guys here with CF, what type of temps do you get on your top cards?


\

I was getting 90c on my top card with a mild overclock. Mind you this was with the 6870 Hawk + a 6850 Cyclone.. Which cool rather differently.
Now with my matching 6850's i'm running a mild overclock (no voltage increase). At 900MHz I get a max temp on my top card of 70c on a really HOT day and 68c on the bottom card!

Usually for gaming the max temps i see (in BF3 anyway) are about 60c on each. That's the MAX.

Fair to say you need to run the coolers really high if you're going crossfire (about 80%) and have one or two 120mm sidefans, the stock 230mm sidefan in my HAF just wasn't good enough for the cards.


----------



## macarule

I will be running 2 x HIS HD6870 IceQ X TurboX, they are going to be tight together and im just a little worried about temps, i was considering going water but its to expensive of an upgrade for me at the moment... But probably best bet in the future, i have a 3rd PCie slot but its only 8X and i thing some cables might be in the way, plus the cards will look better closer together, when i game ill just shove a TY-140 blowing air onto them


----------



## von rottes

totally random...but does the Sapphire 6870 having Iron chokes put it at any kind of disadvantage??


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> I will be running 2 x HIS HD6870 IceQ X TurboX, they are going to be tight together and im just a little worried about temps, i was considering going water but its to expensive of an upgrade for me at the moment... But probably best bet in the future, i have a 3rd PCie slot but its only 8X and i thing some cables might be in the way, plus the cards will look better closer together, when i game ill just shove a TY-140 blowing air onto them


I don't think running a full water system for two 6870s is a good move. With the amount of money it costs to set up a full water cooling loop, you may as well have just bought a single faster card and not dealt with multi-card heat issues. If you really need extra cooling, add some mid-case fans or a fan in your 5.25" drive bay or put some side intake fans. Or go with an aftermarket air cooler like the Twin Turbo 2. Seriously, I had two Twin Turbo Pros and my top card loaded at 55C and was dead silent.


----------



## macarule

Well i already had my current card, and i already have a CPU loop but to add 2 cards i would need another rad, it would definitaly look the part and 2 x 6870 are still pretty powerfull, up there with GTX 590 and HD6990, so they should play most games for years to come, i dont have the room for after marketcooling and i would prefer the cards to match... Ill probably just put up with the heat issues as graphics cards can take a beating!


----------



## ihatelolcats

you could always put an h50 on each one. that's only about $100. still significant but i think not as much as two blocks, radiator, hoses, clamps etc


----------



## macarule

Them antec 620s look pretty good for that, that was actually an option but i dont have much room to mount them







ill probably find places haha


----------



## bmgjet

Iv got 2X antec 620 on my 6850 CF setup.
Aslong as you have another pci slot between the PCI-E slots youll be able to fit them.
H50 wont fit very well since its pump is twice the height of the Antec 620.

Pics are somewhere in this thread but im not going to look for them since it was ages ago I posted them (early march)


----------



## amdzack

anyone with hd6870s have problem with amd driver stop reponding when gaming?


----------



## bmgjet

Only when Im overclocked too high.


----------



## Phenomanator53

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdzack*
> 
> anyone with hd6870s have problem with amd driver stop reponding when gaming?


Yes i did, i fixed it by re-flashing my VBIOS. after that if i OC too much i get it but other than that its running perfect and no more crashing.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Well i already had my current card, and i already have a CPU loop but to add 2 cards i would need another rad, it would definitaly look the part and 2 x 6870 are still pretty powerfull, up there with GTX 590 and HD6990, so they should play most games for years to come, i dont have the room for after marketcooling and i would prefer the cards to match... Ill probably just put up with the heat issues as graphics cards can take a beating!


Got a sidewindow? Otherwise don't bother! The cards run great at 8x! I've got them both sitting in 8x slots.
Even then you could see how much temperature drop you get when running in that slot? I'd suggest resetting your single card to stock before adding the second and then overclocking both at once, I'd also suggest a long "floppy" crossfire connector (mines rather tight so it comes off every so often). The cards match a 7970 performance wise, two 6850's are 10% beter then a GTX580 (minus the vram), and a 7970 is about 10% better then a GTX580(ish). So my 6850's are almost as good as a 7970. Your cards are probably a tad better!









As for watercooling, you're probably better off not adding them to the loop. Unless you have really bad temp problems then just buy 2x generic waterblocks, this way you can use them if/when you upgrade.









This will work out better and only a tad more then 2x 620's.. Whilst looking more professional!


----------



## macarule

i keep my side panel off thats my window







, thats true, generic water blocks are cheap but then i would probably have to add another 120-240/280 rad to get decent temps, but then the full blocks look bloody nice! ill see how temps go when i get the second card... i probably will end up adding them to the loop sooner of later as i will probably have them for the next few years!


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> i keep my side panel off thats my window
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> , thats true, generic water blocks are cheap but then i would probably have to add another 120-240/280 rad to get decent temps, but then the full blocks look bloody nice! ill see how temps go when i get the second card... i probably will end up adding them to the loop sooner of later as i will probably have them for the next few years!


Maybe.. I know the full blocks look nice, but that's just what i'd do.. Considering I can't get 6850 blocks here I'm stuck with generic ones if i want to. The generic blocks are cheaper (alot) for any card here though. Almost as good too!


----------



## macarule

Bloody Australia, limited with everything


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Bloody Australia, limited with everything


Yeah I know, I can't even get a set of Samsung 30nm RAM... Nor can I get some DDR2 1066+ without paying alot.. Used or new.


----------



## amdzack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Phenomanator53*
> 
> Yes i did, i fixed it by re-flashing my VBIOS. after that if i OC too much i get it but other than that its running perfect and no more crashing.


thanks man,its work..


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdzack*
> 
> thanks man,its work..


So if i flash my bios to both cards the same? It'll stop some driver related errors?


----------



## amdzack

i don't think you need to flash it,if you have same card..unless you have different brand card like me,but you can try


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdzack*
> 
> i don't think you need to flash it,if you have same card..unless you have different brand card like me,but you can try


Might actually do this.. What's the best program inside windows? (I cbf making a boot CD or the likes).
I've looked into this before and my cards have slightly different BIOS'.. So i'll use the later one on the older card. The PCB's look the same but ones a v2 apparently.. Will it hurt if it corrupts? Surely I can just boot off the other card and fix it/boot off the other BIOS on the card?


----------



## bmgjet

If they are different revisions it wont work.
You will just get stuck in a blue screen when windows loads.
Same also happens if they have different brand memory on them.


----------



## TheMelder

Hey guys.

I have a single Gigabyte Ultra Durable VGA Series Radeon HD 6850 GV-R685OC-1GD Video Card with Eyefinity.

I am planning on buying a second one of these cards tomorrow too crossfire.

My question is this:
If I was to do this, what sort of life span am I to expect from this hardware? is it close to the end of its life cycle yet, or is it still punching strong?

I am sure this is a stupid question, but I have been away from the tech industry for such a long time and am having trouble regaining my footing.

Thank-You

Melder


----------



## amdzack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> If they are different revisions it wont work.
> You will just get stuck in a blue screen when windows loads.
> Same also happens if they have different brand memory on them.


agreed,they have different memory and vrm


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdzack*
> 
> agreed,they have different memory and vrm


I've actually checked the memory myself and the PCB's are the same.. I might just try it because i've got nothing to lose?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I've actually checked the memory myself and the PCB's are the same.. I might just try it because i've got nothing to lose?


Do a win98 boot drive with atiflash or w,e. If one of the card bios gets corrupt you can use the good card to output image, that way you can put the vbios back in.
I already did this, card stopped working. Put the old bios back in, voila its working.


----------



## ndoggfromhell

Add me to the list. XFX HD 6870 going in my hackintosh this afternoon. Can't wait to replace the 9800GTX that is slowly dying. Did any of those cards ever last more than a couple of years?


----------



## amdzack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Might actually do this.. What's the best program inside windows? (I cbf making a boot CD or the likes).
> I've looked into this before and my cards have slightly different BIOS'.. So i'll use the later one on the older card. The PCB's look the same but ones a v2 apparently.. Will it hurt if it corrupts? Surely I can just boot off the other card and fix it/boot off the other BIOS on the card?


you will need RBE1.28 and AtiWinFlash...
open rbe load bios that you want to flash..
from there you will see the memory type for the bios..
then open atiwinflash save bios,open another rbe and load it on it..
make sure both memory type are same before you flash it..

yes you can fix it by swap 2nd card to the 1st slot..
there a 2 ways to fix it,if the card fail after flashing..
1.boot in safe mode remove all amd driver,and using driver sweeper to make sure it clean
then reboot,after boot os in normal mode you can proceed to flash it again
2.need to make bootable disk and flash it on dos using atiflash..
what card are you using?
did you used lga775 platform


----------



## Dhalgren65

Not sure what MB you have,but I'm sure you will enjoy it!
I had 2 HIS TurboX 6850's Xfired for a while-
I could not get comfortable w/top card at 70c w/OC'ng...
Recently went to 6870's,MCW82's for both-in a seperate loop w/Swiftech220 rad/motor combo.
Now I cant GET it to go beyond 43c!


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Do a win98 boot drive with atiflash or w,e. If one of the card bios gets corrupt you can use the good card to output image, that way you can put the vbios back in.
> I already did this, card stopped working. Put the old bios back in, voila its working.


ONLY GPU-z 5.9 would read the vbios of the later card.. 5.6 didn't detect that they were different bios'.. and 6.2 said it was unreadable.. Strange.

Anyway rebooting now. Will let you guys know how it goes!


----------



## amdzack

try using latest GPUZ?


----------



## amdzack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheMelder*
> 
> Hey guys.
> I have a single Gigabyte Ultra Durable VGA Series Radeon HD 6850 GV-R685OC-1GD Video Card with Eyefinity.
> I am planning on buying a second one of these cards tomorrow too crossfire.
> My question is this:
> If I was to do this, what sort of life span am I to expect from this hardware? is it close to the end of its life cycle yet, or is it still punching strong?
> I am sure this is a stupid question, but I have been away from the tech industry for such a long time and am having trouble regaining my footing.
> Thank-You
> Melder


depend on resolution that you want to use...
I've tried before with 4080x768 resolution still can play crysis2


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdzack*
> 
> try using latest GPUZ?


0.6.2 is the lastest? Oh well i forgot to save the orignal BIOS (i would have killed myself if something had have gone wrong..) But they're both fine, I'm just about to go ahead and stress it!









So far, they seem to be co-operating alot better! It was never a real problem before.. Just that kombustor would always lag a tad upon startup. Which i assumed was normal with 2x cards, now it's just instant and no lag! I bet this will fix the BF3 loading lag problems too.. It's amazing how something so simple can cause so much hassle


----------



## amdzack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> 0.6.2 is the lastest? Oh well i forgot to save the orignal BIOS (i would have killed myself if something had have gone wrong..) But they're both fine, I'm just about to go ahead and stress it!


yep that was the latest for now..
you are lucky..next time backup it..
i has been kill 3 card playing with flashing,then bad rom
cannot fix it lol..


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdzack*
> 
> yep that was the latest for now..
> you are lucky..next time backup it..
> i has been kill 3 card playing with flashing,then bad rom
> cannot fix it lol..


Yeah i know, i completely forgot! I'd be able to find it on techpowerup as I've seen it there before!


----------



## Segell

I have MSI R6850 Cyclone edition and Sapphire HD6850 2gb








Pic


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Segell*
> 
> I have MSI R6850 Cyclone edition and Sapphire HD6850 2gb
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pic


Nice, but it's running with 1GB vram now?









Wow, there's no space between the MSI card and the PSU? Surely it'd be running hot?

I'm also considering moving my PSU to the top, 'cause there's no space between the bottom card and the PSU really. What do you guys think?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Wow, there's no space between the MSI card and the PSU? Surely it'd be running hot?
> 
> I'm also considering moving my PSU to the top, 'cause there's no space between the bottom card and the PSU really. What do you guys think?


No, I don't think there's gonna be any issue in a well ventilated case like the Haf 932. I would add an extra 92mm rear fan (bottom, external) to better exhaust the graphic card's hot air instead.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> No, I don't think there's gonna be any issue in a well ventilated case like the Haf 932. I would add an extra 92mm rear fan (bottom, external) to better exhaust the graphic card's hot air instead.


I only have a 80mm fan (which is terrible) and a 230mm fan left.. I don't really have a problem with temps but yeah.

But yeah, i've tried this with a 120mm fan.. Didn't work (if so not well at all). If I had blower style cards however...

The cards dump heat in the case.. I never get any heat coming out the back! When i added the second card, under load I can feel the top of the case warm up.









+rep for the advice tho


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> No, I don't think there's gonna be any issue in a well ventilated case like the Haf 932. I would add an extra 92mm rear fan (bottom, external) to better exhaust the graphic card's hot air instead.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I only have a 80mm fan (which is terrible) and a 230mm fan left.. I don't really have a problem with temps but yeah.
> 
> But yeah, i've tried this with a 120mm fan.. Didn't work (if so not well at all). If I had blower style cards however...
> 
> The cards dump heat in the case.. I never get any heat coming out the back! When i added the second card, under load I can feel the top of the case warm up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> +rep for the advice tho
Click to expand...

Thanks








I would add another 120mm fan either between the hdd cage and the video cards, like this:



Or in the bottom fan position.

Or, even better, both.


----------



## Segell

Quote:


> Nice, but it's running with 1GB vram now?


I'm not sure! My 2gb sapphire is my main card and gpu-z shows 2gb! How to check it properly?
Quote:


> Wow, there's no space between the MSI card and the PSU? Surely it'd be running hot?


not at all! My sapphire is overclocked to match msi and on full load stability test in 20 min my sapphire reached 79°c but msi on stock clock 69°c









edit: in begginning my sapphire was in bottom and that was a problem. As it got all that plastic around it and fan is in enclosure it was running warmy on stock clock so I swaped them and as msi got open radiator no problems so far mate


----------



## axipher

Well my 6870 is back up and running now that I got my CPU back from RMA. Haven't tried pushing for a higher overclock yet though now that I added a little cooing support to the VRM's.

As it stands I just bump the core up to 1000 MHz in CCC and it works.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Segell*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice, but it's running with 1GB vram now?
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure! My 2gb sapphire is my main card and gpu-z shows 2gb! How to check it properly?
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, there's no space between the MSI card and the PSU? Surely it'd be running hot?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> not at all! My sapphire is overclocked to match msi and on full load stability test in 20 min my sapphire reached 79°c but msi on stock clock 69°c
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> edit: in begginning my sapphire was in bottom and that was a problem. As it got all that plastic around it and fan is in enclosure it was running warmy on stock clock so I swaped them and as msi got open radiator no problems so far mate
Click to expand...

Awesome! If one card is 2GB as far as I know you'll be running with 1GB of vram.. Both cards need to be 2GB to run with 2GB of vRAM.. Check the vram usage in BF3 or some other game.. Wait no, my cards report 1.7GB of usage in BF3 :s


----------



## Segell

well in GTA4 I see 3gb


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Segell*
> 
> well in GTA4 I see 3gb










I think it may be GPU-Z reporting all the textures the card loads in recent time, where some of it goes to the RAM and sits.. At least I think that's what's happening...


----------



## chino1974

Quick question for anyone who can give me an informed answer. I have an XFX 6870 reference card in my rig right now. I have a chance of picking up another XFX but it's a 6850. Question is would they pair up nicely in crossfire? And is it worth it crossfiring those to cards? Any help on this would be deeply apreciated.







Thank You in advance for any help given.







OCN ROCKS!!!


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Quick question for anyone who can give me an informed answer. I have an XFX 6870 reference card in my rig right now. I have a chance of picking up another XFX but it's a 6850. Question is would they pair up nicely in crossfire? And is it worth it crossfiring those to cards? Any help on this would be deeply apreciated.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank You in advance for any help given.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OCN ROCKS!!!


I don't think you can crossfire them.
Maybe if you flash it with a 6870 bios but then the performance wouldn't be the same


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> I don't think you can crossfire them.
> Maybe if you flash it with a 6870 bios but then the performance wouldn't be the same


I can definitely run crossfire with them. I was just wondering if anyone knew what the performance was like with that combination


----------



## macarule

they would run as 2 X 6850s and if you are getting the 6850 for cheap and have a decent power supply, then go for it!


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiyukiChan*
> 
> I don't think you can crossfire them.
> Maybe if you flash it with a 6870 bios but then the performance wouldn't be the same


Absolutely and totally wrong.








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> I can definitely run crossfire with them. I was just wondering if anyone knew what the performance was like with that combination


I think I remember people saying there's stuttering when at stock clocks but when the up the clocks on the 6850, it goes away. But in the end it's not as good as 2 x 6870 @ stock clocks.


----------



## MiyukiChan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Absolutely and totally wrong.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think I remember people saying there's stuttering when at stock clocks but when the up the clocks on the 6850, it goes away. But in the end it's not as good as 2 x 6870 @ stock clocks.


Oh cause i was told otherwise i had a 6850 but i bought two 6870 cause of what i've been told, @ ot oh well hope it works out fine for you.


----------



## von rottes

I'm really surprised with the 6870.
Actually using a "real" monitor now at 1440x900 instead of my old CRT @ 1280x1024
and I'm still able to run games on max settings at a playable frame rate (60+)
A shame I wasted $114 on that HD 6770 when this card only cost me $11 more









and to think I started out playing on a HD 5450 and Celeron E1500 getting sub 20fps in games like rage, Alice and NFS


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> I'm really surprised with the 6870.
> Actually using a "real" monitor now at 1440x900 instead of my old CRT @ 1280x1024
> and I'm still able to run games on max settings at a playable frame rate (60+)
> A shame I wasted $114 on that HD 6770 when this card only cost me $11 more
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and to think I started out playing on a HD 5450 and Celeron E1500 getting sub 20fps in games like rage, Alice and NFS


Same here, my 6870 is still going nice and strong with my Eyefinity setup.


----------



## Krusher33

I upgraded from 2x 7600GT SLI'd and WOOT! I LOVE IT!!!


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Quick question for anyone who can give me an informed answer. I have an XFX 6870 reference card in my rig right now. I have a chance of picking up another XFX but it's a 6850. Question is would they pair up nicely in crossfire? And is it worth it crossfiring those to cards? Any help on this would be deeply apreciated.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank You in advance for any help given.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OCN ROCKS!!!


It will run fine! I had this setup for a while. Two cards run alot better at the same speeds - And I've found 2x cards with the same bios run even better!








You could always try running the 6850 with the 6870 BIOS? It couldn't hurt right? And if it does use the bios switch!

But running them at the same speed is a must! Which means you may have to downclock your 6870.. Also put the 6870 on the bottom as it will run a tad hotter, well it depends.. Are either card blower style cards?

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/425/accelero-l2-plus.html

What do you guys think about those for 2x 6850's? Would it be worth it? Or would i be better off with a better cooler?


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> It will run fine! I had this setup for a while. Two cards run alot better at the same speeds - And I've found 2x cards with the same bios run even better!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You could always try running the 6850 with the 6870 BIOS? It couldn't hurt right? And if it does use the bios switch!
> But running them at the same speed is a must! Which means you may have to downclock your 6870.. Also put the 6870 on the bottom as it will run a tad hotter, well it depends.. Are either card blower style cards?
> http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/425/accelero-l2-plus.html
> What do you guys think about those for 2x 6850's? Would it be worth it? Or would i be better off with a better cooler?


Thanks for the input and yes the 6870 is an XFX reference design with the blower cooling. Should I still put that one on the bottom? I've heard that those blower fans cool better than the regular type fans sitting in the middle of the card. Anyways eventually I want to put them both under water with the rest on my system. I already have a wc setup in my rig with a 240 and 120 rad so I think it should be able to handle the extra load of the additional cards. If not I can always add another 120 rad to the mix.







Anything for an excuse to run to the parts store and tear into my rig!!! My wife said if I kept going to microcenter so much she was gonna leave me. I'm sure going to miss her


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Thanks for the input and yes the 6870 is an XFX reference design with the blower cooling. Should I still put that one on the bottom? I've heard that those blower fans cool better than the regular type fans sitting in the middle of the card. Anyways eventually I want to put them both under water with the rest on my system. I already have a wc setup in my rig with a 240 and 120 rad so I think it should be able to handle the extra load of the additional cards. If not I can always add another 120 rad to the mix.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anything for an excuse to run to the parts store and tear into my rig!!! My wife said if I kept going to microcenter so much she was gonna leave me. I'm sure going to miss her


LOL!
And yes, use the blower cooler on the bottom.. While being louder it will push the heat out of the case rather then into it. This is what you need for crossfire. Or at least a singular one on the bottom!


----------



## BiscuitHead

My 6870 should be coming in next week. Can't wait! Will post specs when it arrives


----------



## ihatelolcats

just got 6870 #2 for graduation. i deleted the stuff in device manager, and there are no hidden devices. ccc isn't launching or showing up in right click, it gives a "cli.implementation" missing file error. i think it's not installed at all but i've tried 3 times. should i install drivers with one card in and then add the second card?

edit: posting this in the crossfire thread


----------



## bmgjet

Install drivers with both cards in and the cross fire bridge attached.


----------



## Segell

When I'll be added in club?


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Segell*
> 
> When I'll be added in club?


That list was last updated seven months ago. I doubt it's going to be updated again.


----------



## amdzack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> just got 6870 #2 for graduation. i deleted the stuff in device manager, and there are no hidden devices. ccc isn't launching or showing up in right click, it gives a "cli.implementation" missing file error. i think it's not installed at all but i've tried 3 times. should i install drivers with one card in and then add the second card?
> edit: posting this in the crossfire thread


try clean driver using driver sweeper?


----------



## amdzack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Segell*
> 
> When I'll be added in club?


me too ^_^


----------



## Segell

Thats sad


----------



## jmwatkins

I have an XFX 6870 that I just overclocked for the first time. I know from everything I've read that it is not a good overclocker, but I have a question. I can only OC the core clock to 915Mhz, however, I can max out the memory clock to 1250Mhz with no artifacts. Is this normal?


----------



## bmgjet

Dont overclock the memory by looking for artifacts.
The memory has error correction so will be running slower then stock because it would be correcting errors if its past the point of being stable.

Best way to test it is with a bench mark. Keep putting it up until your score goes down then lower it another 25mhz.
This should keep it off the error correction.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Dont overclock the memory by looking for artifacts.
> The memory has error correction so will be running slower then stock because it would be correcting errors if its past the point of being stable.
> 
> Best way to test it is with a bench mark. Keep putting it up until your score goes down then lower it another 25mhz.
> This should keep it off the error correction.


I agree.
You can also try the OCCT Gpu tool with the error check option enabled (20-30' will be enough).


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I agree.
> You can also try the OCCT Gpu tool with the error check option enabled (20-30' will be enough).


OCCT is a good utility, but it is known to kill cards...
I'm never putting my GPU's through that again! Kombustor is alot easier on the cards then OCCT


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> OCCT is a good utility, but it is known to kill cards...
> I'm never putting my GPU's through that again! Kombustor is alot easier on the cards then OCCT


Known to kill cards heh?
Nice, need to use it more often.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Known to kill cards heh?
> Nice, need to use it more often.












But out of all seriousness, it creates load that regular applications will never put on the card(s). Along with draining your PSU's power and wearing that down.. Especially if you run it for hours.


----------



## jmwatkins

Thanks guys. I will run some benchmarks tonight with Kombuster since I already have it installed. How much should I raise the memory clock before each benchmark? 10Mhz? And, does overclocking the memory even matter since my core overclock is so poor?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> OCCT is a good utility, but it is known to kill cards...
> I'm never putting my GPU's through that again! Kombustor is alot easier on the cards then OCCT


That to me is all the more reason to use OCCT. :-/


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But out of all seriousness, it creates load that regular applications will never put on the card(s). Along with draining your PSU's power and wearing that down.. Especially if you run it for hours.


That's the entire point.... And Kombustor and Furmark do the exact same thing. They're specifically designed to stress the GPU as hard as possible to force any possible issues to arise so you actually know if you are stable or if you just haven't pushed the card hard enough to reach an issue.


----------



## flippinhutt




----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> That's the entire point.... And Kombustor and Furmark do the exact same thing. They're specifically designed to stress the GPU as hard as possible to force any possible issues to arise so you actually know if you are stable or if you just haven't pushed the card hard enough to reach an issue.


This, but I've found that OCCT pushes the card too far, even Kombustor is harder on the card then what it'll ever get from gaming. But the best thing to do is use a game for a few hours, like BF3 I've found that it works quite well!









Better then Kombustor or OCCT


----------



## bmgjet

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jmwatkins*
> 
> Thanks guys. I will run some benchmarks tonight with Kombuster since I already have it installed. How much should I raise the memory clock before each benchmark? 10Mhz? And, does overclocking the memory even matter since my core overclock is so poor?


Memory overclocking doesnt do much, wont really do anything with kombuster.
Heaven and 3dmark 11 are better choices, I normally go up in 20's on the memory.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Memory overclocking doesnt do much, wont really do anything with kombuster.
> Heaven and 3dmark 11 are better choices, I normally go up in 20's on the memory.


I was going up in 25's for the memory and it wasn't stable at past 1125 unless I boosted the memory voltage to +30 which allowed me to bench at 1200+. So I set it on a nice 1200 and benched for about 10 minutes with kombustor.. Loaded up Sniper Elite V2 and it crashed after 2 minutes (I was about to finish a mission too)


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I was going up in 25's for the memory and it wasn't stable at past 1125 unless I boosted the memory voltage to +30 which allowed me to bench at 1200+. So I set it on a nice 1200 and benched for about 10 minutes with kombustor.. Loaded up Sniper Elite V2 and it crashed after 2 minutes (I was about to finish a mission too)


I have to agree with you, OCCT does not put a real stress on the GPU.
I also agree with the others, its a good way to know if the GPU Core is really stable, but when I was using my single card configuration I had my 6850 at 1Ghz core/1150memory.
Its stable to benchmark, stable for furmark/kombustor, stable for gaming... Stable for everything except OCCT.
OCCT killed it with temps, they reached 76 and started giving artifacts but in general gaming it only reached a max temp of 65C with auto fan configuration, 55 with manual.

Like said above, to stress the GPU atm I prefer to leave Heaven Benchmark fully maxed out on everything to stress the gpu, its been a good way of knowing if its stable.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I was going up in 25's for the memory and it wasn't stable at past 1125 unless I boosted the memory voltage to +30 which allowed me to bench at 1200+. So I set it on a nice 1200 and benched for about 10 minutes with kombustor.. Loaded up Sniper Elite V2 and it crashed after 2 minutes (I was about to finish a mission too)


How did you boost memory voltage is that cyclone specific?


----------



## von rottes

I like to use Kombustor..
furmark *for me* was not very reliable.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *flippinhutt*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Your box is vertical.......WHY BOX VARIATIONS!??!


----------



## flippinhutt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> Your box is vertical.......WHY BOX VARIATIONS!??!


no idea... stupid box makers.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *flippinhutt*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> Your box is vertical.......WHY BOX VARIATIONS!??!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> no idea... stupid box makers.
Click to expand...

My original reference Sapphire used a landscape style box and it has support for voltage tweaking, aren't some of the newer reference ones lacking voltage control? Could this box be for those ones?


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> My original reference Sapphire used a landscape style box and it has support for voltage tweaking, aren't some of the newer reference ones lacking voltage control? Could this box be for those ones?


Hmmm. Ihave not tried trixx yet, but AB won't let me adjust voltages


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> How did you boost memory voltage is that cyclone specific?


Yeah, i think it's part of the triple over voltage.. There's an arrow next to "voltage control" in afterburner. You'll be able to see if you can then for sure! As i said my memory doesn't overclock at all..


----------



## BiscuitHead

Got mine in just the other day!


----------



## chino1974

Hey guys I need some tech help asap please. If anyone is on that knows the answer to my questionI would really apreciate the help. I got my backplate from Dwood yesterday. I got it all painted and ready to go. Now my problem is when I put the card in my rig it's a tight fit now ecause of the backplate but it fits. Now if I wanna keep using my airflow ram cooler I would have to move my gpu down to one of the two other PCI-e slots. My board is a Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3 it says that it runs 1 slot at 16xand the others at 8 and 4. Also if I run 2 gpu's they'll run at 2 x8. Now what I'm wondering is if I put the card in the middle x8 slot will it hurt the performance of my rig? or since it's just 1 gpu will it continue to run at 16x? I really didn't want to get rid of the airflow but if it comes to that or losing performance the airflow goes.







Anyways any help with this question will be more than greatly apreciated as I'm trying to get my rig back online today because we're having a party for my son at my house tomorrow and won't be able to work on it again till some trime this week.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Hey guys I need some tech help asap please. If anyone is on that knows the answer to my questionI would really apreciate the help. I got my backplate from Dwood yesterday. I got it all painted and ready to go. Now my problem is when I put the card in my rig it's a tight fit now ecause of the backplate but it fits. Now if I wanna keep using my airflow ram cooler I would have to move my gpu down to one of the two other PCI-e slots. My board is a Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3 it says that it runs 1 slot at 16xand the others at 8 and 4. Also if I run 2 gpu's they'll run at 2 x8. Now what I'm wondering is if I put the card in the middle x8 slot will it hurt the performance of my rig? or since it's just 1 gpu will it continue to run at 16x? I really didn't want to get rid of the airflow but if it comes to that or losing performance the airflow goes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyways any help with this question will be more than greatly apreciated as I'm trying to get my rig back online today because we're having a party for my son at my house tomorrow and won't be able to work on it again till some trime this week.


Not sure if it will run in 16x or 8x but most likely 8x but you can check by running Gpu-z.One thing I can tell you for sure is the difference from 16x to 8x is so small you won't notice it anywhere but in a benchmark score and even then it will be very tiny.My board runs two cards at 16x but im using a third for physx and tv-out so there at 8x and there is no difference but the added heat of another card.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Not sure if it will run in 16x or 8x but most likely 8x but you can check by running Gpu-z.One thing I can tell you for sure is the difference from 16x to 8x is so small you won't notice it anywhere but in a benchmark score and even then it will be very tiny.My board runs two cards at 16x but im using a third for physx and tv-out so there at 8x and there is no difference but the added heat of another card.


Hey Smoke420 are you running 2 AMD cards with a third nvidia card for physix? How does that work for you? I always wanted to try that out.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Hey Smoke420 are you running 2 AMD cards with a third nvidia card for physix? How does that work for you? I always wanted to try that out.


Ya I have two 6850's in crossfire and im using my old 9600gso for a tv card and I figured since its in there I may as well run the physx mod.But to your question the physx mod adds a little system instability so you may have to lower your cpu overclock not everyone does(I didn't) but physx is just about useless.I had a gtx260 for physx and sold it.I would not buy a card for physx but if you have one lying around go for it.


----------



## smoke420

double post


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Ya I have two 6850's in crossfire and im using my old 9600gso for a tv card and I figured since its in there I may as well run the physx mod.But to your question the physx mod adds a little system instability so you may have to lower your cpu overclock not everyone does(I didn't) but physx is just about useless.I had a gtx260 for physx and sold it.I would not buy a card for physx but if you have one lying around go for it.


I have a 9800gt and a GTX 260 Core 216 lying around doing nothing at the moment. I've been thinking about the physx mod for alil while but not sure if I want to do it or not. I've had a 50/50 advice rate on it. Half so go for it the other half say it's pointless.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> I have a 9800gt and a GTX 260 Core 216 lying around doing nothing at the moment. I've been thinking about the physx mod for alil while but not sure if I want to do it or not. I've had a 50/50 advice rate on it. Half so go for it the other half say it's pointless.


Im using my 9600gso for its s-video out for an old tv but figured since it was there why not use it for physx.Truthfully there aren't that many games that take advantage of it and your not missing much if you don't have it in a game that does.Physx is just a gimmick to boost nvidia sales but if you have one why not see for yourself if you don't mind the extra heat and power use.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> I have a 9800gt and a GTX 260 Core 216 lying around doing nothing at the moment. I've been thinking about the physx mod for alil while but not sure if I want to do it or not. I've had a 50/50 advice rate on it. Half so go for it the other half say it's pointless.


I HAD this, was nice to say "I have Hybrid physX" but was pointless, my PC was louder (the 9800GT had a crap cooler). It made my 6870 temps go up by about 5c for idle and 10c for load, my whole case temp rose (it was far worse then 2x 6850's)

I came accross a couple of driver problems where it thought I had a 9800GT as primary, that and I only have a singular benchmark that saw gain from the PhysX card, (I don't have Mafia II or anything). I might end up getting it one day. I'd need to get hold of a 9800GT again. (I can for $30).

All that and it added extra PSU usage and more power (quite a bit actually)

EDIT: All that aside.. You do get serious rep for it, and it's cool though!


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> I HAD this, was nice to say "I have Hybrid physX" but was pointless, my PC was louder (the 9800GT had a crap cooler). It made my 6870 temps go up by about 5c for idle and 10c for load, my whole case temp rose (it was far worse then 2x 6850's)
> I came accross a couple of driver problems where it thought I had a 9800GT as primary, that and I only have a singular benchmark that saw gain from the PhysX card, (I don't have Mafia II or anything). I might end up getting it one day. I'd need to get hold of a 9800GT again. (I can for $30).
> All that and it added extra PSU usage and more power (quite a bit actually)
> EDIT: All that aside.. You do get serious rep for it, and it's cool though!


Yeah that's kinda what I was thinking


----------



## GunMetal

New member









Sapphire HD 6850


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> New member
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sapphire HD 6850
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Isi t just me or does that thing look really small compared to a 6870?


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Isi t just me or does that thing look really small compared to a 6870?


Yes, 6870 is longer


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> Yes, 6870 is longer


The 6870 hawk next to a 6850 Cyclone is alot more sizeable difference! It looks tiny! haha


----------



## smoke420

when they first came out the 6850's were on the same pcb's as the 6870's.so the older 6850's like mine are the same size as the 6870's.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> New member
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sapphire HD 6850
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


I have one and is quite pleased with it. Let us know how it overclocks... if you're doing so.


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I have one and is quite pleased with it. Let us know how it overclocks... if you're doing so.



This is as far as I can go, not much. I'm planning to sell it and upgrade to Sapphire HD 7850


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> 
> This is as far as I can go, not much. I'm planning to sell it and upgrade to Sapphire HD 7850


Thats not bad for stock voltage.can you add voltage on that card?


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Thats not bad for stock voltage.can you add voltage on that card?


Yep, but I'm not at it (never done it). Is it worth it?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> Yep, but I'm not at it (never done it). Is it worth it?


Anyone else here got 2x 6850/6870 with a PhysX card?









I'm considering it, with a 9800GTX+ (look at sig). It's only 512mb but it's like new and it's reference i think. Galaxy i think. I could probably pick it up for $30 or so, I might even be able to get both for $50 or something.. HTPC maybe? I dunno, he said one was dropped about 1m onto a car floor.. So it might be alright still.


----------



## macarule

Why not get the one that wasnt dropped?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Why not get the one that wasnt dropped?


Well I'll have a look at both before i buy them and see what my temps are like









I'll test them both for him, and I'll grab both if they're both physically and mentally okay. Otherwise i'll get the damaged one for free!


----------



## macarule

can always send me one if you get both









Just an Idea...


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> can always send me one if you get both
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just an Idea...


Yeah, I might end up selling one.. I dunno, i'd love to have a spare!







Then again I'll have four GPU's in my PC so i'll always have a spare








If you're seriously interested though.. where do you reside?

Also i have no idea if they're 1GB or 512mb









EDIT: You're in Aus, message me where abouts.. I'm interested


----------



## macarule

Check ya PM's









Anyone know where to get cheap thermal pads for the memory? i removed mine and then i have to put the stock heatsink on for crossfire, i managed to get most of them back on but some are a bit ripped etc


----------



## von rottes

I don't think I've posted these before



1.175v here I was used to my 6770 that was at 1.125v


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> I don't think I've posted these before
> 
> 
> 1.175v here I was used to my 6770 that was at 1.125v


This is a 6850 right?


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> This is a 6850 right?


Nah, 6870


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> Yep, but I'm not at it (never done it). Is it worth it?


yes definitely worth it if your temps are ok.with low temps and a little voltage you should be able to get it to 1ghz.


----------



## GunMetal

I don't know why but my 6850 stops giving signal to the monitor when I go past 1200 voltage, my system is running though then I have to force restart.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> I don't know why but my 6850 stops giving signal to the monitor when I go past 1200 voltage, my system is running though then I have to force restart.


What are your temps like?
Also check vrm temps with gpu-z.


----------



## chino1974

Guys I have a reference XFX hd6870. I'm running CCC 12.3 Is there any other program I can use that will let me overclock the voltage also? I can only up the core and memory with CCC and I know I can get lots more if I uped the voltage alil because even when I'm pushing it hard now the temps stay nice and cool. Well not cool but for what it is not bad should I say. Better than the 4870 X2 it replaced. That thing was like a space heater!!!


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Thats not bad for stock voltage.can you add voltage on that card?


Wow that's pretty good at stock actually. Mine would only get to about 920 at stock. I'm now folding on it at 1030 with 1.295v. (Though it's taking a break during chimp challenge).


----------



## amdzack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Guys I have a reference XFX hd6870. I'm running CCC 12.3 Is there any other program I can use that will let me overclock the voltage also? I can only up the core and memory with CCC and I know I can get lots more if I uped the voltage alil because even when I'm pushing it hard now the temps stay nice and cool. Well not cool but for what it is not bad should I say. Better than the 4870 X2 it replaced. That thing was like a space heater!!!


you can try Msi AfterBurner or Sapphire Trixx


----------



## GunMetal

I just found Battlefield 3 for 50%off at Origin right now, I'm originally planning to upgrade from 6850 to 7850 but do you guys think my current 6850 can handle BF3 in the meantime if I buy the game first? I'm gaming at 1080p, 2GB ram, Phenom II X4 B50 (I'm dirt cheap







)


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> I just found Battlefield 3 for 50%off at Origin right now, I'm originally planning to upgrade from 6850 to 7850 but do you guys think my current 6850 can handle BF3 in the meantime if I buy the game first? I'm gaming at 1080p, 2GB ram, Phenom II X4 B50 (I'm dirt cheap
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> )


yeah but i recommend more ram before a 7850


----------



## Krusher33

I play BF3 fine on a 6850.


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> yeah but i recommend more ram before a 7850


Yeah, 4GB minimum right? But one thread says that it'll run okay with just 2GB
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I play BF3 fine on a 6850.


Nice to know, what is your settings?

I can max BFBC2 with my 6850 except for a 2xAA for 40fps in MP.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> Yeah, 4GB minimum right? But one thread says that it'll run okay with just 2GB
> Nice to know, what is your settings?
> I can max BFBC2 with my 6850 except for a 2xAA for 40fps in MP.


I'm too lazy and tend to use auto and it runs all High settings for 60+ fps. But that's on a 1440x900 monitor.


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> yeah but i recommend more ram before a 7850


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I'm too lazy and tend to use auto and it runs all High settings for 60+ fps. But that's on a 1440x900 monitor.


That seems to be a Medium on 1080p, my guess.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> That seems to be a Medium on 1080p, my guess.


My sapphire 6850 can game at high settings if you lower the HBAO to SSAO and the anti aliasing gimmicks in bf3. They do nothing and take all the frames out.
You need more ram, take a walk at the bf3 thread. even people with 4gb of ram have ram problems in this game.
The least of your problems in BF3 will be the gpu.


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> My sapphire 6850 can game at high settings if you lower the HBAO to SSAO and the anti aliasing gimmicks in bf3. They do nothing and take all the frames out.
> You need more ram, take a walk at the bf3 thread. even people with 4gb of ram have ram problems in this game.
> The least of your problems in BF3 will be the gpu.


That's interesting, I may reroute my upgrade path because of this. Thanks a lot


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> yeah but i recommend more ram before a 7850


Up the ram alil and you'll be fine for now. I'm running a i5 2500k with a 6870 and 16 gigs (I know overkill was just so cheap at the moment I couldn't help myself







) But with my 6870 I play on a 23" 1080 monitor everything on ultra just fine no lag very decent frames.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> My sapphire 6850 can game at high settings if you lower the HBAO to SSAO and the anti aliasing gimmicks in bf3. They do nothing and take all the frames out.
> You need more ram, take a walk at the bf3 thread. even people with 4gb of ram have ram problems in this game.
> The least of your problems in BF3 will be the gpu.


My 6870 almost maxed BF3.. So i assume a 6850 will do the same. There was one or two maps that ran terrible.. But this is when i had a E8500!


----------



## GunMetal

Yeah, thanks a lot guys. RAM first


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> My 6870 almost maxed BF3.. So i assume a 6850 will do the same. There was one or two maps that ran terrible.. But this is when i had a E8500!


Uh I see you upgraded matt, hows the new i5 going?
You already started trying to OC it?
Seeing more better gpu performance?


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Uh I see you upgraded matt, hows the new i5 going?
> You already started trying to OC it?
> Seeing more better gpu performance?


I put it all together last night! The highest stable OC so far is @ 4.3GHz on stock voltage.. a multiplier of 44 makes it not boot








Fair to say i already have found and used the CLR_CMOS jumper a few times so far..









Temps don't pass 60c at the moment either!

EDIT: I'm about to test BF3.. My graphics card drivers are playing up right now


----------



## kleung21

May 2012, AMD Catalyst 12.4 drivers, MSI Z77a-gd65 + i3570k processor
Multi-Monitor - single vs. multiple video cards.
This has been discussed in other forum posts but it hasn't really received a lot of attention.

When using a dedicated graphics card in multi-monitor mode; it will draw significantly more power than using 2 video cards with only 1 monitor attached. This is true for AMD & Nvidia solutions. What happens is that when 2+ monitors are being driven by one card; it is running the gpu at a higher frequency and running the memory at FULL speed.

In my case, I have a Asus Radeon HD 6850 / 1gb DDR5 memory.

Radeon => 2 monitors (1920x1200 + 1280x1024)
At idle => GPU 300 mhz / RAM 1100 Mhz (overclocked).

Radeon => 1 monitor (1920x1200)
At idle => GPU 100 mhz/ Ram 150 Mhz

Radeon => monitor 1 (1920x1200) + Ivybridge integrated Graphics => monitor 2 (1280x1024)
At idle => GPU 100mhz/Ram 150 mhz.

Since the discrete graphics draws a lot more power than integrated; you can see a 25+ watt decrease in power usage. This has been documented in other forums as I said but I've never heard of it until now!
It has to do with the way the driver's run to prevent multi-monitor vsync tearing/artifacts and AMD/Nvidia's solution is just to keep the graphics cards at full speed.

You'll find that this is less of a problem for low speed cards (ie: radeon 5450 hardly makes a difference since it's the ram that seems to remain significantly powered a full speed in idle).

I first noted this as a problem as I'm trying to drop case temperatures and noted that the video cooler was hot to the touch at idle!

So&#8230; If you have a sandybridge/ivybridge core with IGP. You now have a reason to use both. I don't bother using Virtu MVP technology as I find that is still buggy at this time. Instead, I have IGP graphics turned on in bios and have 1 monitored plugged into my ATI card and another one to the IGP via my motherboard.

References
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=173710

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2066336


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Uh I see you upgraded matt, hows the new i5 going?
> You already started trying to OC it?
> Seeing more better gpu performance?
> 
> 
> 
> I put it all together last night! The highest stable OC so far is @ 4.3GHz on stock voltage.. a multiplier of 44 makes it not boot
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fair to say i already have found and used the CLR_CMOS jumper a few times so far..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Temps don't pass 60c at the moment either!
> 
> EDIT: I'm about to test BF3.. My graphics card drivers are playing up right now
Click to expand...

Nice system, I'm looking forward getting a bran new Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H either.








You will definitely get to at least 4.5 Ghz soon.
Here's your new 3d (Gigabyte Z77):









http://www.overclock.net/t/1239993/official-gigabyte-z77x-owners-discussion-information-support-thread-and-club-ud5h-ud3h-d3h-and-all


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Nice system, I'm looking forward getting a bran new Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will definitely get to at least 4.5 Ghz soon.
> Here's your new 3d (Gigabyte Z77):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1239993/official-gigabyte-z77x-owners-discussion-information-support-thread-and-club-ud5h-ud3h-d3h-and-all


Funny you should mention my board.. I got 4.3GHz last night on stock voltage, now tonight I was playing COW WAW Zombies and it crashed. So i ran IBT and it crashed.. I ran IBT with a multi of 40 and it's fine now..

The whole UEFI bios confuses me... Well i get the multiplier bit, but the voltage section confuses me. I don't understand what sort of voltage if safe to apply either.. Intel state 1.52 which I know is way too much and WILL kill my board + CPU.

Eh well, i'll look at it when i have time.. 4GHz is fine for now... Not really a bottleneck anymore!


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kleung21*
> 
> *snip*
> Radeon => 2 monitors (1920x1200 + 1280x1024)
> *At idle => GPU 300 mhz / RAM 1100 Mhz (overclocked).*
> Radeon => 1 monitor (1920x1200)
> *At idle => GPU 100 mhz/ Ram 150 Mhz*
> Radeon => monitor 1 (1920x1200) + Ivybridge integrated Graphics => monitor 2 (1280x1024)
> *At idle => GPU 100mhz/Ram 150 mhz.*
> *snip*


I don't get this idle clocks thingy... I have NEVER seen mine drop down. Is it because I use Afterburner and it pretty keeps the clocks that I'm overclocked at?


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *kleung21*
> 
> *snip*
> Radeon => 2 monitors (1920x1200 + 1280x1024)
> *At idle => GPU 300 mhz / RAM 1100 Mhz (overclocked).*
> Radeon => 1 monitor (1920x1200)
> *At idle => GPU 100 mhz/ Ram 150 Mhz*
> Radeon => monitor 1 (1920x1200) + Ivybridge integrated Graphics => monitor 2 (1280x1024)
> *At idle => GPU 100mhz/Ram 150 mhz.*
> *snip*
> 
> 
> 
> I don't get this idle clocks thingy... I have NEVER seen mine drop down. Is it because I use Afterburner and it pretty keeps the clocks that I'm overclocked at?
Click to expand...

That could be it, I use CCC to overclock mine straight to 1000 MHz core and it stays pegged at 1000 MHz while folding. As soon as I pause folding though, it will drop down to 300 MHz.


----------



## ihatelolcats

i use afterburner and it downclocks


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i use afterburner and it downclocks


This


----------



## axipher

What programs do you have open? It could be some program that has GPU acceleration that is using just enough GPU to keep your clocks in 3D mode.


----------



## smoke420

If your using Msi afterburner and it doesn't downclock try this if you haven't
1.make a profile with stock 3d clocks and voltage for me its 790/1000 v1.149(or just hit reset) .
2.Go to settings in Msi afterburner and set that profile as 2d.
3.make a profile with your overclock for me 1000/1100 v1.237
4.Go to settings in Msi afterburner and set that profile as 3d.
If done right it should look like this and downclock fine .

There are some programs that still make you needlessly stay in 3d mode.That also has an easy fix.so if this doesn't work give this a read.
http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/5380#post_17142961


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> What programs do you have open? It could be some program that has GPU acceleration that is using just enough GPU to keep your clocks in 3D mode.


If that's the case... wouldn't I show some sort of usage in the graphs?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> If your using Msi afterburner and it doesn't downclock try this if you haven't
> 1.make a profile with stock 3d clocks and voltage for me its 790/1000 v1.149(or just hit reset) .
> 2.Go to settings in Msi afterburner and set that profile as 2d.
> 3.make a profile with your overclock for me 1000/1100 v1.237
> 4.Go to settings in Msi afterburner and set that profile as 3d.
> If done right it should look like this and downclock fine .
> 
> There are some programs that still make you needlessly stay in 3d mode.That also has an easy fix.so if this doesn't work give this a read.
> http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/5380#post_17142961


I will have to give this a read.

I didn't realize it was a issue though? But now that we know... maybe it'll improve my folding once the Team Comp starts again.

Edit: ... Ok I'm an idiot. I have never noticed it downclocked before. It was at 100 mhz while on idle. Jumped to 1030 just to open this page though... I thought that was just silly.


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Edit: ... Ok I'm an idiot. I have never noticed it downclocked before. It was at 100 mhz while on idle. Jumped to 1030 just to open this page though... I thought that was just silly.


GPU accelerated rendering.


----------



## duhjuh

hey i own 2x gigabyte windforce 6870s but im looking to trade them for reference cards so i can liquid cool anyone interested?

unless im horribly mistaken my card will not except a waterblock


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *duhjuh*
> 
> hey i own 2x gigabyte windforce 6870s but im looking to trade them for reference cards so i can liquid cool anyone interested?
> unless im horribly mistaken my card will not except a waterblock


I have one reference 6870 to trade if you want. It's an XFX 6870 pm me if your interested.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *duhjuh*
> 
> hey i own 2x gigabyte windforce 6870s but im looking to trade them for reference cards so i can liquid cool anyone interested?
> unless im horribly mistaken my card will not except a waterblock


You can use generic waterblocks.. These, should fit. Then you just need to get coolers for the vRAM etc.
It's a cheaper way out.. You can also compare your PCB to see if it might just fit.. Depends how much different it is!

You'd be better off selling your cards though, and getting a singular better card then watercooling that!









By the way guys i can max BF3 at 70+ FPS now!









That's stock GFX cards, and an i5 3570k at 4.6GHz!







Now i just need more ram, 'cause it does lag a bit at times, heh i've got the cash for 16GB


----------



## duhjuh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> You can use generic waterblocks.. These, should fit. Then you just need to get coolers for the vRAM etc.
> It's a cheaper way out.. You can also compare your PCB to see if it might just fit.. Depends how much different it is!
> You'd be better off selling your cards though, and getting a singular better card then watercooling that!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> By the way guys i can max BF3 at 70+ FPS now!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's stock GFX cards, and an i5 3570k at 4.6GHz!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now i just need more ram, 'cause it does lag a bit at times, heh i've got the cash for 16GB


lol trying to avoid that and im about 80% sure the reference blocks wont fit
ive gone that route in the past but its just not elegant ... lol trying to move away from ghetto modding as much as i love it


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *duhjuh*
> 
> lol trying to avoid that and im about 80% sure the reference blocks wont fit
> ive gone that route in the past but its just not elegant ... lol trying to move away from ghetto modding as much as i love it


Fair enough, I know what you mean though.. It looks alot nicer with full cover blocks!
As far as i know they never made 6850/6870 blocks? I've only seen 6950 and 6970 blocks.. Well I checked local (Australia) - Nothing.. And I also checked EK's site. Nothing.


----------



## duhjuh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Fair enough, I know what you mean though.. It looks alot nicer with full cover blocks!
> As far as i know they never made 6850/6870 blocks? I've only seen 6950 and 6970 blocks.. Well I checked local (Australia) - Nothing.. And I also checked EK's site. Nothing.


lol i think you need to try frozen cpu.com


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *duhjuh*
> 
> lol i think you need to try frozen cpu.com


Australian, it'd cost a lot for shipping! (if they did)


----------



## Krusher33

Reference or not, I am NOT giving up my 6850 after hearing so many people not able to adjust voltage on theirs.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *duhjuh*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> You can use generic waterblocks.. These, should fit. Then you just need to get coolers for the vRAM etc.
> It's a cheaper way out.. You can also compare your PCB to see if it might just fit.. Depends how much different it is!
> You'd be better off selling your cards though, and getting a singular better card then watercooling that!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> By the way guys i can max BF3 at 70+ FPS now!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's stock GFX cards, and an i5 3570k at 4.6GHz!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now i just need more ram, 'cause it does lag a bit at times, heh i've got the cash for 16GB
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lol trying to avoid that and im about 80% sure the reference blocks wont fit
> ive gone that route in the past but its just not elegant ... lol trying to move away from ghetto modding as much as i love it
Click to expand...

Those Gigabyte's are good cards and you can find an elegant solution like this:


----------



## duhjuh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Those Gigabyte's are good cards and you can find an elegant solution like this:


if anyone had any in stock and i could a way to cool the memory on my cards then maybe


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *duhjuh*
> 
> if anyone had any in stock and i could a way to cool the memory on my cards then maybe


You'd use heatsyncs on them!


----------



## duhjuh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> You'd use heatsyncs on them!


lol ive had problems with those heatsinks in the past had one fall off and fall onto the components below thank god it was just a soundcard


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *duhjuh*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> You'd use heatsyncs on them!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lol ive had problems with those heatsinks in the past had one fall off and fall onto the components below thank god it was just a soundcard
Click to expand...

Everybody use heatsinks when swapping to aftermarket coolers. If they're good quality heatsinks, thermal glue or adhesive pads included they simply don't fall off.
Furthermore you won't have to replace anything for the VRM cooling since the Gigabyte 6870 OC already uses an independent one you and can keep it.


----------



## duhjuh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Everybody use heatsinks when swapping to aftermarket coolers. If they're good quality heatsinks, thermal glue or adhesive pads included they simply don't fall off.
> Furthermore you won't have to replace anything for the VRM cooling since the Gigabyte 6870 OC already uses an independent one you and can keep it.


this is true....
ive just never had faith in those sinks since...i might do it..if i find someone who can trade me a 79** fro my gpus ill do it other wise ill just generically sink them


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Everybody use heatsinks when swapping to aftermarket coolers. If they're good quality heatsinks, thermal glue or adhesive pads included they simply don't fall off.
> Furthermore you won't have to replace anything for the VRM cooling since the Gigabyte 6870 OC already uses an independent one you and can keep it.


Even the Sapphire 6870 has a heatsink for the VRM








separate from the actual cooler


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *duhjuh*
> 
> this is true....
> ive just never had faith in those sinks since...i might do it..if i find someone who can trade me a 79** fro my gpus ill do it other wise ill just generically sink them


You'd get a 7850 for your cards, or maybe a 7870. But not a 7950 unless you put in cash!









This is my next upgrade, selling 2x 6850's on ebay for $120 AUD each (Hopefully). Then putting that into a 7870 when their prices drop!


----------



## duhjuh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> You'd get a 7850 for your cards, or maybe a 7870. But not a 7950 unless you put in cash!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is my next upgrade, selling 2x 6850's on ebay for $120 AUD each (Hopefully). Then putting that into a 7870 when their prices drop!


of course with cash


----------



## Majorhi

In


----------



## macarule

Got my second 6870 IceQ took me a while to track one down


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Got my second 6870 IceQ took me a while to track one down


Now you're gonna get some cooling issue for the top one. You'll have to improve your case air cooling.


----------



## macarule

Ahhwell i can deal with a bit of heat, it gets to about 88C i can live with that







eventually they will go under water


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macarule*
> 
> Ahhwell i can deal with a bit of heat, it gets to about 88C i can live with that
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> eventually they will go under water


Just put them under water you'll be all set.







How do they run? What type of numbers are you getting performance wise? I want to do crossfire 6870 really bad. Just not sure if it would be worth it.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Just put them under water you'll be all set.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How do they run? What type of numbers are you getting performance wise? I want to do crossfire 6870 really bad. Just not sure if it would be worth it.


If you can deal with the heat and noise of the fans its definitely worth it.Crossfire scaling is amazing and with that cpu bottlenecks shouldn't be an issue either .


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> If you can deal with the heat and noise of the fans its definitely worth it.Crossfire scaling is amazing and with that cpu bottlenecks shouldn't be an issue either .


I have a 6850 I was going to temporarily use for crossfire. But I ended up opting out of it when I was told that my 6870 would end up running at the same levels as my 6850 in crossfire. Plus I want to put water blocks on both of them and add them to my loop. Not sure if I was going to use full blocks or just universal one with heatinks. Depends on the prices once I'm ready to do it. I might just add the 6850 for now. And just keep looking till I can get a decent priced 6870 to match mine then put them both under water. I'll tell you one thing though. I love building rigs. I've been doing it for along time. Ever since the pentium pro days. The one thing that slows me down on the building and I'm sure is the same with alot other other people is the money. If I had alil more extra spending cash I'd do it right right from the begining and call it a day till I am ready for my next rig. Which usually is about every 6 months. Thanks for the info though buddy.


----------



## Dhalgren65

Arrow0309-
I had IceQTurbo 6850's in crossfire for almost 6 mos-I LOVE THEM!
I swapped for 6870's under water,but may consider backslide to HIS cards if XFX's smoke...
I hope you enjoy the 6870 flavor!
I suggest an add'l fan in front of cards(back of HDD rack) OR a PULLER fan outside case(ghetto/velcro/wWE)
A side fan blowing directly on cards might also helpful.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dhalgren65*
> 
> Arrow0309-
> I had IceQTurbo 6850's in crossfire for almost 6 mos-I LOVE THEM!
> I swapped for 6870's under water,but may consider backslide to HIS cards if XFX's smoke...
> I hope you enjoy the 6870 flavor!
> I suggest an add'l fan in front of cards(back of HDD rack) OR a PULLER fan outside case(ghetto/velcro/wWE)
> A side fan blowing directly on cards might also helpful.


Once I get my hands on another 6870 I'll be putting water blocks on them. As for fans I have 2-120's in the front blowing intake through a 120 radiator,1-120 rear for exhaust,2-top exhaust through a 240 radiator. So I hope that will be enough. If it's not I'll fabricate a bracket somehow to blow across the gpu's or I can have Dwood make me a backplate for the second card with a fan mount added to it since I already have one of his backplates on my 6870. He is awesome at what he does.


----------



## macarule

heres my results







It says im only using 1 GPU though



















VS


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Dhalgren65*
> 
> Arrow0309-
> I had IceQTurbo 6850's in crossfire for almost 6 mos-I LOVE THEM!
> I swapped for 6870's under water,but may consider backslide to HIS cards if XFX's smoke...
> I hope you enjoy the 6870 flavor!
> I suggest an add'l fan in front of cards(back of HDD rack) OR a PULLER fan outside case(ghetto/velcro/wWE)
> A side fan blowing directly on cards might also helpful.
> 
> 
> 
> Once I get my hands on another 6870 I'll be putting water blocks on them. As for fans I have 2-120's in the front blowing intake through a 120 radiator,1-120 rear for exhaust,2-top exhaust through a 240 radiator. So I hope that will be enough. If it's not I'll fabricate a bracket somehow to blow across the gpu's or I can have Dwood make me a backplate for the second card with a fan mount added to it since I already have one of his backplates on my 6870. He is awesome at what he does.
Click to expand...

Used to have all of these fans + a bottom fan and a positive pressure case.
Now I'm waiting for my 6870Hawk to return (from the rma).


----------



## Orc Warlord

What sort of FPS do you guys get in these games @ 1920x1080?

Skyrim
BF3

I have a single 6870 (HIS reference) but I can't run Skyrim on Ultra. I play it on High with 4x/4x and get 50+ fps.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Orc Warlord*
> 
> What sort of FPS do you guys get in these games @ 1920x1080?
> Skyrim
> BF3
> I have a single 6870 (HIS reference) but I can't run Skyrim on Ultra. I play it on High with 4x/4x and get 50+ fps.


Skyrim just ran pretty poorly on 6xxx line. For instance, the 7770 which normally runs a touch slower than the 6850 is 75% faster in Skyrim. Sauce. My old 6850 would run about 40-50 on high and drop down to 20-30 in "those spots". My new 7850 flies like a dream through the game.


----------



## mikailmohammed

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Orc Warlord*
> 
> What sort of FPS do you guys get in these games @ 1920x1080?
> Skyrim
> BF3
> I have a single 6870 (HIS reference) but I can't run Skyrim on Ultra. I play it on High with 4x/4x and get 50+ fps.


i have twin frozr II card. At stock you can play bf3 smoothly at high settings with no AA. You are lucking if you are getting 50+fps. My processor needs to change. I have a amd phenom II x4 3.6ghz.

I have an intel i5 3570k but need to buy a mobo for it.


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> I have a 6850 I was going to temporarily use for crossfire. But I ended up opting out of it when I was told that my 6870 would end up running at the same levels as my 6850 in crossfire. Plus I want to put water blocks on both of them and add them to my loop. Not sure if I was going to use full blocks or just universal one with heatinks. Depends on the prices once I'm ready to do it. I might just add the 6850 for now. And just keep looking till I can get a decent priced 6870 to match mine then put them both under water. I'll tell you one thing though. I love building rigs. I've been doing it for along time. Ever since the pentium pro days. The one thing that slows me down on the building and I'm sure is the same with alot other other people is the money. If I had alil more extra spending cash I'd do it right right from the begining and call it a day till I am ready for my next rig. Which usually is about every 6 months. Thanks for the info though buddy.


Why not use it? 2x6850 is good than single 6870.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> Why not use it? 2x6850 is good than single 6870.


^could not agree more.
@chino1974.even if the 6870 runs at 6850 levels when paired with one(not sure about that) you can easily run the 6850 at the same clocks as the 6870.and two overclocked 6850's will kill a single 6870 even overclocked.Plus if you use the 6870 as your main card you won't have a performance drop in the few games that don't support crossfire.I know even at the same clocks the 6850 can't keep up with the 6870 but its still best to run them at the same clocks.In most situations the 6850's overclock better so it should be able to at least match the overclock of your 6870. Personally I don't know how you resisted I would have put it in there just to have a reason to poke around my rig.for example at one point i had both my 6850's a gtx260 for physx and a 9600gso for a tv card just cause i could.any reason to open this thing up.I even take everything apart down to the motherboard once a month and clean just to keep the dust down.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> ^could not agree more.
> @chino1974.even if the 6870 runs at 6850 levels when paired with one(not sure about that) you can easily run the 6850 at the same clocks as the 6870.and two overclocked 6850's will kill a single 6870 even overclocked.Plus if you use the 6870 as your main card you won't have a performance drop in the few games that don't support crossfire.I know even at the same clocks the 6850 can't keep up with the 6870 but its still best to run them at the same clocks.In most situations the 6850's overclock better so it should be able to at least match the overclock of your 6870. Personally I don't know how you resisted I would have put it in there just to have a reason to poke around my rig.for example at one point i had both my 6850's a gtx260 for physx and a 9600gso for a tv card just cause i could.any reason to open this thing up.I even take everything apart down to the motherboard once a month and clean just to keep the dust down.


He was misinformed.
6850 crossfired with 6870 will make both run at their own levels and speeds, this includes shaders.
Im tired of saying this... Really... I am.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> He was misinformed.
> 6850 crossfired with 6870 will make both run at their own levels and speeds, this includes shaders.
> Im tired of saying this... Really... I am.


I stopped long ago.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> He was misinformed.
> 6850 crossfired with 6870 will make both run at their own levels and speeds, this includes shaders.
> Im tired of saying this... Really... I am.


my point was it doesn't matter in his situation.I cant say either way about the 6870 never owned one.But my point was he is going to get much better performance whether its true or not.two cards is much better than one if it runs smooth.I almost doubled my graphics performance with crossfire and so will he.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> my point was it doesn't matter in his situation.I cant say either way about the 6870 never owned one.But my point was he is going to get much better performance whether its true or not.two cards is much better than one if it runs smooth.I almost doubled my graphics performance with crossfire and so will he.


I agree with you, I wasnt really talking about you sorry for make you think I was cause I quoted you.


----------



## chino1974

I hear what you guys are saying and I also love any excuse to tear into my rig. But I also already bought some backplates for the 6870 and want to put them both under water with my loop and don't really want to buy water blocks for a 6850 to only end up taking it out once I get the 6870. And I just made a deal with someone to trade a spare laptop I have for a Sapphire reference 6870 that looks exactly like mine except for the sticker on the front of cooler that you dont see anyways. I should be getting it this weekend. Then I definitely will be doing the crossfire.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> He was misinformed.
> 6850 crossfired with 6870 will make both run at their own levels and speeds, this includes shaders.
> Im tired of saying this... Really... I am.


I guess I was misinformed I looked up a couple of different articles online about crossfiring 6870's with 6850's. And the messagfe I kept getting was either the 6870 will downclock to 6850 speeds. Which I understand that 2 6850's should be better than 1 6870. But I also read a few reports complaining of alot of stuttering issues when mixing those cards. This was before I started posting on OCN. But I guess from what you guys are saying this isn't true. Doesn't really matter too much in my case now since I was able to get my hands on that second 6870 for this weekend hopefully. I'll post an update once I have them both in and running let you know what the numbers I get are. Thanks for the info guys.


----------



## smoke420

wow extra 6850 just laying around and a spare laptop.I want to be you.lol. any spare parts you can throw my way.lol


----------



## Krusher33

Spares I have are motherboards without chips and chips without motherboards. Plus some really old gpu's. Rage pro anyone?


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> wow extra 6850 just laying around and a spare laptop.I want to be you.lol. any spare parts you can throw my way.lol


Yeah I wish it was like that. I build,fix and sell alot of pc's. So you always end up having a few parts laying around to trade or barter with.







Two words craigslist Lol!! That's where I seem to get the best deal in my area.


----------



## Derko1

Anyone know how much used 6870s are selling for? I didn't see any in the for sales section.









Hopefully if i get more rep soon, I will have 2 x 6870s for sale. They both have twin turbo artic coolers on them. Just bought 7970s that will be replacing them, nothing wrong with the cards.


----------



## BiscuitHead

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Guys I have a reference XFX hd6870. I'm running CCC 12.3 Is there any other program I can use that will let me overclock the voltage also? I can only up the core and memory with CCC and I know I can get lots more if I uped the voltage alil because even when I'm pushing it hard now the temps stay nice and cool. Well not cool but for what it is not bad should I say. Better than the 4870 X2 it replaced. That thing was like a space heater!!!


I think the voltage on the 6870 is locked. Whether its by AMD or XFX, I don't know. I have an XFX 6870 Double D. I can only get it up 940 (up from 900) would be nice to get a full GHz but whatev


----------



## JackoBeans

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> Skyrim just ran pretty poorly on 6xxx line. For instance, the 7770 which normally runs a touch slower than the 6850 is 75% faster in Skyrim. Sauce. My old 6850 would run about 40-50 on high and drop down to 20-30 in "those spots". My new 7850 flies like a dream through the game.


Oh... where were you two weeks ago when I bought a 6850 instead of a 7770 specifically for Skyrim?









I ended up with the Saphire reference version (775/1000) and although I get mid 50s average framerate (1920x1080/ high graphics) I still get major drops in "those areas" as you say.

BTW: My 6850 has serious issues (driver crashes etc) getting past 840 clock/1155memory and anything other than stock volts causes a crash even if I keep it below 55c. Is this typical? everybody else is posting much higher numbers


----------



## JackoBeans

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jakesuellentrop*
> 
> I think the voltage on the 6870 is locked. Whether its by AMD or XFX, I don't know. I have an XFX 6870 Double D. I can only get it up 940 (up from 900) would be nice to get a full GHz but whatev


If it is like my 6850, it is locked in every program EXCEPT sapphire trixx. I can djust in Trixx, but even a slight change causes instability so maybe there is a reason its locked?


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JackoBeans*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> Skyrim just ran pretty poorly on 6xxx line. For instance, the 7770 which normally runs a touch slower than the 6850 is 75% faster in Skyrim. Sauce. My old 6850 would run about 40-50 on high and drop down to 20-30 in "those spots". My new 7850 flies like a dream through the game.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh... where were you two weeks ago when I bought a 6850 instead of a 7770 specifically for Skyrim?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I ended up with the Saphire reference version (775/1000) and although I get mid 50s average framerate (1920x1080/ high graphics) I still get major drops in "those areas" as you say.
> 
> BTW: My 6850 has serious issues (driver crashes etc) getting past 840 clock/1155memory and anything other than stock volts causes a crash even if I keep it below 55c. Is this typical? everybody else is posting much higher numbers
Click to expand...

Back your memory off to stock, you should be able to push a much higher core clock.


----------



## chino1974

That's wierd I can get 960 core with 1150 memory. Anything higher than that will cause artifats and lock ups. That's why I was wondering about the voltage. I tried MSI Afterburner but it's locked there also. I think the card itself has the voltage lock. Oh well 960 Core 1150 Memory is ok. Hopefully the one I'm supposed to be getting this weekend does as good then I'll be all set


----------



## JackoBeans

Thanks- Usually thats how I do it (gpu first, then ram) but I am tweaking several cards on different machines so maybe I reversed it.

Now that I think of it, that really could be it since the ram chips on this 6850 have no heatsink. I will try oc the gpu only and report back. With embarrassment if thats the cause.









Meanwhile, I am curious if other versions of the 6850 have heatsink on the ram or just bare chip like mine?

I have some tiny heatsinks and thermal glue laying about if that will help. Opinions?


----------



## axipher

I can't even get my 6870's memory to 1100 without it making my 1000 core clock unstable. If I keep my memory stock at 1050, I can flirt with 1025 on the core.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> I can't even get my 6870's memory to 1100 without it making my 1000 core clock unstable. If I keep my memory stock at 1050, I can flirt with 1025 on the core.


So you think if I dropped my memory back down to 1050 I should be able to get 1000 on my core? Would that give me better performance having the core at 1000 and the memory at 1050 or would what I have now be better? 650 core 1150 memory?


----------



## Krusher33

1030/1250 here while folding. Though I have sinks on the ram chips and a fan blowing on it.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> I can't even get my 6870's memory to 1100 without it making my 1000 core clock unstable. If I keep my memory stock at 1050, I can flirt with 1025 on the core.
> 
> 
> 
> So you think if I dropped my memory back down to 1050 I should be able to get 1000 on my core? Would that give me better performance having the core at 1000 and the memory at 1050 or would what I have now be better? 650 core 1150 memory?
Click to expand...

Core clocks make much more of a difference on AMD cards, even in folding from my experience.


----------



## Krusher33

Last night I tried adjusting Memory up and down but it dropped PPD. Tonight I'm going to adjust them, leave them be, and see what happens. Something tells me it was dropping due to computer usage or something.


----------



## JackoBeans

So I tried raising the core clocks first as suggested. (6850)

Results: I got higher clocks. 950/ stock volts & memory passed a quick 10 minute OCCT.

However, my performance went waay down and Passmark crashed both times I ran it. I have found this to be true often- OCCT/Kombustor/Furmark will run fine for hours but Passmark sets up errors within 2 minutes beyond a certain OC.

I would think it was a problem with passmark but every time this happens I get the same crash in games as I do in Passmark so I am starting to think their software is just really good at simulating game-like conditions? Also I have tried on two computers with 4 different amd cards & 2 nvidia with same results.

Does anybody else use Passmark? I am now very curious about this as I am only interested in practical overclocking (does not crash in game) and I am now realizing that a lot of the numbers posted are 'OCCT stable' but not really tested in game? Or am I wrong about all this?


----------



## JackoBeans

I guess what I am asking is... could someone else with a 6850 who has it OC'd to above 900 core (OCCT stable) please try to run Passmark and see if it causes errors like driver crash etc?

That would be awesome. Thanks!


----------



## wlw wl

Mine does 1030MHz on air, stable in 3D Mark 11, what exactly do you need?


----------



## JackoBeans

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> Mine does 1030MHz on air, stable in 3D Mark 11, what exactly do you need?


A better GPU apparently.









Mine craps out completely & requires hard boot past 840. It must be the runt of the litter.


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> I guess I was misinformed I looked up a couple of different articles online about crossfiring 6870's with 6850's. And the messagfe I kept getting was either the 6870 will downclock to 6850 speeds. Which I understand that 2 6850's should be better than 1 6870. But I also read a few reports complaining of alot of stuttering issues when mixing those cards. This was before I started posting on OCN. But I guess from what you guys are saying this isn't true. Doesn't really matter too much in my case now since I was able to get my hands on that second 6870 for this weekend hopefully. I'll post an update once I have them both in and running let you know what the numbers I get are. Thanks for the info guys.


Well, since your 6870 is on the way it doesn't matter.

Here what I got from AMD's tweet:


Basically the 6870 will be downclocked to match 6850.


----------



## bmgjet

To run 1ghz you need to have it below 70C to stay stable.
I running 1008mhz on stock voltage on mine at under 40C full load.


----------



## ihatelolcats

12.6 beta drivers http://downloads.guru3d.com/AMD-Catalyst-12.6-8.980.0-May-22-Official-BETA-download-2920.html#download


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> Well, since your 6870 is on the way it doesn't matter.
> Here what I got from AMD's tweet:
> 
> Basically the 6870 will be downclocked to match 6850.


Thats obviously some1 who aint in tech support or doesnt understand their own crossfire scheme lmao








Ask arround in this forum, lots of people will tell you the same. They wont downclock.


----------



## bmgjet

Yes they dont down clock but it will only run the same as 2X 6850 and you are more prone to micro-stuttering since the 6870 has to wait on frames from the 6850.

You better off swaping the 6870 with cash your way for a 6850 like I did. Frame rate stayed the same but game play was a lot smoother
Or selling the 6850 and getting another 6970.


----------



## wlw wl

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JackoBeans*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> Mine does 1030MHz on air, stable in 3D Mark 11, what exactly do you need?
> 
> 
> 
> A better GPU apparently.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mine craps out completely & requires hard boot past 840. It must be the runt of the litter.
Click to expand...

Opps I replied to you but it's not here?









Anyway, mine runs like that:

stock 775MHz @ 1149mV
mild OC 850MHz @ 1175mV for gaming if needed
crazy OC 1030MHz @ 1300mV

Now the mild OC is like nothing for the GPU, so is any mid-900 clock. I've also run multiple passes of 3D Mark 11 at 1030MHz with no problem, the wall is at 1032MHz - not very stable but it passed a couple of times, 1033MHz is a crash fest. But even at 1033 it wasn't hard locking, just the driver and the 3d Mark were crashing, the driver was recovering and it was good to go again








http://hwbot.org/submission/2159780_wlw_wl_3dmark11___performance_radeon_hd_6850_4467_marks

The VRAM however does not overclock basically at all, even with added radiators, perhaps a voltage issue.
The mild OC is like no difference to the card, so is basically anything below 1GHz







I love this crazy overclocker, and this is the old, good, one 6-pin powered version from Sapphire.
And I know that no 6870 would ever OC like that...

Oh and soon I should have an H50 to put on this GPU, then I'll re-write the story


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> Opps I replied to you but it's not here?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, mine runs like that:
> stock 775MHz @ 1149mV
> mild OC 850MHz @ 1175mV for gaming if needed
> crazy OC 1030MHz @ 1300mV
> Now the mild OC is like nothing for the GPU, so is any mid-900 clock. I've also run multiple passes of 3D Mark 11 at 1030MHz with no problem, the wall is at 1032MHz - not very stable but it passed a couple of times, 1033MHz is a crash fest. But even at 1033 it wasn't hard locking, just the driver and the 3d Mark were crashing, the driver was recovering and it was good to go again
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://hwbot.org/submission/2159780_wlw_wl_3dmark11___performance_radeon_hd_6850_4467_marks
> The VRAM however does not overclock basically at all, even with added radiators, perhaps a voltage issue.
> The mild OC is like no difference to the card, so is basically anything below 1GHz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love this crazy overclocker, and this is the old, good, one 6-pin powered version from Sapphire.
> And I know that no 6870 would ever OC like that...
> Oh and soon I should have an H50 to put on this GPU, then I'll re-write the story


Mine's a 6 pin power Sapphire too. Right when it first came out.

So I did some folding tests. Leaving core clock at 1030 for each of these:

Memory was already at 1250. Folding PPD was at ~8160.
Lowered memory down to 1100. After 30 minutes, folding PPD was at ~7930.
Raised memory to 1200. After abount an hour, folding PPD was at ~8060.
Raised memory back to 1250 and right now it's doing 8130.
I don't know if it's because of the frames I was seeing these changes on or what but I'm convinced for myself that memory overclock on GPU's do help.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Yes they dont down clock but it will only run the same as 2X 6850 and you are more prone to micro-stuttering since the 6870 has to wait on frames from the 6850.
> You better off swaping the 6870 with cash your way for a 6850 like I did. Frame rate stayed the same but game play was a lot smoother
> Or selling the 6850 and getting another 6970.


Why would I get rid of the 6870 and grab another 6850. Wouldn't it be better to do the oposite? Get another 6870? Anyways I'll have the extra 6870 this weekend hopefully.


----------



## wlw wl

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Mine's a 6 pin power Sapphire too. Right when it first came out.
> 
> So I did some folding tests. Leaving core clock at 1030 for each of these:
> 
> Memory was already at 1250. Folding PPD was at ~8160.
> Lowered memory down to 1100. After 30 minutes, folding PPD was at ~7930.
> Raised memory to 1200. After abount an hour, folding PPD was at ~8060.
> Raised memory back to 1250 and right now it's doing 8130.
> I don't know if it's because of the frames I was seeing these changes on or what but I'm convinced for myself that memory overclock on GPU's do help.


So it's the same as mine, I bought it around Jan/Feb 2011, but mine gets unstable above 1100 on the memory and the added radiators didn't help, maybe one of the mem chips isn't particularly great.
At least the core is decent


----------



## smoke420

I have to say I think the older cards are better as well.I got both of my asus cards nov 2010.The memory gets unstable above 1100 but the cores both will hit 1Ghz gaming stable(the only thing that counts). memory overclocking helps but its not even close to the difference core overclocking makes.when I got these cards there was nothing even close when it comes to bang for the buck.I would go with something else now.There is no way i would buy one of these cards without voltage control.


----------



## wlw wl

You mean the lack of memory voltage control or that the new revisions have the core voltage tweaking locked?

I know that the Gigabyte 6850 OC edition was a joke and a mistake from the start, faulty mem volt controller and locked core voltage as well...


----------



## Krusher33

It seems like more and more people are not able to unlock the core voltage when they buy new cards. Though I don't know if that's user error or what.


----------



## wlw wl

Uhh "unlock"? Just fire up the Sapphire Trixx (great app!) or Afterburner and that's all unlocking you need... or at least that was the story a year ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they killed the 6850 OC potential because it was making 6870s quite pointless. But then again, 6900s were hardly available...


----------



## Krusher33

Yeah, that was a year ago. And in Afterburner I still have to edit the config file before the voltage unlock option works. I've never tried Trixx.

But yeah... when the new folks failed trying Afterburner, I advised them to try Trixx and then sometimes they say they can't adjust the voltage there either.

I might try Trixx someday though. My card is Sapphire after all... Though I like being able to set up Rainmeter with Afterburner. Not sure that can be done with Trixx?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> I have to say I think the older cards are better as well.I got both of my asus cards nov 2010.The memory gets unstable above 1100 but the cores both will hit 1Ghz gaming stable(the only thing that counts). memory overclocking helps but its not even close to the difference core overclocking makes.when I got these cards there was nothing even close when it comes to bang for the buck.I would go with something else now.There is no way i would buy one of these cards without voltage control.


I agree with you, one of my 6850 was bought on launch day.
I overclocked it up to 1Ghz and stable, it card made getting the 6870 a bad choice...
My 2nd 6850... I finally managed to get it working without BSOD's, managed to get a reading from the voltage and to let me change it but its way more temperature sensitive than my old one...
Plus they cheaped out on the newer revisions using materials with less quality.


----------



## Krusher33

It just goes to show... get your cards EARLY!


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> It just goes to show... get your cards EARLY!


Tell that to the people who bought 570s and 590s early.


----------



## Krusher33

Right. Not too early. I always give it a few months at first. Let it work out some kinks after reviews.


----------



## smoke420

Its all about money they handicapped the 6850's to sell more 7xxx series cards.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> You mean the lack of memory voltage control or that the new revisions have the core voltage tweaking locked?
> I know that the Gigabyte 6850 OC edition was a joke and a mistake from the start, faulty mem volt controller and locked core voltage as well...


I mean not being able to tweak core voltage.
And yes the Gigabyte 6850 OC edition was the biggest joke of them all.great cooling dual fans no voltage control.lol..When i saw them i was pissed because at the time the (supposedly) asus had the best stock cooler, then i found out about no voltage control.I also read Gigabyte was suppose to do there own software to tweak the voltage on them but that never happened. Im glad i didn't fall for the hype.Instead I got aftermarket cooling.

I went with the only direct touch heat pipe cooler I could find.
stock cooler


aftermarket cooler


----------



## wlw wl

The Gigabyte non-OC version has the exact same PCB that Sapphire uses (I compared them myself), such as mine, the only difference (besides two fans) is that the heatsink also covers the memory modules on the Gigabyte's, so Gigabyte non-OC 6850 is a good choice, OC should be avoided at all costs.


----------



## Krusher33

Y'all causing me to lose hope in OC'ing the 7750 I have on the way...









Edit: I should probably mention that it was free.


----------



## JackoBeans

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Y'all causing me to lose hope in OC'ing the 7750 I have on the way...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: I should probably mention that it was free.


Some of the "little" cards that amd puts out overclock extremely well. I get some pretty awesome results from a 6670. (awesome for a 70 dollar card anyway)

By the way, I agree about buying cards early, but not too early. I suspect that 6850s actually met 6870 specs but were downclocked -while the ones on the market now (like mine) are the ones that failed to meet 6870 standards.

I still have the option of trading in my weak 6850 for an 'xfx 7770 black edition super overclock' or try my luck with a different 6850. Too early 7770 vs. too late 6850? Hmmm.


----------



## vonss

Sapphire Radeon HD 6870

My submision.

By the way, at least for this card, MSI Afterburner does not support unlocking the voltage, no matter what config you do, at least the latest versions. Trixxx does allows it however.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> 
> My submision.
> By the way, at least for this card, MSI Afterburner does not support unlocking the voltage, no matter what config you do, at least the latest versions. Trixxx does allows it however.


Sapphire Trixx


----------



## wlw wl

Interrogative: sell the 6850 and get a 7850?
6950 doesn't make sense now, but the 7850 is a bit too expensive IMO.


----------



## chino1974

Hi guys quick question again. What is the lowest wattage psu I can throw a crossfire set-up with 2 6870"s on? I know I need a better psu just want to see if mine will hold out for a few days till I go pick up a better one. And once I buy another one what should I go with for wattage? I don't really want to get a huge wattage psu if not necessary just whatever it'll take to run it fine with no issues.


----------



## ihatelolcats

i use a 750w with absolutely no problems


----------



## chino1974

So I guess it's a definite no on running it with my current psu for a couple of days.


----------



## wlw wl

I'd say 600W minimum but it all depends on the +12V rail wattage really so it's likely that your PSU would handle that.

My whole PC draws less than 300W under load on the primary, that's about 260W on the secondary with one 6850, so I wouldn't be afraid to throw another 150W TDP GPU in there and I'd bet my leg that it would handle three such GPUs easily.


----------



## bmgjet

It all depends on what other componants you have and if you are overclocking.

With no overclock and a low power cpu 550W should be enough.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> It all depends on what other componants you have and if you are overclocking.
> With no overclock and a low power cpu 550W should be enough.[/quote
> 
> Then it's definitely not gonna work with me.Like my sig says. I'm running a 2500k oc'd to 4.8 24/7. Custom water loop with a 600lph pump,240 &120 rads. 2-12" LED Strips,2-12" cold cathodes 5-120mm fans and a Corsair airflow ram cooler. I got a feeling if I hooked them up I'd be lucky if I got an hour gaming session out of it even with the lights off and fans set on low! LOL!


----------



## wlw wl

Neither the LEDs nor the fans draw significant amounts of current. The pump would probably be under 20W as well.

Calculate the TDP of your components or use a socket power mete and you'll see that your PSU is just fine... Trust the calculations or measurements, not feelings or opinions drawn from thin air.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> Calculate the TDP of your components or use a socket power mete and you'll see that your PSU is just fine... Trust the calculations or measurements, not feelings or opinions drawn from thin air.


You sound like a Science professor who's a Star Wars fan.


----------



## Bobmitch

Question for 6850 owners. I just finished building a new system (Asus Sabertooth z77 with 3770K) and am going to rebuild an older system for my son. He works in the music industry and is able to utilize a lot of features on an older Asus P5E motherboard, with 775 processor (Q9450). Here are the system specs:

Asus P5E (PCIe 2.0)
Intel Q9450 @ 2.66 GHZ (quad core)
4 GB DDR2-1066
Antec 650W PSU
WD 1 TB 7200 rpm Caviar Black
Soundblaster Audigy 2

He, primarily will be using a Pro-Fire import board via firewire to record music into the system. My question is with the Antec PSU, can I expect full performance out of the 6850? He does some gaming in his spare time, and I want to get him something that won't be hindered by the age of the system. The computer still runs great. Last video card I used in it was an EVGA GTX 260 / 216, which is now in someone else's system as a Physx card...

Thanks

Bob


----------



## GunMetal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bobmitch*
> 
> He, primarily will be using a Pro-Fire import board via firewire to record music into the system. My question is with the Antec PSU, can I expect full performance out of the 6850? He does some gaming in his spare time, and I want to get him something that won't be hindered by the age of the system. The computer still runs great. Last video card I used in it was an EVGA GTX 260 / 216, which is now in someone else's system as a Physx card...
> Thanks
> Bob


That PSU is more than enough, 600W can even supply 2 6850s in Xfire


----------



## Bobmitch

Thank you! I have a 6850M in my HP Envy 17 and am really impressed with it. Thought of sticking with a successful formula. Most likely my choice for his system.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> Neither the LEDs nor the fans draw significant amounts of current. The pump would probably be under 20W as well.
> Calculate the TDP of your components or use a socket power mete and you'll see that your PSU is just fine... Trust the calculations or measurements, not feelings or opinions drawn from thin air.


So you think that my 550 watt OCZ Fatal1ty psu is enough for 2 6870's in crossfire? My feelings weren't being drawn from thin air. They are gut feelings which I have learned to trust more than anything. Because even meters are man made and anything that has anything to do with man is not perfect







And also from experience of having a 580 watt psu blow up under load of a 4870 x2 card. I know the 4870's drew more power than the 6870. but I'm still a bit cautious when it comes to psu's and expensive equipment. If I could afford I would just buy an 850 or higher. But right now I gotta go with the lowest but safest psu I can get.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bobmitch*
> 
> Question for 6850 owners. I just finished building a new system (Asus Sabertooth z77 with 3770K) and am going to rebuild an older system for my son. He works in the music industry and is able to utilize a lot of features on an older Asus P5E motherboard, with 775 processor (Q9450). Here are the system specs:
> Asus P5E (PCIe 2.0)
> Intel Q9450 @ 2.66 GHZ (quad core)
> 4 GB DDR2-1066
> Antec 650W PSU
> WD 1 TB 7200 rpm Caviar Black
> Soundblaster Audigy 2
> He, primarily will be using a Pro-Fire import board via firewire to record music into the system. My question is with the Antec PSU, can I expect full performance out of the 6850? He does some gaming in his spare time, and I want to get him something that won't be hindered by the age of the system. The computer still runs great. Last video card I used in it was an EVGA GTX 260 / 216, which is now in someone else's system as a Physx card...
> Thanks
> Bob


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> That PSU is more than enough, 600W can even supply 2 6850s in Xfire


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bobmitch*
> 
> Thank you! I have a 6850M in my HP Envy 17 and am really impressed with it. Thought of sticking with a successful formula. Most likely my choice for his system.


Sounds like a good choice for him.

To confirm, mine is a 630W Rosewill Green. I have my CPU overclocked with 1.48v and the 6850 overclocked with 1.3v, plus 2 closed loops with the pumps running full speed and have yet to have issues... power wise.

(I need to get myself a Kill-a-Watt dang it)


----------



## chino1974

Does anyone know what the TDP is for the 6870's?


----------



## wlw wl

The real measured draw of 6870 is somewhere between 140 and 150 Watts (per Guru3D).

Like I said, my system with OCed Phenom II x4, 3 HDDs, 4 fans (2x120 and 2x200mm) and OCed 6850 in top stress (furmark or OCCT) is measured below 300W on the promary, that's merely 260W load on the PSU. I'd say that any decent 500W will handle 6850 CF easily, since you want it to be only a temporary solution, I say go ahead and you'll be fine with 6870 CF since it's only about 30W per card more than 6850. But in the end that's just my opinion.

Besides, most people choose the PSU based on the gut feelings, which has the tendency of choosing way too powerful PSU for a given PC, and happy PSU is a PSU that's properly loaded - underload is as bad as overload, because it impacts the efficiency just the same.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> You sound like a Science professor who's a Star Wars fan.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> The real measured draw of 6870 is somewhere between 140 and 150 Watts (per Guru3D).
> Like I said, my system with OCed Phenom II x4, 3 HDDs, 4 fans (2x120 and 2x200mm) and OCed 6850 in top stress (furmark or OCCT) is measured below 300W on the promary, that's merely 260W load on the PSU. I'd say that any decent 500W will handle 6850 CF easily, since you want it to be only a temporary solution, I say go ahead and you'll be fine with 6870 CF since it's only about 30W per card more than 6850. But in the end that's just my opinion.
> Besides, most people choose the PSU based on the gut feelings, which has the tendency of choosing way too powerful PSU for a given PC, and happy PSU is a PSU that's properly loaded - underload is as bad as overload, because it impacts the efficiency just the same.


Thanks for the info. I guess I'll try the crossfired 6870's with my 550 watt psu see how it goes. I just didn't want something that might damage the rest of my system happen if the psu blew out. Like I said I previously had a Sapphire 4870 x2 card and at first I had it running with a 580 watt psu. It ran ok at first but as soon as I tried gaming on it it blew up. Popping,Sparks,Smoke and Alll!!! Ended up having to buy a new psu and pair of underwear that day. Lol!!! But at the same time I know those 4870 x2 cards were power addicts compared to the 6000 series cards. Even under no load just surfing the web it ran hot enough that you could feel the heat bouncing off the back wall and onto you at the desk. Thanks Again. I'll let you know how it goes.


----------



## wlw wl

You're OCZ PSU is quite decent, it has an OCP so I don't see any "blowing" special effects in your future, young padawan







(blame Krusher33 for this)

I have an OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W (why 600W? b/c I wanted an overhead for a 6850 CF but that didn't happen ultimately), and on top of running my system under load, I did strange things to it, like connecting a dual-turbine air blower taken out of Ford Sierra (up to 20A at 12V I think, because it blew the fuse in my 20A amp meter), that thing was crazy and still my PSU was like "dafuq is this" but nothing else happened, no instability, nothing (while the system was stressed with OCCT). Mind you that it was over 200 Watts and sparking all over the place so the voltage noise it produced must have been monstrous, yet all the PSU did was *pshh* Barnatt style and kept going.

So a mere GPU? Bring it on.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> You're OCZ PSU is quite decent, it has an OCP so I don't see any "blowing" special effects in your future, young padawan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (blame Krusher33 for this)
> I have an OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W (why 600W? b/c I wanted an overhead for a 6850 CF but that didn't happen ultimately), and on top of running my system under load, I did strange things to it, like connecting a dual-turbine air blower taken out of Ford Sierra (up to 20A at 12V I think, because it blew the fuse in my 20A amp meter), that thing was crazy and still my PSU was like "dafuq is this" but nothing else happened, no instability, nothing (while the system was stressed with OCCT). Mind you that it was over 200 Watts and sparking all over the place so the voltage noise it produced must have been monstrous, yet all the PSU did was *pshh* Barnatt style and kept going.
> So a mere GPU? Bring it on.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [/quote)
> 
> Thank you very much sensei
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> '


----------



## chino1974

You guys were right so far I picked up the second 6870 another XFX. And low and behold it's holding pretty good so far no extra heat that can be felt from psu. And 3dmark 11 went from 5994 to 7706 on first run still have oc'ed them don't think I'll need to since I still nly have 1 23" 1080 monitor. Oh and the benchmark on BatMan Arkham City went from and average of about 32 to 59 with all settings a high as possible.







So needless to say so far I'm a happy camper


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> You guys were right so far I picked up the second 6870 another XFX. And low and behold it's holding pretty good so far no extra heat that can be felt from psu. And 3dmark 11 went from 5994 to 7706 on first run still have oc'ed them don't think I'll need to since I still nly have 1 23" 1080 monitor. Oh and the benchmark on BatMan Arkham City went from and average of about 32 to 59 with all settings a high as possible.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So needless to say so far I'm a happy camper


really 6870 cf on a 550watt?


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> really 6870 cf on a 550watt?


Yes sir. I asked around for a few days and everyone said the same thing I would be all set with the 550 till I can afford a better psu. So I went for it today and it's working fine so far. I'll definitely be getting a nice 750 or maybe better when I get a chance but if this one can take it hey why not go for it?


----------



## wlw wl

OCed i5 - 120W
GPUs - 2x 150W

Total - 420W.

Plenty of headroom for the rest of stuff in his PC, which combined will draw well below 100W.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> OCed i5 - 120W
> GPUs - 2x 150W
> Total - 420W.
> Plenty of headroom for the rest of stuff in his PC, which combined will draw well below 100W.


Yeah that's what the kid I usually speak to at Microcenter said also. He told me no need to buy a psu right now if I didn't want to. And you know that's rare cause they're always pushing to try and get you to buy more for their comissions or however it works with the lil name stickers they drop on what you buy. Lol!!!


----------



## chino1974

Thanks A Lot wlw wl definitely earned a REP+ with me


----------



## chino1974

Can anyone tell me which would perform better. 2-6870'S in crossfire or a EVGA SC GTX 570 1280 Mb ? I have the oportunity to get a 570 for pretty cheap money and am wondering if it would be worth it returning the 6870 I bought yesterday and buying the 570 which I can get for less money than what I paid for the 6870. Like that if I did get the 570 I'll have an ectra 6870 that I can either use in the new rig I'm starting to mod or sell it and get some other things. Any help again will be very much apreciated as always.


----------



## wlw wl

I think pure performance-wise they would be close, but CF brings all the CF/SLI issues and you lose half the performance where it's not properly supported. I always opt for a single card solution when performance is close or the same. Not to mention the stuttering and other problems.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wlw wl*
> 
> I think pure performance-wise they would be close, but CF brings all the CF/SLI issues and you lose half the performance where it's not properly supported. I always opt for a single card solution when performance is close or the same. Not to mention the stuttering and other problems.


So you think I would be better off with the 570 then? I trust what you tell me because everything you've told me so far has been good info. And a good young padawan must listen to his master. Right Master wlw wl? Lol!!! No but seriously I apreciate the info you've been giving me the last few days. If there's anything I can do to help you in any way let me know or just pm me.


----------



## 12Cores

Chino, 2 6870's will nuke a 570 in performance. I have 2 6870's running with amd fx-8120 and every game is silky smooth. With your 2500k which is superior processor you will have no issue, in addition you will not have to upgrade for a long time. We are all still stuck in console port H$ll, so if you are playing at 1080p 2 6870's is more than enough. A 570 would be a downgrade with to your current build. I know for a fact that my rig will destroy all the console ports coming our way over the next year, we all have to wait until the new console come out next year to see games that will push our rigs, BF4 I am looking at you.

Good Luck!


----------



## smoke420

I think the 6870's would smoke a single 570 .
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/301?vs=306
But the 570 is a great card for your next build so if the price is that good pick it up anyway.

Im shore there are some people that have shuttering problems but there more rare then you would think.I read it so much you would think its a problem everyone has but the truth is ive had crossfire since nov 2010 and the only time I have problems is when I get a game too early and have to wait for new drivers, caps, or game patches but thats nobodies fault.I usually get games the same day they come out so thats the cost of being on the bleeding edge.


----------



## wlw wl

Oops I got that wrong, I must have confused it with something else, but what?









There you have it, never trust a judgment of a single person, even Yoda


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> Chino, 2 6870's will nuke a 570 in performance. I have 2 6870's running with amd fx-8120 and every game is silky smooth. With your 2500k which is superior processor you will have no issue, in addition you will not have to upgrade for a long time. We are all still stuck in console port H$ll, so if you are playing at 1080p 2 6870's is more than enough. A 570 would be a downgrade with to your current build. I know for a fact that my rig will destroy all the console ports coming our way over the next year, we all have to wait until the new console come out next year to see games that will push our rigs, BF4 I am looking at you.
> Good Luck!


Thank You Very Much for the info. I'm thinking I might end up keeping my 6870's but still buying the 570 for my new rig. Maybe I'll get lucky and by the time the new one is almost done I'll be able to find another 570 cheap and do sli in that one. I'm definitely grabbing it cuase I'm not gonna find another one for the price this guy is asking for a long time. The thing is two months old from what he tells me he used it for about a month and ended up getting a cyberpower or ibuypower machine as a gift so his original mchine has been sitting in a closet. He has the reciepts for it and the box with all the original accesories. He hasn't even registered it yet so I should be able to register it in my name if I wanted to. He was asking $180 I got him down to $140. I think it is an awesome deal for that card especially because of the age and conditions of it. But Thank all of you very much. This is why I love OCN so much. You ask a question and always have at least 2 or 3 answers within a few minutes. Everyone is usually very eager to help.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> Chino, 2 6870's will nuke a 570 in performance. I have 2 6870's running with amd fx-8120 and every game is silky smooth. With your 2500k which is superior processor you will have no issue, in addition you will not have to upgrade for a long time. We are all still stuck in console port H$ll, so if you are playing at 1080p 2 6870's is more than enough. A 570 would be a downgrade with to your current build. I know for a fact that my rig will destroy all the console ports coming our way over the next year, we all have to wait until the new console come out next year to see games that will push our rigs, BF4 I am looking at you.
> Good Luck!


you play skyrim dude?


----------



## wlw wl

Yeah, that's what I meant too, there are games that just don't work well with CF, some of them get driver fixes, but some of them get CF completely disabled with a driver update. Pros and cons, like with everything...


----------



## Dallorian

I'm considering cross firing my XFX HD6870 unfortunately I have the single fan guy and he is kind of loud so looking for something that is cool and doesnt push heat towards him. My PSU is on the bottom I have great airflow.

Any suggestions on brands for my intentions?


----------



## 12Cores

I rarely play Skyrim, because the graphics look like something from 10 yrs ago, but when I do I get about 60fps. The game is CPU bound the fx-8120 does major damage in that game, the crossfire issues have been resolved for months now. The GTX 570 is great card, I just do not think its a upgrade over 2 6870's, 2 570's is another story.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> I rarely play Skyrim, because the graphics look like something from 10 yrs ago, but when I do I get about 60fps. The game is CPU bound the fx-8120 does major damage in that game, the crossfire issues have been resolved for months now. The GTX 570 is great card, I just do not think its a upgrade over 2 6870's, 2 570's is another story.


i get approximately zero scaling, i wish i knew why


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> I rarely play Skyrim, because the graphics look like something from 10 yrs ago, but when I do I get about 60fps.


On what settings? Anandtech shows 23fps for 1200p on Very High. Owning a 6850, I can agree with that. And while the CPU does play a role in Skyrim, it's not nearly as bad as other games like SC2. If it did, the 7770 wouldn't beat the 6870 in Skyrim as much as it does on that res. Especially when it's overall a slower card.


----------



## Codaisayoda

I have a Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1gdrr5 gfx card and for some reason it gets all whacked out when i do anything with small amounts of gpu use. If i try to play any game like GTA 4 or garys mod it
gets all weird. Cutting parts of the screen and putting it on the other side. Sometimes it has blurred streaks through the screen. Other times the screen will go all gray and the sound goes out of whack. Like a skipping cd kind of. I hope its an easy to fix problem, I only got this gfx card like 2 months ago. My comp is in my sig if that helps. I was hoping you guys would know since you have all used alot of 6850s.
Thanks in advance for any help.


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> I rarely play Skyrim, because the graphics look like something from 10 yrs ago, but when I do I get about 60fps.


Ever heard of Mesh and Texture mods?
Throw in an ENB and you got something beautiful....
just look at the "your best skyrim awesome picture"

Also 60FPS, I think skyrim has a FPS limiter, I NEVER got over 60.1FPS vanilla.

Now I roughly get 30-60fps with mods


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> Ever heard of Mesh and Texture mods?
> Throw in an ENB and you got something beautiful....
> just look at the "your best skyrim awesome picture"
> Also 60FPS, I think skyrim has a FPS limiter, I NEVER got over 60.1FPS vanilla.
> Now I roughly get 30-60fps with mods


it does have a limiter which you can disable


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> it does have a limiter which you can disable


I KNEW IT...lol no big deal for me, I usually get like 57fps max and 20ish min.
Dem 2k textures and enb really arehard on my card.


----------



## ihatelolcats

the last few posts prompted me to test some things

i installed 12.6 cap1 and went to 3d app settings, the <<new application>> dropdown was blank, showing there were no saved profiles
i selected amd predefined crossfire profile and set it to tesv.exe
launched the game and was getting full gpu use on both cards
closed ccc and mom
relaunched game, only got about 60% usage
launched ccc, there are now two tesv.exe profiles, one old (which i thought was obliterated when i installed the new cap) and one new i just set
still only getting 60% usage


----------



## OMGCT

XFX HD6870 x2


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dallorian*
> 
> I'm considering cross firing my XFX HD6870 unfortunately I have the single fan guy and he is kind of loud so looking for something that is cool and doesnt push heat towards him. My PSU is on the bottom I have great airflow.
> Any suggestions on brands for my intentions?


That's what I ended up picking up as my second card a XFX 6870 with the fan in the middle of the card. And it definitely can get loud. What I did that helped a good amount with the sound is placed that one on the bottom slot and placed my reference 6870 on the top slot. Like that since the reference card is longer and has the blower fan it isn't being block by the second card and there is nothing blocking the fan on the second card either. Noise isn't bad at all. I'm not too worried about it at the moment anways because I'm going to end up putting water blocks on both cards and adding them to my loop.


----------



## chino1974

Oh and by the way if anyone has a reference 6870 they would like to trade for a non-reference XFX 6870 pm me. The card I have is brand new I bought it from microcenter two days ago. It is the XFX 6870 with the fan in the middle of the card. If you're tight for space in your case this one is way better the the reference card because it is about an inch and a half shorter and like I said mine is brand new it will come with box and all accesories that came with it. I'm not going to register it yet just in case I find someone to trade with. I'm just very OCD and want to try and find a card that matches closer to my reference card before I buy the water blocks. It drives me nuts to look into my rig and see two different sized cards in there even though they're the same cards and run the same. LOL!!!


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> I KNEW IT...lol no big deal for me, I usually get like 57fps max and 20ish min.
> Dem 2k textures and enb really arehard on my card.


Would you guys know if Batman Arkham City has a FPS Limiter also? When I benchmark with Batman my Max is always at 60-61 But my rigs not working full tilt I can tell cause it's fans aren't spooling up even alil bit. And I know my rig can do more on that game just from what it does with other games.


----------



## 12Cores

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> Ever heard of Mesh and Texture mods?
> Throw in an ENB and you got something beautiful....
> just look at the "your best skyrim awesome picture"
> Also 60FPS, I think skyrim has a FPS limiter, I NEVER got over 60.1FPS vanilla.
> Now I roughly get 30-60fps with mods


I run the game a 4x AA and 16AF @ 1080p, everything else ultra. I have 2 6870's overclocked, my ram is running at 2201mhz right now which really helps my CPU hold its FPS, in some towns my FPS dips but running around in Skyrim my FPS holds for the most part at 60fps. In my opinion the game is poorly optimized for the PC, for a game that looks as poorly as it does there is no reason for the game to be as demanding as it is, its not even DirectX11. My rig usually nukes any directx 9 console ports. I have a few Terrain and water mods loaded, meh at best. I wish Anand would stop reviewing CPU's at resolution under 1920 x 1080. I don't even know what my CPU performance is at stock speeds, I don't want to read a review about stock performance, ever. Like I said earlier the GTX 570 is awesome GPU in addition Skyrim graphical short falls is more than made up of for by its ridiculous amount of content. I am done with this topic, have a good day guys and enjoy your rigs.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> I run the game a 4x AA and 16AF @ 1080p, everything else ultra. I have 2 6870's overclocked, my ram is running at 2201mhz right now which really helps my CPU hold its FPS, in some towns my FPS dips but running around in Skyrim my FPS holds for the most part at 60fps. In my opinion the game is poorly optimized for the PC, for a game that looks as poorly as it does there is no reason for the game to be as demanding as it is, its not even DirectX11. My rig usually nukes any directx 9 console ports. I have a few Terrain and water mods loaded, meh at best. I wish Anand would stop reviewing CPU's at resolution under 1920 x 1080. I don't even know what my CPU performance is at stock speeds, I don't want to read a review about stock performance, ever. Like I said earlier the GTX 570 is awesome GPU in addition Skyrim graphical short falls is more than made up of for by its ridiculous amount of content. I am done with this topic, have a good day guys and enjoy your rigs.


Hey 12cores Thanks for the info. I have another question for you. What type of overclock do you have on your 6870's? What are the numbers? I'm just wondering once I get all the bugs out of mine what I can expect from my cards.


----------



## smoke420

@ 12cores what are your temps like?
Im thinking of putting my cards on there own loop with universal blocks and a 360 rad no cpu.more than anything I want to know how the blocks perform because I think thats my only option with these cards.right now my idle temps are 35-37 single monitor, low 40's with multiple and load are mid to high 50's.Is it worth it?


----------



## 12Cores

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Hey 12cores Thanks for the info. I have another question for you. What type of overclock do you have on your 6870's? What are the numbers? I'm just wondering once I get all the bugs out of mine what I can expect from my cards.


I have 2 non-referenced XFX cards max playable overclock 950 on the core and 1175 on the ram, I can run benches at 965/1240. As far as numbers 3dmark 11 8636(http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3483269;jsessionid=x4wmlq8uo80y1o8q5748717j2), my CPU is really holding me back on that benchmark. As for games BF3 with AA off, MSAA on high everything else on ultra on the old Maps 80-180fps depending the on map. Dirt 3 I avg about a 100fps maxed out, resident evil 5 benchmark 189fps maxed out and Hawx 2 benchmark 170fps maxed out.

I bought the dual fan XFX 6870 and single fan(in the middle). The dual fan card is the quietest and coolest running card I have ever owned, the single fan card was a whole other story. Under load it sounded like a 747 was taking off in my case. I could not live with the single fan card if it was not watercooled.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> @ 12cores what are your temps like?
> Im thinking of putting my cards on there own loop with universal blocks and a 360 rad no cpu.more than anything I want to know how the blocks perform because I think thats my only option with these cards.right now my idle temps are 35-37 single monitor, low 40's with multiple and load are mid to high 50's.Is it worth it?


My temps under load at 945/1175 depending on the game and ambient temps range from 45-55 degrees. Your temps seem pretty low so if you can live with noise from the fans I would not watercool the card. Before I watercooled the cards I was in the 80's.

Good Luck


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> I have 2 non-referenced XFX cards max playable overclock 950 on the core and 1175 on the ram, I can run benches at 965/1240. As far as numbers 3dmark 11 8636(http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3483269;jsessionid=x4wmlq8uo80y1o8q5748717j2), my CPU is really holding me back on that benchmark As for games BF3 with AA off, MSAA on high everything else on ultra on the old Maps 80-180fps depending the on map. Dirt 3 I avg about a 100fps maxed out, resident evil 5 benchmark 189fps maxed out and Hawx 2 benchmark 170fps maxed out.
> I bought the dual fan XFX 6870 and single fan(in the middle). The dual fan card is the quietest and coolest running card I have ever owned, the single fan card was a whole other story. Under load it sounded like a 747 was taking off in my case. I could not live with the single fan card if it was not watercooled.
> My temps at 945/1175 depending on the game and ambient temps range from 45-55 degrees. Your temps seem pretty low so if you can live with noise from the fans I would not watercool the card. Befoer I watercooled the cards I was in the 80's.
> Good Luck


12 cores maybe you can help me out. I have spent all day trying every combination possible to get Battlefield 3 to run right with crossfire enabled. It freezes right at the start wont even get into the game. If I disable crossfire it works fine. But what's the point of crossfire if I can't use it right? What drivers and cap did you use to get battlefield 3 to work? I'm ready to get rid of the crossfire set-up and go with something else I'm so frustrated right now. I'm sure I'll be fine once I'm done with my temper tantrum. Lol!!!


----------



## 12Cores

I am using the 12.6 beta drivers and cap 12.6 application profile, links below. With your i5 and the 6870's you should be getting great performance running BF3. Make sure the crossfire bridge is connected. Also go into the catalyst control center click on amd overdrive and make sure that the cards a clocked at the same speed. If the core and memory are running at different speeds on the cards the game will crash every time also if your GPU or CPU overclock is unstable the game will crash. Additionally if you are using afterburner to overclock your cards sometimes the speed in afterburner is different from the speed in Catalyst control center, make sure that they match across the board.

Links:

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst126beta.aspx

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx

Good Luck


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *12Cores*
> 
> I am using the 12.6 beta drivers and cap 12.6 application profile, links below. With your i5 and the 6870's you should be getting great performance running BF3. Make sure the crossfire bridge is connected. Also go into the catalyst control center click on amd overdrive and make sure that the cards a clocked at the same speed. If the core and memory are running at different speeds on the cards the game will crash every time also if your GPU or CPU overclock is unstable the game will crash. Additionally if you are using afterburner to overclock your cards sometimes the speed in afterburner is different from the speed in Catalyst control center, make sure that they match across the board.
> Links:
> http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst126beta.aspx
> http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx
> Good Luck


Thank you very much. I'm going to try this today and let you know what happens. And my cpu oc is stable as far as I know it. It's passes intel burn test,3DMark 11 and also is stable with Prime 95 for 6 hours at which I shut it off. I did notice that under CCC my top gpu was idling at 300 core 300 memory but my second card shows zero on both. Dont know if it's just cause it's not doing anything heavy enough to make it kick in?


----------



## Mr357

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/7hzw7/

HIS IceQ X Turbo Radeon HD 6850


----------



## Mr-Mechraven

Just want check with fellow owners if they get similar or better - Battlefield 3 - Default Graphics HIGH , HBAO on, Post AA HIGH, 16AF etc etc

Single card @ Stock

Minimum = 34 fps
Maximum = 61 fps
Average = 46 fps

1920x1080 24" Monitor & Settings


----------



## ihatelolcats

looks about right, turn off hbao and you will get better fps


----------



## Mr-Mechraven

Normally i do along with AA as i notice no difference when playing, i was just testing to see results and see if people had similar







I average around 60fps on custom settings.


----------



## smoke420

Max payne 3 is a lot of fun and not demanding on the system at all.I am playing at 4460x1040 with one card at the highest settings the game will allow and getting around 200 fps with drops to like the 130's .When I finally get my adapter I can run crossfire again not that its needed but I would love to get out of windowed mode.


----------



## chino1974

12cores Thank You Very Much. I installed 12.4 with cap 12.6 and it didn't work at first but then I realized that dumb old me didn't have the Crossfire profile setting set for BF3. As soon as I did that it's running ok. Now just gotta tweak it alil. But other than that not bad. Another question for anyone that can answer this. Why is it that when I go into CCC Overdrive it shows my main card running at 300 core 300 memory when it's idleing but my second card goes down to 150 core 250 memory? Is there any way that I can set them to both run at the same speeds at idle? Right now they both go up to 900 core 1050 memory under load. I'm not going to try oc'ing them till I get all the bugs taken care of first.


----------



## wasbo

Hey guys quick question, I was looking in device manager and under sound I saw "AMD high definition audio device" along with my realtek high definition audio. Should I keep the AMD driver or disable it? I have the 6850 btw. On a side note, do you guys know of any program that will tell me if my drivers are up-to-date? (specifically, my realtek driver).


----------



## Majorhi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wasbo*
> 
> Hey guys quick question, I was looking in device manager and under sound I saw "AMD high definition audio device" along with my realtek high definition audio. Should I keep the AMD driver or disable it? I have the 6850 btw. On a side note, do you guys know of any program that will tell me if my drivers are up-to-date? (specifically, my realtek driver).


If I'm not mistaken that is for the HDMI capabilities of your card.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wasbo*
> 
> Hey guys quick question, I was looking in device manager and under sound I saw "AMD high definition audio device" along with my realtek high definition audio. Should I keep the AMD driver or disable it? I have the 6850 btw. On a side note, do you guys know of any program that will tell me if my drivers are up-to-date? (specifically, my realtek driver).


I have several computers like this and have not had an issue.


----------



## Mr-Mechraven

Never used but you can try >

http://www.driverupdate.net/

Its free !


----------



## von rottes

I always use the Realtek driver... the AMD one has an issue where it has a delay causing short sounds to "not play"


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> 12cores Thank You Very Much. I installed 12.4 with cap 12.6 and it didn't work at first but then I realized that dumb old me didn't have the Crossfire profile setting set for BF3. As soon as I did that it's running ok. Now just gotta tweak it alil. But other than that not bad. Another question for anyone that can answer this. Why is it that when I go into CCC Overdrive it shows my main card running at 300 core 300 memory when it's idleing but my second card goes down to 150 core 250 memory? Is there any way that I can set them to both run at the same speeds at idle? Right now they both go up to 900 core 1050 memory under load. I'm not going to try oc'ing them till I get all the bugs taken care of first.


Because ur slave card is truly idling, no output of image while your main card is showing you Windows desktop etc.
Mines do this and I think every1's card's also do this, in fact I consider it good that they do this.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Because ur slave card is truly idling, no output of image while your main card is showing you Windows desktop etc.
> Mines do this and I think every1's card's also do this, in fact I consider it good that they do this.


I was thinking something to that effect but wasn't sure. Thanks for the heads up


----------



## Hyoketsu

Ooooh, so there's a 68x0 club around as well. Count me in!


Love this card <3 Now if only my CPU and monitor could do it justice...


----------



## chino1974

Hey guys would anyone know where I can find the best deal on universal waterblocks for my 6870's? I want to put them both under water. But if I can't afford to get both blocks at once I might just buy one now and use an extra H50 I have laying around with the bracket I bought from DWOOD and use that untill I can buy the second block. I might be able to get both depending on price.


----------



## campingturtle

HIS H685FN1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5


----------



## chino1974

Guys what types of temps can be considered normal operating temps for two 6870's in crossfire? I have 2 XFX 6870's. The top is a Reference XFX 6870 with the blower type fan and the bottom is a Non-Reference Xfx 6870 with the fan in the middle. I mounted them the way I did because the recerence one is alot longer than the other like this the blower fan is not blocked by the bottom card. Also the bottom card isn't being block by anything. I'm getting 77-78 degrees when I play BF3. I have to ramp up the fans manually in overdrive when I play because the stock profile doesn't ramp up enough. Just wondering what are safe temps? I will be getting 2 waterblocks for them in the next few weeks to add them to my loop. But in the meantime I don't want to fry them


----------



## smoke420

^ 80's is normal for crossfire and its not going to hurt them at all.The barts chips are fine over 90c amd says they can safely go over 100c but im not going to try it.Its going to be hard to get a good stable overclock with your temps but there still safe.
you should be watching your vrm temps if your going to add voltage with temps that high If your worried about frying your cards that just as important if not more.before aftermarket cooling I saw 85c running OCCT but my vrm's were 106c way too hot for me so watch out.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> ^ 80's is normal for crossfire and its not going to hurt them at all.The barts chips are fine over 90c amd says they can safely go over 100c but im not going to try it.Its going to be hard to get a good stable overclock with your temps but there still safe.
> you should be watching your vrm temps if your going to add voltage with temps that high If your worried about frying your cards that just as important if not more.before aftermarket cooling I saw 85c running OCCT but my vrm's were 106c way too hot for me so watch out.


Thanks for the info and the heads up on the VRM's. I don't think I'll be OC'ing them too much till I get them under water to be safe. I know myself and if I get good results I'm the type that wont weant to go back down even if I have to push them and I'll end up burning them out. So for that reason I'm gonna wait till I get the water blocks to OC.


----------



## Krusher33

How are you guys seeing VRM temps? I know someone said it once before but I'm too lazy to dig for it.


----------



## axipher

In GPU-z.


----------



## Hyoketsu

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> How are you guys seeing VRM temps? I know someone said it once before but I'm too lazy to dig for it.


Try the GPU-Z "Sensors" tab. I know for a fact my old XFX 4870x2 had several VRM temps listed. My current Hawk does not have them listed specifically as "VRM", but in addition to the "GPU Temperature" reading, there are now 3 additional ones - "GPU Temp. #1", "GPU Temp. #2" and "GPU Temp. #3". That either means the GPU has several sensors, or those three account for the VRM temps.
For reference, at the moment, the regular "GPU Temperature" reading is showing 74C (crunching MooWrapper WUs via BOINC), while the 3 additional readings are showing 73.5C,73.5C, and 77.5C respectively (fan speed - 70%).


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hyoketsu*
> 
> Try the GPU-Z "Sensors" tab. I know for a fact my old XFX 4870x2 had several VRM temps listed. My current Hawk does not have them listed specifically as "VRM", but in addition to the "GPU Temperature" reading, there are now 3 additional ones - "GPU Temp. #1", "GPU Temp. #2" and "GPU Temp. #3". That either means the GPU has several sensors, or those three account for the VRM temps.
> For reference, at the moment, the regular "GPU Temperature" reading is showing 74C (crunching MooWrapper WUs via BOINC), while the 3 additional readings are showing 73.5C,73.5C, and 77.5C respectively (fan speed - 70%).


How did you like the 4870x2? I had a sapphire 4870 x2. I loved the performance it gave but it was like having a space heater on high sitting at the back of your desk. And it was the biggest power hog I ever saw. It blew out a 580 watt psu I had in a matter of minutes!!! And when I say blew out I mean 4th of July effects popping,sparking and smoking!!! I had to buy a new psu and a new pair of shorts that day!!! LOL!


----------



## Krusher33

Yeah, I think mine didn't. It said 0. I might be mistaking it for another card though. I'll check again tonight. But I'm somewhat sure it said 0.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Yeah, I think mine didn't. It said 0. I might be mistaking it for another card though. I'll check again tonight. But I'm somewhat sure it said 0.


I have a reference Sapphire 6870 from release day, it might be the newer revisions without voltage control also don't have VRM temp monitoring.


----------



## Hyoketsu

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Hyoketsu*
> 
> Try the GPU-Z "Sensors" tab. I know for a fact my old XFX 4870x2 had several VRM temps listed. My current Hawk does not have them listed specifically as "VRM", but in addition to the "GPU Temperature" reading, there are now 3 additional ones - "GPU Temp. #1", "GPU Temp. #2" and "GPU Temp. #3". That either means the GPU has several sensors, or those three account for the VRM temps.
> For reference, at the moment, the regular "GPU Temperature" reading is showing 74C (crunching MooWrapper WUs via BOINC), while the 3 additional readings are showing 73.5C,73.5C, and 77.5C respectively (fan speed - 70%).
> 
> 
> 
> How did you like the 4870x2? I had a sapphire 4870 x2. I loved the performance it gave but it was like having a space heater on high sitting at the back of your desk. And it was the biggest power hog I ever saw. It blew out a 580 watt psu I had in a matter of minutes!!! And when I say blew out I mean 4th of July effects popping,sparking and smoking!!! I had to buy a new psu and a new pair of shorts that day!!! LOL!
Click to expand...

Well, I admit the performance was decent... But since I play many old games, sometimes even via emulators, I could usually only utilize 1 GPU. While it was largely enough for older games anyway, having 2 GPUs ended up being a bit of a waste. Then, when both GPUs were being utilized, I would experience microstutter. While I'm used to much worse gaming conditions (my retired rig, in particular







), it was still a tad annoying. Then there was the power draw and the horrendous fan noise. While 30% was pretty much silent and let me browse and watch videos, I needed at least 50% for gaming. That noise was pretty loud - I'd say on par with my Hawk's TFIII running at full blast. And don't get me started on stress testing the 4870x2 at 100% fan speed. It was like being near a jet engine...

Worst of all, I bought the card second hand, and ended up with a faulty one. By the time I put my rig together, a whole month had passed since the purchase of the card, so expecting a refund would have been silly.
Anyway, my system would hang every once in a while - most often every 1-2 hours. The screen would go black; the sound would keep playing for 5-10 secs, and then everything would become unresponsive. This happened mostly under load, though a few times I also experienced hangs even while simply browsing. Upon restart, Windows would indicate the issue as BSOD 116.
Having done tons of reading on the issue and looking through the crash dumps, I am pretty sure one of the GPUs was faulty, and kept falling out of sync with the other.
I tried altering clocks, voltages, flashing the GPU BIOSes...
Now that I think about it, I could have tried further testing after once having accidentally flashed the Slave GPU with the Master GPU BIOS. This made the catalyst recognize the GPUs as a proper 2-card crossfire set-up. I wonder what would have happened if I were to disable CF and only utilize the primary GPU... Still, the power draw, the noise, and the potential driver/compatibility issues made reconsider, so I reverted to stock, persevered until I got my 6870, and then popped the sucker into the oven (7mins @ 200C(preheated)). By then, the issues had escalated, and the card would constantly display artifacts if the drivers were installed. After the baking, the artifacts disappeared, but the system hang issue remained.
Now the card is in a box among my other hardware goodies, gathering dust.

This experience made me realize the horrors of dual-GPU cards. I wouldn't touch another one (especially a 4870x2) with a ten foot pole.

Sigh, that was a long rant, wasn't it?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> I have a reference Sapphire 6870 from release day, it might be the newer revisions without voltage control also don't have VRM temp monitoring.


I don't know if mine is reference or not but I can up the voltage to 1.3v in Afterburner.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hyoketsu*
> 
> Well, I admit the performance was decent... But since I play many old games, sometimes even via emulators, I could usually only utilize 1 GPU. While it was largely enough for older games anyway, having 2 GPUs ended up being a bit of a waste. Then, when both GPUs were being utilized, I would experience microstutter. While I'm used to much worse gaming conditions (my retired rig, in particular
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ), it was still a tad annoying. Then there was the power draw and the horrendous fan noise. While 30% was pretty much silent and let me browse and watch videos, I needed at least 50% for gaming. That noise was pretty loud - I'd say on par with my Hawk's TFIII running at full blast. And don't get me started on stress testing the 4870x2 at 100% fan speed. It was like being near a jet engine...
> Worst of all, I bought the card second hand, and ended up with a faulty one. By the time I put my rig together, a whole month had passed since the purchase of the card, so expecting a refund would have been silly.
> Anyway, my system would hang every once in a while - most often every 1-2 hours. The screen would go black; the sound would keep playing for 5-10 secs, and then everything would become unresponsive. This happened mostly under load, though a few times I also experienced hangs even while simply browsing. Upon restart, Windows would indicate the issue as BSOD 116.
> Having done tons of reading on the issue and looking through the crash dumps, I am pretty sure one of the GPUs was faulty, and kept falling out of sync with the other.
> I tried altering clocks, voltages, flashing the GPU BIOSes...
> Now that I think about it, I could have tried further testing after once having accidentally flashed the Slave GPU with the Master GPU BIOS. This made the catalyst recognize the GPUs as a proper 2-card crossfire set-up. I wonder what would have happened if I were to disable CF and only utilize the primary GPU... Still, the power draw, the noise, and the potential driver/compatibility issues made reconsider, so I reverted to stock, persevered until I got my 6870, and then popped the sucker into the oven (7mins @ 200C(preheated)). By then, the issues had escalated, and the card would constantly display artifacts if the drivers were installed. After the baking, the artifacts disappeared, but the system hang issue remained.
> Now the card is in a box among my other hardware goodies, gathering dust.
> This experience made me realize the horrors of dual-GPU cards. I wouldn't touch another one (especially a 4870x2) with a ten foot pole.
> Sigh, that was a long rant, wasn't it?


That's sooo funny. I didn't have all those issues with mine just the psu and underwear blow out. But the fan on that thing did sound like a jets afterburners kicking fullblast. And don't get me started on the heat. But to be honest with you if it would've been a Direct X11 card I probably would've kept it for alil longer. About two days after I sold mine I had someone email me trying to sell me a water block for it with the whole set-up cpu,gpu blocks,pump rads and fans. I got kina lucky with the last two crossfire set-ups I've had being the 4870x2 and now the 6870 crossfired. Haven't had all the stuttering issues I keep hearing about.


----------



## GunMetal

Hey guys, what do you think about Watch Dogs at E3? Sick right?

Do you think 6870 in Xfire can max out the settings of that sick game?


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GunMetal*
> 
> Hey guys, what do you think about Watch Dogs at E3? Sick right?
> Do you think 6870 in Xfire can max out the settings of that sick game?


Haven't seen that game yet. But I love my crossfired 6870's so far ! I honestly think Crossfired 6870's will be able to handle anything that will be out on the market for the next year or so.


----------



## chino1974

Can someone give me an opinion on this question? I have crossfired 6870's on an ASRock Z77 Pro 3 mobo with a i5 2500k running off of a 550 watt OCZ Fatal1ty psu. It runs fine alil heat coming off the psu but it's to be expected from being pushed so close to it's limits. My question is if I dropped a Thermaltake Black widow modular 850 watt psu in there would it make any difference other than not building up as much heat from psu? Would I see any performance gains off of dropping a stronger psu? I was told I would because the system right now is running but basically starving for juice. It doesn't make alot of sense to me but I can kind of understand what the guy meant from a car stand point. But from a pc not sure. Any help on this question will be very welcomed.


----------



## ihatelolcats

550w is probably enough. if you start having problems like random shutdowns look at 650w+


----------



## Hyoketsu

Even if you ran IntelBurnTest and Furmark both at once, your system would probably be pulling only around 480-500 watts from the wall. Taking into account your PSU's efficiency, this would convert to ~400W DC output.
When it comes to 12V output, your rails are good enough to handle both the CPU and one of the cards on one, and the second card on the other, even in the worst case scenario (i.e. at max TDP).
Can't see any big problems with the PSU's quality either - while reviews declare it to be average, that's more than enough assurance that it won't blow up like cheap Chinese knock-offs.

In conclusion - I see no problem whatsoever when it comes to your system's juice flow. As the person above me said, as long as there are no issues, keep your current PSU. You won't get any magical performance boosts even if you change it.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hyoketsu*
> 
> Even if you ran IntelBurnTest and Furmark both at once, your system would probably be pulling only around 480-500 watts from the wall. Taking into account your PSU's efficiency, this would convert to ~400W DC output.
> When it comes to 12V output, your rails are good enough to handle both the CPU and one of the cards on one, and the second card on the other, even in the worst case scenario (i.e. at max TDP).
> Can't see any big problems with the PSU's quality either - while reviews declare it to be average, that's more than enough assurance that it won't blow up like cheap Chinese knock-offs.
> In conclusion - I see no problem whatsoever when it comes to your system's juice flow. As the person above me said, as long as there are no issues, keep your current PSU. You won't get any magical performance boosts even if you change it.


That's what I figured. Especially since my rig almost doubled it's 3dmark 11 score when I added the second card. Well not almost double but close enough. It went from 4256 to 7763 which is close enough for me. And I haven't had even a hiccup from my psu yet. Only thing I noticed was the extra heat it's giving off now but that's to be expected with it powering an extra card now. I knew it sounded kinda fishy and I was doubtful of that info also since it was coming from someone trying to make a deal with me for their psu. Was trying to get me to give them a laptop for their psu and a couple of bucks.


----------



## von rottes

I'll crossfire when a single 6870 is not enough.
or if I ever do eyefinity.

and did I see someone saying a x4 lane would only have a 4-5% loss?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> I'll crossfire when a single 6870 is not enough.
> or if I ever do eyefinity.
> and did I see someone saying a x4 lane would only have a 4-5% loss?


yeah the loss is pretty small


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> yeah the loss is pretty small


Hmm well that is good to know.
I might just crossfire on my GA-970a-UD3


----------



## chino1974

So quick question again. What would be better 2 pci-e x8 or 1 pci-e 16 and 1 pci-e 4 ?


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> So quick question again. What would be better 2 pci-e x8 or 1 pci-e 16 and 1 pci-e 4 ?


x8 x8 would be my guess?


----------



## Majorhi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> So quick question again. What would be better 2 pci-e x8 or 1 pci-e 16 and 1 pci-e 4 ?


Good read here on that.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5458/the-radeon-hd-7970-reprise-pcie-bandwidth-overclocking-and-msaa


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Majorhi*
> 
> Good read here on that.
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/5458/the-radeon-hd-7970-reprise-pcie-bandwidth-overclocking-and-msaa


I got what the article was saying but that pertains to the 7970 which is a PCI-e 3.0 card yhe 6870 are only PCI-E 2 and the sandy bridge chip still only does pci-e 2 even if I had a 7970. So I'm still wondering which would be better to crossfire 2 6870's with. pci-e x8 + pci-e x8 or pci-e 16 + pci-e x4?


----------



## chino1974

It say you would get a total of 10 gbps from x16 +x4 being 8 gbps + 2 gbps as opposed to 8 gbps from x8+x8 at 4gbps = 4 gbps. But I still don't see which would give better performance. I sorry if the quuestions don't make sense. Just wondering cause I replace a Z68 mobo with a Z77 then notice the Z68 is x8 X 2 and the Z77 is x16 + x4.


----------



## smoke420

Generally its 1-2% loss from x16 to x8 and a 4-5% loss from x16 to x4..So I would go with x8 + x8 a very small and even 1-2 % loss over both cards.I would try to keep the cards even to minimize the possibility of shutter.Im not saying it would cause a problem but givin the choice I wouldn't take the risk.Assuming you don't have any problems I think the difference is going to be very small . No more than 1 FPS difference between them.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_5870_PCI-Express_Scaling/25.html


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Generally its 1-2% loss from x16 to x8 and a 4-5% loss from x16 to x4..So I would go with x8 + x8 a very small and even 1-2 % loss over both cards.I would try to keep the cards even to minimize the possibility of shutter.Im not saying it would cause a problem but givin the choice I wouldn't take the risk.Assuming you don't have any problems I think the difference is going to be very small . No more than 1 FPS difference between them.
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_5870_PCI-Express_Scaling/25.html


Thank You for the infro that was what I was looking for. If it's going to be under 5-10 fps I'm not going through the headache of swapping boards back out. Not worth it with all the water cooling and wire sleeving being cut to length. Even though I love tearing into my rig just not worth it.


----------



## chino1974

Can you believe that just adding that 140mm NZXT fan between my GPU's and front rad actually dropped my temps when gaming from low 80's to high 60's? I just played about and hour of MW3 everything set to as high as possible like I always do and the highest my GPU's got were 68 for the top card and 65 for the bottom. I'm real happy with that. I can't believe it.







And that was running the fans at auto fan speed setting in CCC. Didn't really even hear them spool up half as much as the normally did before adding that fan. I can't wait to add the two universal water blocks to my loop.









Here's a pic of the fan I'm talking about I just used the adjustable bracket that come with the top removable hd cage in the Phantom 410. All I did was screwed it into of the holes on the bottom of the 5.25" bays and tilted it a tiny bit to aim more at the gpu's.


----------



## theDTP

Hello









http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/25a4a/


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Can you believe that just adding that 140mm NZXT fan between my GPU's and front rad actually dropped my temps when gaming from low 80's to high 60's? I just played about and hour of MW3 everything set to as high as possible like I always do and the highest my GPU's got were 68 for the top card and 65 for the bottom. I'm real happy with that. I can't believe it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And that was running the fans at auto fan speed setting in CCC. Didn't really even hear them spool up half as much as the normally did before adding that fan. I can't wait to add the two universal water blocks to my loop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a pic of the fan I'm talking about I just used the adjustable bracket that come with the top removable hd cage in the Phantom 410. All I did was screwed it into of the holes on the bottom of the 5.25" bays and tilted it a tiny bit to aim more at the gpu's.


looking good


----------



## chino1974

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> looking good






Thanks alot buddy


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *theDTP*
> 
> Hello
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/25a4a/


Sapphire.


----------



## hartofwave

sign me up!


----------



## Bomster

Here's my screenshot.

It's an MSI card.











Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


----------



## Bomster

In terms of overclocking, I have a few queries.


Is it worth overclocking?
How many more frames will I get in games like Diablo 3?
Is there a guide to follow? Or is it like CPU's where every chip is different.
Will it significantly decrease life of the chip?
I use XBMC to play 12GB BluRay rips, will an overclocked chip make it look any better?
Cheers guys.


----------



## ihatelolcats

short answer no


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bomster*
> 
> In terms of overclocking, I have a few queries.
> 
> Is it worth overclocking? Braging and upping point in folding?
> How many more frames will I get in games like Diablo 3? not many.
> Is there a guide to follow? Or is it like CPU's where every chip is different. yes and yes
> Will it significantly decrease life of the chip? no...upping the voltage will though
> I use XBMC to play 12GB BluRay rips, will an overclocked chip make it look any better? nope that is all up to the codecs
> Cheers guys.


----------



## eftj

Asus EAH6850.

Core: 920MHz

Memory: 1000MHz

I was at 930 but it was unstable in Diablo III.

Pictures:





And yes, my case is very dusty. I'm upgrading next month.


----------



## chino1974

Hey guys I was wondering would it be possible to wire up the fans on my GPU to a fan controller insted of the GPU itself? Would the cards act differently if the fans weren't plugged into their plugs ? I was wondering if I might be able to get better temps and alil more control over the spooling up and noise with a fan controller. I have 2 XFX 6870's 1 Reference and 1 Non-Reference


----------



## Krusher33

In the past I had a card where I couldn't attach an aftermarket cooler to the fan header on the card itself. Had to attach it to the mobo one instead. No difference but the actual control of the fan. Rather than doing it through CCC or Afterburner or Trixx, you'd have to use Speedfan or the likes. I was annoyed.


----------



## von rottes

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Hey guys I was wondering would it be possible to wire up the fans on my GPU to a fan controller insted of the GPU itself? Would the cards act differently if the fans weren't plugged into their plugs ? I was wondering if I might be able to get better temps and alil more control over the spooling up and noise with a fan controller. I have 2 XFX 6870's 1 Reference and 1 Non-Reference


Why not just set a custom fan profile in afterburner, trixx or the like?


----------



## Orc Warlord

how well does single 6870 do in BF3 multiplayer 64 player?

if I put it on high can I get 50+ fps?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Orc Warlord*
> 
> how well does single 6870 do in BF3 multiplayer 64 player?
> 
> if I put it on high can I get 50+ fps?


probably medium
depends on resolution somewhat


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Orc Warlord*
> 
> how well does single 6870 do in BF3 multiplayer 64 player?
> if I put it on high can I get 50+ fps?


You won't get 50+ frames on high with just one 6870. But you will get good enough frames to play decently on high. And you will run like a champ on medium. I have 2- 6870's crossfired so I run everything maxed out at 1080.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> Why not just set a custom fan profile in afterburner, trixx or the like?


Yeah I can do that but I was just trying to do something alil diferent. Alil more user involced maybe where I have to control it more myself. Just an idea though. Thanks


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Hey guys I was wondering would it be possible to wire up the fans on my GPU to a fan controller insted of the GPU itself? Would the cards act differently if the fans weren't plugged into their plugs ? I was wondering if I might be able to get better temps and alil more control over the spooling up and noise with a fan controller. I have 2 XFX 6870's 1 Reference and 1 Non-Reference


I'm actually controlling my Accelero Xtreme fans with the speedfan, getting lower temps in idle and in 3d mode too.
I wasn't able to get my fans working at 30-35% in idle with the afterburner and now I'm getting better temps with the fans at 35%@2D and 70%@3D and I'm feeling comfortable with it.








It's the best way.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I'm actually controlling my Accelero Xtreme fans with the speedfan, getting lower temps in idle and in 3d mode too.
> I wasn't able to get my fans working at 30-35% in idle with the afterburner and now I'm getting better temps with the fans at 35%@2D and 70%@3D and I'm feeling comfortable with it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's the best way.


Nice Good Heads up


----------



## chino1974

I'm gonna end up putting water blocks on both of my PGU soon anyways. So anything I do now to them would be temparary.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Orc Warlord*
> 
> how well does single 6870 do in BF3 multiplayer 64 player?
> if I put it on high can I get 50+ fps?
> 
> 
> 
> You won't get 50+ frames on high with just one 6870. But you will get good enough frames to play decently on high. And you will run like a champ on medium. I have 2- 6870's crossfired so I run everything maxed out at 1080.
Click to expand...

i had to turn some stuff to high to get constant 60, i thought it was a vram issue. maybe it was a processor bottleneck. though cpu use was moderate


----------



## Testier

What would be a reasonable price for a 6850/70 nowadays?


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Testier*
> 
> What would be a reasonable price for a 6850/70 nowadays?


if you are in US a HD 6850 sells for USD 140 - 160 and HD 6870 for USD 170 - 200.


----------



## fester99

I saw the 6870s on sale a week or so ago for $119 USD after rebates. Keep a look out and you can snag a good price.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fester99*
> 
> I saw the 6870s on sale a week or so ago for $119 USD after rebates. Keep a look out and you can snag a good price.


Yeah the prices are droppin g on the 6870's because of the 7000 series coming out. But if you want one or two try to grab them as soon as you can cause the supplies everywhere are also running low.


----------



## Testier

Thanks... I guess 6850 is about 100 dollars now?


----------



## ihatelolcats

double fan 6870 for $140 on newegg today


----------



## barleywater

MSI Global Graphics Card - R6870-2PM2D1GD5/OC

Need help with this graphics card overclocking.

I know this is the non-hawk edition so it's noisier with a bigger fan instead of twin fan, but the cooling fins should be as good.

However,
*No OC, no tweaking:*
Stock voltage, Core 920 mhz and memory 1050 mhz,
Idle temp up to 44 C
Gaming temp up to 77 C
Load temp on OCCT up to 86 C

*No OC but fan settings tweaked on Afterburner:*
Idle temp up to 44 C
Gaming temp up to 75 C
Load temp on OCCT up to 86 C (Still as hot)

*OC and fan settings tweaked on Afterburner:*
Voltage 1.25, Core 940 mhz and memory 1150 mhz,
Idle temp up to 44 C
Gaming temp up to 80 C
Load temp on OCCT crash on 87 C

OC and fan settings tweaked on Afterburner:
Voltage 1.30, Core 970 mhz and memory 1150 mhz,
Idle temp up to 44 C
Gaming temp up to 85 C
Load temp on OCCT crash on 87 C

*Casing: HAF 912 Advanced: All fans on full speed, great cooling
M5A97 Pro board: ambience 33 C to 35 C
FX4100 CPU OC 4.5 Ghz unlocked 4 cores: 37 C to 49 C*
The casing, board and CPU have low temperatures, idle or load.

There is no chance I can up the voltage when the stock GPU already so hot at idle and load. I have googled and swam through forums; Saw some OC to 1000 mhz on non-hawk boards.

Too many various answers I do not know if mine has got poor heatsink contact or it is just hot as it is. I am disappointed with MSI because my old GT9600 do not hit 75 C on OCCT. And my higher tier PC's ASUS R7850 do not hit 80 C on OCCT.


----------



## barleywater

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> looking good


For the fan on the HDD cage, is it taking air away or feeding air to the GPU?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *barleywater*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> looking good
> 
> 
> 
> For the fan on the HDD cage, is it taking air away or feeding air to the GPU?
Click to expand...

feeding, but imo if you arent crashing in your games then dont worry about what happens in occt


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *barleywater*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> looking good
> 
> 
> 
> For the fan on the HDD cage, is it taking air away or feeding air to the GPU?
Click to expand...

Feeding obviously if you have an intake front fan.
I'd suggest to change the thermal grease with something better (like the AC MX4) and use some more intake fans, including one extra fan on the internal side of the hdd cage








I bet you'll see a lot of temp. drop.


----------



## amdzack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *barleywater*
> 
> MSI Global Graphics Card - R6870-2PM2D1GD5/OC
> Need help with this graphics card overclocking.
> I know this is the non-hawk edition so it's noisier with a bigger fan instead of twin fan, but the cooling fins should be as good.
> However,
> *No OC, no tweaking:*
> Stock voltage, Core 920 mhz and memory 1050 mhz,
> Idle temp up to 44 C
> Gaming temp up to 77 C
> Load temp on OCCT up to 86 C
> *No OC but fan settings tweaked on Afterburner:*
> Idle temp up to 44 C
> Gaming temp up to 75 C
> Load temp on OCCT up to 86 C (Still as hot)
> *OC and fan settings tweaked on Afterburner:*
> Voltage 1.25, Core 940 mhz and memory 1150 mhz,
> Idle temp up to 44 C
> Gaming temp up to 80 C
> Load temp on OCCT crash on 87 C
> OC and fan settings tweaked on Afterburner:
> Voltage 1.30, Core 970 mhz and memory 1150 mhz,
> Idle temp up to 44 C
> Gaming temp up to 85 C
> Load temp on OCCT crash on 87 C
> *Casing: HAF 912 Advanced: All fans on full speed, great cooling
> M5A97 Pro board: ambience 33 C to 35 C
> FX4100 CPU OC 4.5 Ghz unlocked 4 cores: 37 C to 49 C*
> The casing, board and CPU have low temperatures, idle or load.
> There is no chance I can up the voltage when the stock GPU already so hot at idle and load. I have googled and swam through forums; Saw some OC to 1000 mhz on non-hawk boards.
> Too many various answers I do not know if mine has got poor heatsink contact or it is just hot as it is. I am disappointed with MSI because my old GT9600 do not hit 75 C on OCCT. And my higher tier PC's ASUS R7850 do not hit 80 C on OCCT.


try check the VRM temp..usually crash on 80c+ due to the VRM..
1.3v should be able to reach 1GHz..
but gpu temperature


----------



## Krusher33

My card crashes in games when I hit 60 degrees on the core which is why I did the Kuhler mod.


----------



## 2therock

Question on the Saphire 3850 cooling, And possible Benefit of removing the cover,

I removed the plastic cover to replace the thermal compound with Artic Silver 5.
What it looks like to me is if I leave the plastic cover off I will get better cooling but want to ask here.
Or, is the law of physics requiring a fan to be blowing right on top of it.
Or I could just get a cooling block for my RASA RS240 kit I guess.

What say you...........?

I have...

The fan on the card.
A fan on my case door blowing inward right on top of the card.
A fan on the floor of the case blowing cool air from under the case that would hit the rear 1/3 portion of the card.
A set of fans above it in a Liquid cooling XSPC RASA RS240 kit pulling out of the case above it.
A set of front fans pushing over my hard drives towards the card.
A fan pushing out of the case at the top rear.
A fan exhausting behind the MoBo.


----------



## ihatelolcats

the cover is pretty useless imo


----------



## Krusher33

Case helps blow airflow over the VRM's and memory chips. But if you've got sufficient airflow flowing over the card, then you can do without the case.


----------



## spikexp

I wanted a third monitor/tv... 6850 don't support triple screen without an expensive active dp adapter...

Suck...


----------



## StarvinMarvin

this adapter will work and it's not too $$$.


----------



## spikexp

Yeah, I'm in canada.
Found an xfx one, not in the validate list from amd... LINK

But than, when I will change video card, I will need to buy a miniDP to DP


----------



## smoke420

A single 6850 is not going to be enough for eyefinity.even with crossfire you have to use medium settings on most games to stay above 60fps.


----------



## spikexp

No eyefinity, one of my screen is a 20 inch 1680x1050.
I want a monitor to replace my old 21 inch cathodic TV, will use it as extend my desktop at the same time.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> A single 6850 is not going to be enough for eyefinity.even with crossfire you have to use medium settings on most games to stay above 60fps.


It all depends on the games mate, I play any Source game at 100+ FPS no problem on my 6870.


----------



## rageofthepeon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> It all depends on the games mate, I play any Source game at 100+ FPS no problem on my 6870.


Source games are typically more reliant on the CPU rather than the GPU.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rageofthepeon*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> It all depends on the games mate, I play any Source game at 100+ FPS no problem on my 6870.
> 
> 
> 
> Source games are typically more reliant on the CPU rather than the GPU.
Click to expand...

And most CPU's that are at least an Athlon II X3 or i3 can chew through that requirement.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Hey guys!
It's been along time since I've posted here!

Anyway, what sort of FPS do you guys get in BF3?
I've been getting around 90FPS maxed, but I need to turn v-sync on because of microstutter (it's a b**** hey?)

I only get noticeable lag if i'm sniping using a M98B and scoping with the 12x scope onto an exploding vehicle. Which is rather obvious as to why, so i just turned FXAA down to 8x and its fine!

I've also got the cards running at 940/1200 using 1.21v as of tonight!
I'm getting temps of 80c on each card, which isn't too bad.
What's funny though is now that I've got my two 6850's I'm not getting the 74-75c bug anymore? Pretty sure I used to get it before I got my Z77 board. What's up with that?









I'm yet to play a game that these can't run great (usually max) but otherwise I'm forced to turn the AA down due to only 1GB vRAM. Well... Apart from Skyrim









and MW3.. But maybe that's 'cause it's not patched.....


----------



## chino1974

Hey guys quick question. I have 2 6870's in crossfire right now. I have them running at their stock clocks at the moment and they're running great. But I'm building a new rig in a Switch 810 and would like to upgrade to a newer gen card set-up or if not maybe just something better in the 6000 series. Right now I have the opportunity to get 1 7850 for a very good deal. My question is would the 7850 perform any better than 2 6870"s? Or should I just stick it out till I can get a 7950 or 7970 ? Like I said right now I love my set-up performance wise they're awesome. But like I said since I'm doiung a new rig it's either get a newer card now and add one more later or get the water blocks for my 6870's and add them to my loop.


----------



## ihatelolcats

they are about equal in performance as far as i can tell, so it would be a side-grade right now. however the 7850 is probably a better choice just because it has 2gb of memory. your power consumption and heat will be lower as well
if you can get it cheap and sell your 6870s you might actually make money
personally, i wont upgrade my 6870s until the next series comes out


----------



## dnnk

Hey, got myself a sapphire 6850!









And I got a quick question, am i able to xfire my 6850 with another one with a 620w PSU?


----------



## chino1974

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dnnk*
> 
> Hey, got myself a sapphire 6850!





And I got a quick question, am i able to xfire my 6850 with another one with a 620w PSU?

Yeah a 620 watt psu will handle it. I'm running 2 6870's on a 550 watt psu. My set-up includes a 2500k oc'd to 4.8GHZ,16 Gigs, 2-6870's,2-SSD's,1-HD,Optical drive,Custom water cooling loop 3-140mm fans,3-120mm fans,fan controller and a 2 meter red led kit. Before the case I'm in now I also had a corsair ram cooler also and this psu hasn't blinked.


----------



## Majorhi




----------



## Krusher33

Oh hai


----------



## Majorhi

I finally reached a stable OC on both cards at these settings. I had a couple BSODs a couple days ago trying to crank out more PPD.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Majorhi*
> 
> I finally reached a stable OC on both cards at these settings. I had a couple BSODs a couple days ago trying to crank out more PPD.


Keep in mind that folding on AMD cards is unlike folding on Nvidia's in that they tend to use the entire system. Meaning it could also be that your CPU or RAM was unstable and not the card.


----------



## Majorhi

I thought that. But once I brought the clocks down,1000 to 995 everything settled.It's up from 985 which I had been running for most of this month. Granted only a 5mhz reduction. 3:21-3:19 TPF.


----------



## Krusher33

That's pretty good for 6870's actually. From what I recall, most reaches about 950.


----------



## chino1974

Guys I know I ask alot of questions and you guys for the most part have been very patient and have helped me out alot. And for that I am very greatful







One more question for the gurus here. I have 2- 6870's crossfired as most of you know. They are not overclocked at the moment. How would a XFX 6950 with unlocked shaders to 6970 and oc'd to 6970 clock speeds compare to my set-up? I would like to upgrade my cards to a single card set-up that is at least as strong if not stronger. But I don't have the budget at the moment to go with a 7000 series card. I figured if it was worth doing I can throw in the 6950 for now and post my 6870's and also another GTX 570 I have here not doing anything for sale and when I get them sold then use that money towards either 2 7870's or a 7970 maybe ? But I'll only do it if the 6950 gives me the same or better performance.


----------



## Majorhi

I wouldn't go that route of 1 6970 vs a 6870 CF setup. Go *Here* and see for yourself.


----------



## ihatelolcats

^lol beat me

stick with what you have for now
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/301?vs=292


----------



## chino1974

Awesome thanks for the link guys.







You both get a Rep+ for that one







So what out there would be a good upgrade performance wise in the AMD single card lineup for me ?


----------



## Majorhi

I personally am gonna wait until the 8000 series comes out. Hopefully it'll drive the prices down.


----------



## chino1974

I was thinking the same thing at first but I have the patience of a banana. I also want to add my GPU to my loop but would really rather have something with a full block instead of universals. And full blocks for 6870's are hard to come by and when they do show up the prices are to high IMO. So I was thinking maybe upgrading now and adding it to the loop. But I might just end up bitting the bullet and getting 2 universal blocks and calling it a day till the 8000 series come out.







Also I have 1 reference card and 1 non-reference so it does help with the fullwater block issues either.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Majorhi*
> 
> I personally am gonna wait until the 8000 series comes out. Hopefully it'll drive the prices down.


same, i really like the specs on the 7850 maybe it will be cheap then


----------



## Krusher33

Prices are being driven down already.







A few weeks ago I think the used 6800's were still selling for $120+. Now that's the prices for new stuff and so I can't sell my card for that much anymore.


----------



## chino1974

Yeah I like the specs on the 7850 too. Maybe I'll just hold out alil longer and go with a crossfired 7800 set-up never know might be able to get 2 7870's if I wait long enough or even a set of 7900's


----------



## Le_Loup

Add me, teach me, be awesome.

ati Sapp 6870. 1gb. 950/1150 presently. When moving to new place in 2 weeks, will identify optimum temp for closed office, etc. (In winter, no ducts will be open, let room "chill" max.)

- Le_Loup


----------



## duhjuh

2 my crossfire 6870s just arent cutting it anymore im going to start saving up for 7950s and waterblocks maybe amds new gpus will be out by then and ill get one of those instead but on eyefinity batman has trouble gta has trouble at just 1080 let alone eyefinity and metro whew dont get me started!
in the mean time anything i can do to tweak my performance a lil?take note im running gigabyte windforce x3's so im kinda locked down
also if anyone wants to trade 2 ref cards for my 2 x3's id be happy to as id rather start water cooling my gpus anyway
they are great cards
they just arent fitting my needs anymore


----------



## ReDLaNcE

Hello, there.
I 've recently purchased an XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB DDR5 - Black Edition (HD-685X-ZNDC) and I have a problem with slight blurring at desktop (it sometimes appears and becomes more visible on icons&#8230; it looks like some liquid is on them).
Slight blurring appears while scrolling pages through the bar, too (doing the same thing slowly with mouse wheel is ok).
Also, flickering appears on most application-windows while resizing them to the left (extending them to the right seems ok), but resizing Catalyst Control Center's window to the right or resizing the same window while in "Pinned/AMD Home" to up, cause flickering as well.
Despite the above, the system is stable with no crashes and games run fine. I have tested FIFA 12 & Doom III, with full video details, until now.
Temps are fine&#8230; 42 to 50 Celcius while idle, 52 to 68 Celcius while gaming.
The running OS is Windows 7 x64 with the latest DX11 and currently installed drivers are AMD Catalyst v11.9&#8230;
I have tried all AMD Catalyst drivers that I 've found with no luck (CD drivers, 12.7, 12.6, 12.4, 12.3, 11.9, with or without AMD Application Profiles v12.7).

Furthermore, the following problems occur (but they simply disappear by changing from "Basic and High Contrast Themes" to "Aero Themes" through "Personalize" option):

1) WINDOWS:
1.1) window tearing while window resizing and sometimes while moving the window fast
1.2) right click menu items flashing after highlighting
1.3) window content flickering while scrolling page
1.4) task manager:
1.4.1) tabs flashing while highlighting
1.4.2) items flickering while resizing window
1.4.3) cpu load bar flickering (sometimes)
2) CATALYST CONTROL CENTER: picture inside Video/Color tab flickers while scrolling page

Another problem which made Windows Live Messenger to blur and some selection-bars in FIFA 12 to tear was solved by disabling "Morphological filtering". I have turned off "Enable Surface Format Optimization", too.

My system's specification is the following:
Graphics Card: XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB DDR5 - Black Edition (HD-685X-ZNDC)
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2032BW (LCD)
VGA: [email protected] (32 bit color)
Power Supply: L&C DR-8600BTX 600W
MB: ASUS P5K (LGA775)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo [email protected] 3.0GHZ
RAM: 4 x Kingston ValueRam DDR2 CL6 2GB = Total 8GB

I have tested both DVI-D and DVI-I ports using DVI cable and DVI-I port using DVI-to-RGB connector + RGB cable with the same results (DVI-D port does not work with RGB).
Also, I tried an HDTV screen (LG M2362D) using the above configuration with no better output, but the screen got more blurry with HDMI connection.

Below is the FurMark's result after 15 minutes (1st page on the left) and after 1 minute (the rest):
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/225/furmarkbench.jpg/

GPU-Z information:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/641/gpuzinfo.jpg/

Has anyone experienced something like that? Any recommendations?
Thanks in advance.

P.S. Sorry for the long post, but this issue bothers me for almost 2 weeks now&#8230;


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ReDLaNcE*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Hello, there.
> I 've recently purchased an XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB DDR5 - Black Edition (HD-685X-ZNDC) and I have a problem with slight blurring at desktop (it sometimes appears and becomes more visible on icons&#8230; it looks like some liquid is on them).
> Slight blurring appears while scrolling pages through the bar, too (doing the same thing slowly with mouse wheel is ok).
> Also, flickering appears on most application-windows while resizing them to the left (extending them to the right seems ok), but resizing Catalyst Control Center's window to the right or resizing the same window while in "Pinned/AMD Home" to up, cause flickering as well.
> Despite the above, the system is stable with no crashes and games run fine. I have tested FIFA 12 & Doom III, with full video details, until now.
> Temps are fine&#8230; 42 to 50 Celcius while idle, 52 to 68 Celcius while gaming.
> The running OS is Windows 7 x64 with the latest DX11 and currently installed drivers are AMD Catalyst v11.9&#8230;
> I have tried all AMD Catalyst drivers that I 've found with no luck (CD drivers, 12.7, 12.6, 12.4, 12.3, 11.9, with or without AMD Application Profiles v12.7).
> 
> Furthermore, the following problems occur (but they simply disappear by changing from "Basic and High Contrast Themes" to "Aero Themes" through "Personalize" option):
> 
> 1) WINDOWS:
> 1.1) window tearing while window resizing and sometimes while moving the window fast
> 1.2) right click menu items flashing after highlighting
> 1.3) window content flickering while scrolling page
> 1.4) task manager:
> 1.4.1) tabs flashing while highlighting
> 1.4.2) items flickering while resizing window
> 1.4.3) cpu load bar flickering (sometimes)
> 2) CATALYST CONTROL CENTER: picture inside Video/Color tab flickers while scrolling page
> 
> Another problem which made Windows Live Messenger to blur and some selection-bars in FIFA 12 to tear was solved by disabling "Morphological filtering". I have turned off "Enable Surface Format Optimization", too.
> 
> My system's specification is the following:
> Graphics Card: XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB DDR5 - Black Edition (HD-685X-ZNDC)
> Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2032BW (LCD)
> VGA: [email protected] (32 bit color)
> Power Supply: L&C DR-8600BTX 600W
> MB: ASUS P5K (LGA775)
> CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo [email protected] 3.0GHZ
> RAM: 4 x Kingston ValueRam DDR2 CL6 2GB = Total 8GB
> 
> I have tested both DVI-D and DVI-I ports using DVI cable and DVI-I port using DVI-to-RGB connector + RGB cable with the same results (DVI-D port does not work with RGB).
> Also, I tried an HDTV screen (LG M2362D) using the above configuration with no better output, but the screen got more blurry with HDMI connection.
> 
> Below is the FurMark's result after 15 minutes (1st page on the left) and after 1 minute (the rest):
> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/225/furmarkbench.jpg/
> 
> GPU-Z information:
> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/641/gpuzinfo.jpg/
> 
> Has anyone experienced something like that? Any recommendations?
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> P.S. Sorry for the long post, but this issue bothers me for almost 2 weeks now&#8230;


What video card did you have before installing this one?
So many driver installations may result in malfunctioning somehow, so I'm suggesting you to:

*- Option 1:* Download and install the Driver Sweeper 3.2.0 from *here*. Uninstall all catalyst and video driver. Restart windows in the safe mode. Launch Driver Sweeper and analyse & remove all the voices from AMD Display. Restart and install the whql catalyst 12.6

*- Option 2:* Format your pc and reinstall windows


----------



## ReDLaNcE

Thanks for your reply.

Previously, I had an Nvidia 8800GT 512mb installed and there were no such issues.
I had already used Driver Sweeper 3.2.0 after driver uninstallation, but I did it once more after you told me.
Specifically, I uninstalled AMD drivers, I rebooted into safe mode, I used Driver Sweeper 3.2.0 and deleted AMD+Nvidia files (I always do that even if I don't have to), I used CCleaner 3.21.1767 to clean registry as well (I double-check in order for all problems to be fixed), I rebooted into normal mode & installed AMD Catalyst 12.6 and then I rebooted again. No changes in output (it's not that bad, but I described the issue earlier).

But, I noticed something after this procedure... I scanned with CCleaner again and there's some issue with AMD registry:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/regissue.jpg/

Is it normal? I did not remove these registry values right now (in the past I have removed these with no changes as well)

P.S. As for Windows clean installation, I don't have the time now to do it... Maybe I will do it sometime in the future even if I don't think it's the cause right here.


----------



## Le_Loup

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ReDLaNcE*
> 
> Hello, there.
> I 've recently purchased an XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB DDR5 - Black Edition (HD-685X-ZNDC) and I have a problem with slight blurring at desktop (it sometimes appears and becomes more visible on icons&#8230; it looks like some liquid is on them).
> Slight blurring appears while scrolling pages through the bar, too (doing the same thing slowly with mouse wheel is ok).
> Also, flickering appears on most application-windows while resizing them to the left (extending them to the right seems ok), but resizing Catalyst Control Center's window to the right or resizing the same window while in "Pinned/AMD Home" to up, cause flickering as well.
> Despite the above, the system is stable with no crashes and games run fine. I have tested FIFA 12 & Doom III, with full video details, until now.
> Temps are fine&#8230; 42 to 50 Celcius while idle, 52 to 68 Celcius while gaming.
> The running OS is Windows 7 x64 with the latest DX11 and currently installed drivers are AMD Catalyst v11.9&#8230;
> I have tried all AMD Catalyst drivers that I 've found with no luck (CD drivers, 12.7, 12.6, 12.4, 12.3, 11.9, with or without AMD Application Profiles v12.7).
> Furthermore, the following problems occur (but they simply disappear by changing from "Basic and High Contrast Themes" to "Aero Themes" through "Personalize" option):
> 1) WINDOWS:
> 1.1) window tearing while window resizing and sometimes while moving the window fast
> 1.2) right click menu items flashing after highlighting
> 1.3) window content flickering while scrolling page
> 1.4) task manager:
> 1.4.1) tabs flashing while highlighting
> 1.4.2) items flickering while resizing window
> 1.4.3) cpu load bar flickering (sometimes)
> 2) CATALYST CONTROL CENTER: picture inside Video/Color tab flickers while scrolling page
> Another problem which made Windows Live Messenger to blur and some selection-bars in FIFA 12 to tear was solved by disabling "Morphological filtering". I have turned off "Enable Surface Format Optimization", too.
> My system's specification is the following:
> Graphics Card: XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB DDR5 - Black Edition (HD-685X-ZNDC)
> Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2032BW (LCD)
> VGA: [email protected] (32 bit color)
> Power Supply: L&C DR-8600BTX 600W
> MB: ASUS P5K (LGA775)
> CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo [email protected] 3.0GHZ
> RAM: 4 x Kingston ValueRam DDR2 CL6 2GB = Total 8GB
> I have tested both DVI-D and DVI-I ports using DVI cable and DVI-I port using DVI-to-RGB connector + RGB cable with the same results (DVI-D port does not work with RGB).
> Also, I tried an HDTV screen (LG M2362D) using the above configuration with no better output, but the screen got more blurry with HDMI connection.
> Below is the FurMark's result after 15 minutes (1st page on the left) and after 1 minute (the rest):
> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/225/furmarkbench.jpg/
> GPU-Z information:
> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/641/gpuzinfo.jpg/
> Has anyone experienced something like that? Any recommendations?
> Thanks in advance.
> P.S. Sorry for the long post, but this issue bothers me for almost 2 weeks now&#8230;


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> What video card did you have before installing this one?
> So many driver installations may result in malfunctioning somehow, so I'm suggesting you to:
> *- Option 1:* Download and install the Driver Sweeper 3.2.0 from *here*. Uninstall all catalyst and video driver. Restart windows in the safe mode. Launch Driver Sweeper and analyse & remove all the voices from AMD Display. Restart and install the whql catalyst 12.6
> *- Option 2:* Format your pc and reinstall windows


These are all great suggestions.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ReDLaNcE*
> 
> Thanks for your reply.
> Previously, I had an Nvidia 8800GT 512mb installed and there were no such issues.
> I had already used Driver Sweeper 3.2.0 after driver uninstallation, but I did it once more after you told me.
> Specifically, I uninstalled AMD drivers, I rebooted into safe mode, I used Driver Sweeper 3.2.0 and deleted AMD+Nvidia files (I always do that even if I don't have to), I used CCleaner 3.21.1767 to clean registry as well (I double-check in order for all problems to be fixed), I rebooted into normal mode & installed AMD Catalyst 12.6 and then I rebooted again. No changes in output (it's not that bad, but I described the issue earlier).
> But, I noticed something after this procedure... I scanned with CCleaner again and there's some issue with AMD registry:
> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/regissue.jpg/
> Is it normal? I did not remove these registry values right now (in the past I have removed these with no changes as well)
> P.S. As for Windows clean installation, I don't have the time now to do it... Maybe I will do it sometime in the future even if I don't think it's the cause right here.


If all else fails, if you do have a receipt, and do have the packaging, please return/swap, state it's defective issues, etc. Explain the methods of troubleshooting without voiding any form of warranty, and they should give you a new one...

I work in replacing various parts, and what you're describing has happened for a variety of video card errors, issues. Reinstalling drivers failed to fix, and I feel your pain.

If you have a SPARE 100gb - 1tb hdd, an entirely separate drive... simple idea... Instead of formatting and redoing windows... Just unplug ALL your drives... and plug in new drive, reinstall brand spanking new, and try again. This is technically an easier way to eliminate your OS as the problem, or finding that it IS. A hint more work in the end maybe, but preventative at the least.

- Le_Loup


----------



## Tokkan

I wonder if I would been able to put an Arctic Cooling Accelero xtreme III on my Sapphire's 6850...
Any1 with any experience regarding this?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ReDLaNcE*
> 
> Thanks for your reply.
> 
> Previously, I had an Nvidia 8800GT 512mb installed and there were no such issues.
> I had already used Driver Sweeper 3.2.0 after driver uninstallation, but I did it once more after you told me.
> Specifically, I uninstalled AMD drivers, I rebooted into safe mode, I used Driver Sweeper 3.2.0 and deleted AMD+Nvidia files (I always do that even if I don't have to), I used CCleaner 3.21.1767 to clean registry as well (I double-check in order for all problems to be fixed), I rebooted into normal mode & installed AMD Catalyst 12.6 and then I rebooted again. No changes in output (it's not that bad, but I described the issue earlier).
> 
> But, I noticed something after this procedure... I scanned with CCleaner again and there's some issue with AMD registry:
> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/regissue.jpg/
> 
> Is it normal? I did not remove these registry values right now (in the past I have removed these with no changes as well)
> 
> P.S. As for Windows clean installation, I don't have the time now to do it... Maybe I will do it sometime in the future even if I don't think it's the cause right here.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Le_Loup*
> 
> These are all great suggestions.
> 
> If all else fails, if you do have a receipt, and do have the packaging, please return/swap, state it's defective issues, etc. Explain the methods of troubleshooting without voiding any form of warranty, and they should give you a new one...
> 
> I work in replacing various parts, and what you're describing has happened for a variety of video card errors, issues. Reinstalling drivers failed to fix, and I feel your pain.
> 
> If you have a SPARE 100gb - 1tb hdd, an entirely separate drive... simple idea... Instead of formatting and redoing windows... Just unplug ALL your drives... and plug in new drive, reinstall brand spanking new, and try again. This is technically an easier way to eliminate your OS as the problem, or finding that it IS. A hint more work in the end maybe, but preventative at the least.
> 
> - Le_Loup


I don't have those registry Amd issues
I agree with what has been indicated to you above by Le_Loup
Even more, I'm quite sure it isn't the videocard, a full format and windows re-install is required (or at least advised) when you've swapped from an old nvidia to a AMD 6850 video card









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> I wonder if I would been able to put an Arctic Cooling Accelero xtreme III on my Sapphire's 6850...
> Any1 with any experience regarding this?


Why not?
It's fully compatible:

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/detail/index/sArticle/554/sCategory/2182
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/assistant/vga/chip/5

The only issue you might have is about your vrm heatsink. If this one (stock) is too high and so it won't clear the cooler then you'll have to use some of the many custom small haetsink bundled with your new Accelero and stick them using the thermal glue included.
This is how I did to my Gigabyte 6870 reference









http://cdn.overclock.net/3/3e/3e5e1cf6_20111123214255_S6300453.jpeg
http://cdn.overclock.net/6/6c/6cf8da7d_20111123214523_S6300479.jpeg

However two Accelero Twin Turbo II would be more than enough for your 6850's imo


----------



## .nikon

Could this club have the 6790 added since it is a crippled 6870? I would love to be part of this club.

Plus I put a 6850 in my roommates rig so I will grab a gpu-z of that as well but I would love to be added to this club due to my 6790(which is actually a really really good little card)

Thanks for the consideration if you do so at least.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Why not?
> It's fully compatible:
> http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/detail/index/sArticle/554/sCategory/2182
> http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/assistant/vga/chip/5
> The only issue you might have is about your vrm heatsink. If this one (stock) is too high and so it won't clear the cooler then you'll have to use some of the many custom small haetsink bundled with your new Accelero and stick them using the thermal glue included.
> This is how I did to my Gigabyte 6870 reference
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://cdn.overclock.net/3/3e/3e5e1cf6_20111123214255_S6300453.jpeg
> http://cdn.overclock.net/6/6c/6cf8da7d_20111123214523_S6300479.jpeg
> However two Accelero Twin Turbo II would be more than enough for your 6850's imo


Thanks,
Im getting them dirt cheap and new, like the links you sent me show they cost quite a bit but I can get my hands on two of them for arround 50 euros








So thats 25 euros per cooler brand new with full warranty and all accessories from the shop I bought my whole computer.
Edit: The cooler you mentioned would cost me 2 euros less. so that would be a total of 4 euros savings


----------



## arrow0309

Than get those Xtreme coolers and overtake the Ghz barrier


----------



## Ashtyr

If it helps you, my 6870 fully stable

HD 6870 Sapphire 1GB
1020 Core
1200 Ram
1.245 V

With custom fan profile , about 60% is not noisy, and maintains the temperature at levels of stock.

Absolutely wonderful card, and with this OC earned on average 10 fps in games at full quality, i mean BF3 ultra, Metro 2033 ultra, Crysis 2 ultra etc etc

Perhaps rise more, but i dont wanna go up more voltage, although I have seen people who had to 1.3V


----------



## arrow0309

I wouldn't recommend such high voltages unless an extreme aftermarket cooling or wc
I've already rma once and it took about three months for my 6870 Hawk to have it back
1Ghz gpu freq is more than enough for a 6870, memory over the 1150 is irrelevant for the video card's performance and around 1200 I'd suggest serious testing before like the OCCT gpu tool with error check (at least 15'). Watch for the errors, ensure you have enough cooling and stop the test if they're displayed on the screen

Serious full gpu load (98-99%) gaming (lots of titles) will work as well, however it will require plenty of time to confirm your oc stability


----------



## zwano

sapphire 6850!


----------



## REPUBLICOFGAMER

can i still get in????


----------



## REPUBLICOFGAMER

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *REPUBLICOFGAMER*
> 
> can i still get in????




HIS and a VISIONTEK

http://www.overclock.net/t/1288944/red-dawn-demon-build-log-rose-well-black-hawk-ultra-water-cooling-coming/0_20

i have these cards for about a year


----------



## Erper

Hi guys
Is it possible to CF 5850 with 6850
And if so what benefits would i get


----------



## R.D.BID

I heard that a 6870 is capable of running 4 monitors, is this true and if so, how is it done?


----------



## REPUBLICOFGAMER

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *R.D.BID*
> 
> I heard that a 6870 is capable of running 4 monitors, is this true and if so, how is it done?


eyefinity you need 4 dvi monitors and display adaptors


----------



## R.D.BID

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *REPUBLICOFGAMER*
> 
> eyefinity you need 4 dvi monitors and display adaptors


This is what I'm looking to do. (3x1 display group plus 1 extended) with the monitor in extended being a HDTV.



None of my monitors nor the TV are display port capable, but I do have active adaptors.


----------



## Erper

Hi guys
Is it possible to CF 5850 with 6850
And if so what benefits would i get

HEEEELLLLLOOOOO


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *R.D.BID*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *REPUBLICOFGAMER*
> 
> eyefinity you need 4 dvi monitors and display adaptors
> 
> 
> 
> This is what I'm looking to do. (3x1 display group plus 1 extended) with the monitor in extended being a HDTV.
> 
> 
> 
> None of my monitors nor the TV are display port capable, but I do have active adaptors.
Click to expand...

I did 3x1 + 1 on my reference 6870 no problem. You will need to use the two display ports, HDMI, and top DVI port since the offset DVI is shared with the HDMI.


----------



## R.D.BID

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> I did 3x1 + 1 on my reference 6870 no problem. You will need to use the two display ports, HDMI, and top DVI port since the offset DVI is shared with the HDMI.


Excellent, thank you sir.

I +rep you even though you can't recieve it.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Erper*
> 
> Hi guys
> Is it possible to CF 5850 with 6850
> And if so what benefits would i get
> HEEEELLLLLOOOOO




Source: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/technology/Pages/crossfirex.aspx


----------



## Krusher33

Overclock.net has a monthly Team Competition where 20 teams of 6 members fold competitively. Stats are tracked for users and teams. The minimum folding requirement for the competition is 20/7 although 24/7 is preferred.

*If you're interested in joining, please fill out* this form.

Here are a few helpful links containing information on the competition: Vacant TC Positions | Live TC Standings | Team Competition Manual


----------



## Erper

So it cant ...
Whic onr would be better for bigger screens with 1920 resolution???


----------



## R.D.BID

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Overclock.net has a monthly Team Competition where 20 teams of 6 members fold competitively. Stats are tracked for users and teams. The minimum folding requirement for the competition is 20/7 although 24/7 is preferred.
> *If you're interested in joining, please fill out* this form.
> Here are a few helpful links containing information on the competition: Vacant TC Positions | Live TC Standings | Team Competition Manual


It's a great cause.

And so is BOINC. The OCN BOINC Team is holding the monthly BOINC'ers Gone Bonkers competition (BGB).
Just click on the link in my sig if you're interested.

Most of the BOINC projects are ATI/AMD GPU optimized. Smash work units on the project of your choice with your ATI card and Team OCN BOINC!


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Erper*
> 
> So it cant ...
> Whic onr would be better for bigger screens with 1920 resolution???


5850, but not by much. Are you buying a new one or have 1 of each already?

Bench comparisons: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/539?vs=512


----------



## Erper

I have saphire 6850
But got gigabyte 5850 oc edition for €70...
So i was thinking which would be good to stay...


----------



## Krusher33

Personally, I'd probably sell both and go for a 7800 card.


----------



## Erper

I looked for comparison between those 3 cards and only in 2 high demanded games 7850 wins...


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Erper*
> 
> I have saphire 6850
> But got gigabyte 5850 oc edition for €70...
> So i was thinking which would be good to stay...


HD 5850 is slightly faster than HD 6850 . Though as said above selling both the cards and getting a HD 7850 might be a better idea. it overclocks easily to 1.2 Ghz and close to GTX 580 performance.


----------



## Krusher33

Source? On the anandtech's site, 7850 performed better in everything over the 5850.


----------



## Erper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *raghu78*
> 
> HD 5850 is slightly faster than HD 6850 . Though as said above selling both the cards and getting a HD 7850 might be a better idea. it overclocks easily to 1.2 Ghz and close to GTX 580 performance.


still too expensive...
240 for saphire


----------



## Erper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Source? On the anandtech's site, 7850 performed better in everything over the 5850.


SOURCE

This One


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Erper*
> 
> still too expensive...
> 240 for saphire


MSI HD 7850 OC for USD 215 after rebate
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2316882&CatId=7387

you are forgetting that HD 7850 has a lot more overclocking headroom than HD 5850. HD 5850 will hit 900 - 925 Mhz beyond which its quite difficult whereas HD 7850 can easily hit 1.2 Ghz (and even upto 1.3 Ghz in some cases) with voltage tweaking.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7850_PCS_Plus/9.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7850_PCS_Plus/31.html

BF3 1920 x 1200 4x AA

HD 5870 - 35.1
GTX 570 - 45.3
HD 7850 (1 Ghz) - 45.4
HD 7870(1 Ghz) - 49.5
HD 7850(1.24 Ghz) - 50.2
GTX 580 - 51.7

HD 7850 performance in DX11 games will be much better than HD 5850 when both cards are overclocked.


----------



## Krusher33

^what he said.

In the marketplace, the 6850 are selling for about $100+ and the 5850 are selling for about $150.


----------



## Erper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *raghu78*
> 
> MSI HD 7850 OC for USD 215 after rebate
> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2316882&CatId=7387
> you are forgetting that HD 7850 has a lot more overclocking headroom than HD 5850. HD 5850 will hit 900 - 925 Mhz beyond which its quite difficult whereas HD 7850 can easily hit 1.2 Ghz (and even upto 1.3 Ghz in some cases) with voltage tweaking.
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7850_PCS_Plus/9.html
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7850_PCS_Plus/31.html
> BF3 1920 x 1200 4x AA
> HD 5870 - 35.1
> GTX 570 - 45.3
> HD 7850 (1 Ghz) - 45.4
> HD 7870(1 Ghz) - 49.5
> HD 7850(1.24 Ghz) - 50.2
> GTX 580 - 51.7
> HD 7850 performance in DX11 games will be much better than HD 5850 when both cards are overclocked.


the price is usa is ok, but in europe its €240 which is much more expensive + 15e for delivery
in usa its €175


----------



## Krusher33

Europe must not have gotten the memo to drop prices, lol.


----------



## Erper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Europe must not have gotten the memo to drop prices, lol.


exactly
so when that happen ill probably go for 7850


----------



## dnnk

Add me to list?


----------



## REPUBLICOFGAMER

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Erper*
> 
> Hi guys
> Is it possible to CF 5850 with 6850
> And if so what benefits would i get
> HEEEELLLLLOOOOO


no u need the same model card


----------



## smoke420

I have 2 h60's to cool my cards now how to mount them????????


----------



## REPUBLICOFGAMER

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> I have 2 h60's to cool my cards now how to mount them????????


ummm lol H60 is for cpu


----------



## REPUBLICOFGAMER

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *REPUBLICOFGAMER*
> 
> ummm lol H60 is for cpu


this is the only closed loop for video cards http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186067


----------



## fester99

While the product is intended for a cpu that is what modding is about,

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1175773&mpage=1

it is not pretty but it is possible.






And finally consider this post

http://www.overclock.net/t/1237219/tript-cc-620-920-h50-h70-gpu-brackets-fan-grills-custom-case-badges


----------



## REPUBLICOFGAMER

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fester99*
> 
> While the product is intended for a cpu that is what modding is about,
> http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1175773&mpage=1
> it is not pretty but it is possible.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And finally consider this post
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1237219/tript-cc-620-920-h50-h70-gpu-brackets-fan-grills-custom-case-badges


well i woldent do it ik the guy he does great work but i wouldent rish my GPU's im too poor lol


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *REPUBLICOFGAMER*
> 
> ummm lol H60 is for cpu


ummm no they cool whatever I want them to cool.And right now there cooling my gpu's and very effectively.

The h60 mounted on the 6850.Card would not fit on motherboard I had to turn it around so the hoses wouldn't be in the way.


after install


The mod was a lot easier than i thought no zip ties needed at all.I only used the mounting hardware that came with the cooler. I used a drill to make some holes in the supplied amd bracket closer to the pump and used supplied thumb screws on the other side of the card to hold it down.I took my time to make sure i didn't hurt anything but it came out great.All of my corsair coolers are in push/pull that's a h50 on my cpu and a h60 on each of my 6850's .I also put one of my stock 6850 coolers on my 9600 gso that im using for physx and to watch movies on my old tv.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *REPUBLICOFGAMER*
> 
> well i woldent do it ik the guy he does great work but i wouldent rish my GPU's im too poor lol


I had an Antec 620 on my 6850. There's really little risk in it. I was able to have it at 1000/1200 @ 1.3v and still only got 50-55 degrees. Didn't need the fan on full blast either.


----------



## REPUBLICOFGAMER

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I had an Antec 620 on my 6850. There's really little risk in it. I was able to have it at 1000/1200 @ 1.3v and still only got 50-55 degrees. Didn't need the fan on full blast either.


well yea i see theres mounts for it i just don't trust me self to rig it like that id rather mod it and use a water block and the rad and pump from h60 h60 h100 etc


----------



## Erper

i found one more card...
gigabyte 6950 1gb €140
might go for that too..
and get rid of 6850 and 5850


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Erper*
> 
> i found one more card...
> gigabyte 6950 1gb €140
> might go for that too..
> and get rid of 6850 and 5850


If you can find a 2 Gb one, you may have a chance of unlocking it to a 6970.


----------



## Erper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> If you can find a 2 Gb one, you may have a chance of unlocking it to a 6970.


kind a hard for this money


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *REPUBLICOFGAMER*
> 
> well yea i see theres mounts for it i just don't trust me self to rig it like that id rather mod it and use a water block and the rad and pump from h60 h60 h100 etc


Im using the mounting hardware that came with the kit just had to add 2 new holes so it would line up.personally I think thats a lot less risky than cutting open the loop and adding a waterblock.When you add something to these small closed loop systems you are more likely to prematurely kill the pump.I can tell you for sure it is seated just fine and my temps can confirm this.It is completely secure and no chance of it falling off or coming loose.Dwood's mounting bracket is the way to go if your scared to figure it out for yourself.And if your scared to drill two holes cutting into the loop is probably not the right direction for you to go anyway.Personally I think his brackets are great but if I used one I don't really think I could say I modded anything.

After 45 min of kombuster they never got higher than 52c in a warm room.Thats overclocked to 1Ghz from 790mhz and overvolted to 1.268v from 1.149.Im very impressed to say the least.


----------



## Krusher33

Personally I'd say there's as much risk to hooking up an closed loop to a CPU as there is to a GPU. I don't see any difference?


----------



## smoke420

I totally agree, but if you cut into the loop to add a gpu block that all goes out the window.
I could not be happier . idle 38c top card and 36c bottom card with eyefinity and 52c load after 45 mins of stability testing.


----------



## Krusher33

I don't think he realized that you don't have to cut the loop and add a gpu block though.


----------



## katates

Hey guys i am new here. I have XFX DUAL FAN HD6850. Plz add me. And i wanna overclock with Sapphire Trixx what do you suggest me to do?


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I don't think he realized that you don't have to cut the loop and add a gpu block though.


Yeah I think he doesn't realize you can mount a closed loop cooler the way it comes. I have an extra bracket from DWOOD that I used to mount an h50 onto my 6870 for a short time. I took them off once I started my new build and am going to be adding to universal block onto my loop. But if you have a closed loop around or can get one cheap that's the way to go if you don't want to spend the cash adding it to a custom loop. The temps drop dramatically. And with DWOODs brackets they are as easy to install as it it to install it to your CPU


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *katates*
> 
> Hey guys i am new here. I have XFX DUAL FAN HD6850. Plz add me. And i wanna overclock with Sapphire Trixx what do you suggest me to do?


You can follow this guide starting at step 3: http://www.overclock.net/t/633816/how-to-overclock-your-amd-ati-gpu/0_50

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I don't think he realized that you don't have to cut the loop and add a gpu block though.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah I think he doesn't realize you can mount a closed loop cooler the way it comes. I have an extra bracket from DWOOD that I used to mount an h50 onto my 6870 for a short time. I took them off once I started my new build and am going to be adding to universal block onto my loop. But if you have a closed loop around or can get one cheap that's the way to go if you don't want to spend the cash adding it to a custom loop. The temps drop dramatically. And with DWOODs brackets they are as easy to install as it it to install it to your CPU
Click to expand...

Oh my gosh I'm going through the same thing. Sort of. I actually sold my 6850 that had the mod on it. Upgraded to an unlocked 6950 and got a MCW82 block plus D5 pump, Black Ice 240 rad, and micro res.

Replacing the H60 that was on my CPU with a RASA 240 kit.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> You can follow this guide starting at step 3: http://www.overclock.net/t/633816/how-to-overclock-your-amd-ati-gpu/0_50
> Oh my gosh I'm going through the same thing. Sort of. I actually sold my 6850 that had the mod on it. Upgraded to an unlocked 6950 and got a MCW82 block plus D5 pump, Black Ice 240 rad, and micro res.
> Replacing the H60 that was on my CPU with a RASA 240 kit.


Thats cool I went with the XSPC Raystorm universal GPU block so it matches my Raystorm CPU block. It was ether the XSPC or the MCW82. I have Swiftech 360 and 120 rads up top and in the front of my switch with a Danger Den RAD-Reservoir and a Jingway Tech DP600P pump which I will be swapping for something alil better when the budget allows


----------



## chino1974

I wanted to get a 6950 or 70 but seeing that my 6870 was pretty new and never gave me any issues. I went with a second one for crossfire it was also alot cheaper. I must say I love my crossfired 6870 set-up. I haven't found a game it can't handle. I was going to upgrade to a 7000 series but I decided to wait till the 8000 hit.


----------



## ReDLaNcE

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Le_Loup*
> 
> These are all great suggestions.
> If all else fails, if you do have a receipt, and do have the packaging, please return/swap, state it's defective issues, etc. Explain the methods of troubleshooting without voiding any form of warranty, and they should give you a new one...
> I work in replacing various parts, and what you're describing has happened for a variety of video card errors, issues. Reinstalling drivers failed to fix, and I feel your pain.
> If you have a SPARE 100gb - 1tb hdd, an entirely separate drive... simple idea... Instead of formatting and redoing windows... Just unplug ALL your drives... and plug in new drive, reinstall brand spanking new, and try again. This is technically an easier way to eliminate your OS as the problem, or finding that it IS. A hint more work in the end maybe, but preventative at the least.
> - Le_Loup


Well, I have an update here.

I did a fresh installation of Win7 32bit and the outcome is exactly the same like before using AMD Catalyst 12.6 .
Furthermore, I scanned with CCleaner and these registry values I mentioned re-appeared as well.

I 've also tried to see what's happening using my 2nd older pc which also runs Win7 32bit and has an old Nvidia 6800 installed (AGP rulez, lol).
Those issues, I 've described in category 1, do also appear with this Nvidia card except 1.4.1 using the same Windows configuration (profile themes etc) !

So, I guess it's a software/driver issue, after all, which is related to desktop graphics of Windows and the drivers of both graphics companies.
I think I have overdone it and paid too much attention in detail-level after my new 6850 purchase, so that I 've noticed all these stuff I hadn't done before with my previous graphics cards.

As for slight blurring, I think I over-rated that as well.
Actually, it's happening just for a moment after expanding tabs in CCC or after loading webpages.
Page-scrolling is about the same using both PCs, too.

Anyway, here's the screens with the fresh installation:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/gpuzinfowin7x86.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/836/furmarkbenchscoreswin7x.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/217/furmarkbench1win7x86.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/823/furmarkbench2win7x86.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/10/furmarkbench3win7x86.jpg/

So, after all this procedure, a little rest could help!
Cheers.


----------



## katates

Should i overclock XFX DUAL FAN HD6850? What it brings me?


----------



## sinnedone

Hello All

I have a XFX HD 6870 Dual fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521that I want to overclock but have a couple of qustions about adjusting voltage.I seem to find conflicting info on the web. Some say it cant be done and others say it can be done on this card.

I tried using afterburner 2.2.3 and checking the boxes for changing voltage in settings and doing the regedit trick adding in the disclaimer and changing setting to allow voltage adjustments but still cannot change voltage. I also tried trixx but that doesnt change voltage either.

Im running the latest driver and ccc.

I can get the gpu up to 930 stable in furmark and other tests benchmarks but as soon as I play Battlefield 3 it dumps the driver and recovers. Could that be the voltage issue or is that a known driver issue?

Thanks for the help.


----------



## Krusher33

Voltage issue sadly.

Did you copy/paste the disclaimer? You've restarted AB? Double check the config file.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Hello All
> 
> I have a XFX HD 6870 Dual fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521that I want to overclock but have a couple of qustions about adjusting voltage.I seem to find conflicting info on the web. Some say it cant be done and others say it can be done on this card.
> 
> I tried using afterburner 2.2.3 and checking the boxes for changing voltage in settings and doing the regedit trick adding in the disclaimer and changing setting to allow voltage adjustments but still cannot change voltage. I also tried trixx but that doesnt change voltage either.
> 
> Im running the latest driver and ccc.
> 
> I can get the gpu up to 930 stable in furmark and other tests benchmarks but as soon as I play Battlefield 3 it dumps the driver and recovers. Could that be the voltage issue or is that a known driver issue?
> 
> Thanks for the help.


I can tell you for sure you will not have software voltage control with this board (if it is a HD-687A-ZDFC) couse it uses a different vrm solution and a cheaper pwm that lacks of the I2C interface:



My advice is to get another 6870 and run a crossfire
You won't ever have to get over 930Mhz with two HD6870, they simply work fine at this clock (and it is mine too)


----------



## Krusher33

Well that's a bummer.


----------



## sinnedone

Thanks for the replies.

I am happy with the card as is but like to tinker with my system.

Theres no good ol pencil trick for this? lol

The picture you posted arrow0309, is that of yours? The ram chips look like theres a thermal pad on them?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Hello All
> 
> I have a XFX HD 6870 Dual fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521that I want to overclock but have a couple of qustions about adjusting voltage.I seem to find conflicting info on the web. Some say it cant be done and others say it can be done on this card.
> 
> I tried using afterburner 2.2.3 and checking the boxes for changing voltage in settings and doing the regedit trick adding in the disclaimer and changing setting to allow voltage adjustments but still cannot change voltage. I also tried trixx but that doesnt change voltage either.
> 
> Im running the latest driver and ccc.
> 
> I can get the gpu up to 930 stable in furmark and other tests benchmarks but as soon as I play Battlefield 3 it dumps the driver and recovers. Could that be the voltage issue or is that a known driver issue?
> 
> Thanks for the help.
> 
> 
> 
> I can tell you for sure you will not have software voltage control with this board (if it is a HD-687A-ZDFC) couse it uses a different vrm solution and a cheaper pwm that lacks of the I2C interface:
> 
> My advice is to get another 6870 and run a crossfire
> You won't ever have to get over 930Mhz with two HD6870, they simply work fine at this clock (and it is mine too)
Click to expand...

i also run 930 lol


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Thanks for the replies.
> 
> I am happy with the card as is but like to tinker with my system.
> 
> Theres no good ol pencil trick for this? lol
> 
> The picture you posted arrow0309, is that of yours? The ram chips look like theres a thermal pad on them?


As the matter of facts i posted a pic of *your* video card
My two 6870 are:

- one reference (Gigabyte):



- and a MSI 6870 Hawk:



In that picture of the Xfx 6870 there really were some thermal pads on, couse the guy wanted to get her under water, fully covered with an EKWB
But he wasn't that lucky, the full cover wb only fits to the reference models:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1260702/the-bbw-build#post_17305457


----------



## katates

It says 4000mhz effective but gpu-z says 1000mhz?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i also run 930 lol


Yeah, is quite enough in cf for most of the games
I have my Hawk clocked at 930 by default and somehow, using the MSI's ab it became the default clock for my reference too


----------



## sinnedone

Would buying another xfx hd 6870 and crossfiring give better results than say a single hd 6950 2gb?

I only use one monitor and sometimes out to mt hdtv for either gaming or movies. I thought crossfiring was only for some eyefinity multi monitor setups and thats where it benefitted?


----------



## Erper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Would buying another xfx hd 6870 and crossfiring give better results than say a single hd 6950 2gb?
> I only use one monitor and sometimes out to mt hdtv for either gaming or movies. I thought crossfiring was only for some eyefinity multi monitor setups and thats where it benefitted?


you would be better of buying better card as it would use less power
as for 6870x2 vs single 6950 it would be faster by 10-15%


----------



## arrow0309

That is not correct
An HD6870 CF or a 6870x2 outperforms a single HD6950 by up to 30%

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6870_X2/27.html



@sinnedone
Get your second 6870 if you can afford it and if your mainboard will allow it (a core i5-i7 or a Phenom x4 running at 3.8Ghz is required imho)
And your dx11 gaming will double your framerate









And yeah, will consume more than a single card but only when gaming and the power consumption will be about the same as one single GTX580 or maybe a bit more:


----------



## sinnedone

Another questions to anyone using this card with hdmi to tv, have you had any strange issues with it?

I have an Asus P8P67 PRO Rev 3.1 mb and when the hdmi cable is connected to my tv I get no boot logo and my EuFI BIOS is not resolutioned correctly. Both Asus and XFX have said theyve run into this problem before but neither could suggest a fix. Anyone else this happened to and if so did you find a fix?

arrow0309 Does the HD 6870 really outperform the HD 6950 like the graps you posted? I looked around the web and it seemed it was the other way around.


----------



## Erper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Another questions to anyone using this card with hdmi to tv, have you had any strange issues with it?
> I have an Asus P8P67 PRO Rev 3.1 mb and when the hdmi cable is connected to my tv I get no boot logo and my EuFI BIOS is not resolutioned correctly. Both Asus and XFX have said theyve run into this problem before but neither could suggest a fix. Anyone else this happened to and if so did you find a fix?
> arrow0309 Does the HD 6870 really outperform the HD 6950 like the graps you posted? I looked around the web and it seemed it was the other way around.


single 6870 is weaker than single 6950
CF 6870 is better 6950


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Another questions to anyone using this card with hdmi to tv, have you had any strange issues with it?
> I have an Asus P8P67 PRO Rev 3.1 mb and when the hdmi cable is connected to my tv I get no boot logo and my EuFI BIOS is not resolutioned correctly. Both Asus and XFX have said theyve run into this problem before but neither could suggest a fix. Anyone else this happened to and if so did you find a fix?
> arrow0309 Does the HD 6870 really outperform the HD 6950 like the graps you posted? I looked around the web and it seemed it was the other way around.


Take it from someone who has a crossfired 6870 set-up. Yes they will definitely outperform a 6950. And as for double your framerate no not double but you'll get about a 30-40% boost. I was asking the same questions a few months ago when I wanted to upgrade my 6870. I did alot of asking and research and decided it was cheaper for now and better outcome to crossfire my 6870 with another one than change cards. Unless your willing to spend $350-400 for a 7950-7970. And then you wont really be boosting it so much more as to make it worth speding that much just yet. If I were in your shoes and I was I would go Crossfire and wait till 8000 series comes out before fully upgrading.


----------



## dnnk

How would a 6850 x 6870 compare against a 6950, if I might ask?

I got my 6850 on a budget build, and basically i dont have much have a budget anymore, but i definitely dont wanna waste my 6850 and get 2 6870s. And as a personal reference, i'd rather get 2 6850's for looks. lol.


----------



## smoke420

crossfire 6850's is not much behind a 6850 + 6870 setup.I would go as far as saying you will see no difference in anything but benchmarks and even then very small. 6850's are great granted you have to turn down settings in some game for eyefinity but for a playing games at 1080p you wont be disappointed. One thing is you have to really look as I wouldn't buy one without voltage control it makes a big difference in overclocking.I get great performance out of my cards at 1000/1050. could go even higher but no need.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dnnk*
> 
> How would a 6850 x 6870 compare against a 6950, if I might ask?
> I got my 6850 on a budget build, and basically i dont have much have a budget anymore, but i definitely dont wanna waste my 6850 and get 2 6870s. And as a personal reference, i'd rather get 2 6850's for looks. lol.


If your going to have to buy the second card for the crossfire just buy the 6850. I say this because even though you can crossfire a 6850 and 6870 you still only get the performance of a 6850 crossfire set-up. The 6870 automatically runs at 6850 speeds in crossfire. This will happen any time you run crossfire with two card from same series but different model. Like 6850-6870 or 6950-6970 ect. So if you don't already have both cards save your money and get another 6850. I never personally used a 6850 crossfire so don't know first hand the performance but if it's anywhere near a cf 6870 you'll be impressed. Rmemeber no you will not see absolutely no difference between a CF 6850 set-up and a CF 6850+6870 set-up. They will automatically clock down to 6850 speeds.


----------



## chino1974

Oh and as for difference from CF 6850 and single 6950 try this link you can compare any gpu or cpu set-up with this and get good numbers. It's from Anandtech http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/302?vs=293
I got this from a member here alil while ago and it is now my go to whenever thers a question regarding comparing performance numbers for and gpu or cpu. As you see by this link the CF 6850 set-up outperforms a single 6950 by between 5-20 fps in diferents games. In short it'll poutperform it in all games by at least 5 fps. Not it's up to you to decide if it's worth the added power consumption and heat from having 2 gpu's in your build.


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dnnk*
> 
> How would a 6850 x 6870 compare against a 6950, if I might ask?
> I got my 6850 on a budget build, and basically i dont have much have a budget anymore, but i definitely dont wanna waste my 6850 and get 2 6870s. And as a personal reference, i'd rather get 2 6850's for looks. lol.


Sell your HD 6850 . should get you 100 bucks. You have two options. Spend another 150 bucks and get a HD 7870 . If you can spend USD 210 more get the HD 7950 OC.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125414
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150604

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_7950_Flex/31.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_7870_Flex/31.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7850_PCS_Plus/9.html

BF3 1920 X 1200 4X AA
HD 6870 - 31.4
HD 7850 (1000 Mhz) - 45.4
HD 7870 (1000 Mhz ) - 49.5
HD 7870 (1215 Mhz) - 56.6
HD 7950 (860 Mhz) - 57.1
HD 7950 (1025 Mhz) - 69.7

You are looking at more than 2x the perf of HD 6870 with a HD 7950 OC and close to 1.6 - 1.8x the perf with HD 7870 OC.


----------



## Catscratch

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> crossfire 6850's is not much behind a 6850 + 6870 setup.I would go as far as saying you will see no difference in anything but benchmarks and even then very small. 6850's are great granted you have to turn down settings in some game for eyefinity but for a playing games at 1080p you wont be disappointed. One thing is you have to really look as I wouldn't buy one without voltage control it makes a big difference in overclocking.I get great performance out of my cards at 1000/1050. could go even higher but no need.


Woah, I wonder how 6850 CF at 1ghz would perform







Well, the prices aren't going anywhere down even with 7000 series released here, so i'm also thinking of going 6850 CF. However, I can't decide on the cooler.

Accelero L2 Plus vs Accelero S1 Rev.2

Even on their own site, Accelero L2 Plus is pretty bad cooling at 2k rpm, 7770 60.4c, 6850 has higher TDP so, i'm going towards S1 Rev.2. Actually S1 PLUS can do 61c on 7770 in passive Mode ! And 48.5c with a 12cm fan. S1 Rev.2 shouldn't be far behind.

And, L2 Plus height is 51mm with fan and S1 Rev.2 should be around 18.5mm + 25 = 43.5mm which is lower so a bit more space under it.

PS: Sapphire 6850 is 150$ but 7850 is 275$ here. That's why I can't upgrade. 7770 doesn't make sense. There are no direct comparisons on internet on 77xx CF vs 68xx CF because all review sites have "contracts" with manufacturers. If they show 6850 CF beats the crap outta even 7770 CF (which is true), how would they sell







*I hate AMD for downgrading 6800 series to 7700 series and making the correct segment 7800 series overpriced. Failure.*


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Catscratch*
> 
> Woah, I wonder how 6850 CF at 1ghz would perform
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, the prices aren't going anywhere down even with 7000 series released here, so i'm also thinking of going 6850 CF. However, I can't decide on


With Nvidia's GTX 660 Ti releasing on Aug 16th and GTX 660 in early Sep the prices on HD 7800 cards are finally going to come down. It would be a good option to wait till Sep end and watch out for good deals on HD 7850 and HD 7870.


----------



## Catscratch

Probably. Well it's not going to change much here since, they can't sell 7850/70 so they will still sell them at the price point they bought and if Nvidia is careful with the pricing, they'll beat 7800 series here. AMD really dropped the ball.

Another example, There are 560TI at the same price with 7850 here







So how would you say 560ti sell here ? at the moment, Poorly of course


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Catscratch*
> 
> Probably. Well it's not going to change much here since, they can't sell 7850/70 so they will still sell them at the price point they bought and if Nvidia is careful with the pricing, they'll beat 7800 series here. AMD really dropped the ball.
> Another example, There are 560TI at the same price with 7850 here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So how would you say 560ti sell here ? at the moment, Poorly of course


There is a slight difference. Nvidia is winding down GTX 560/ GTX 560 Ti production and so really does not bother a lot with pricing. Whatever is left in the channel will be picked up by end users and resellers might cut prices to clear stock when GTX 660 launches at the same price point. On the other AMD HD 7800 series are going to be ramping even higher in production with higher volumes available. So definitely you can expect fierce price competition. .


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Catscratch*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> crossfire 6850's is not much behind a 6850 + 6870 setup.I would go as far as saying you will see no difference in anything but benchmarks and even then very small. 6850's are great granted you have to turn down settings in some game for eyefinity but for a playing games at 1080p you wont be disappointed. One thing is you have to really look as I wouldn't buy one without voltage control it makes a big difference in overclocking.I get great performance out of my cards at 1000/1050. could go even higher but no need.
> 
> 
> 
> Woah, I wonder how 6850 CF at 1ghz would perform
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, the prices aren't going anywhere down even with 7000 series released here, so i'm also thinking of going 6850 CF. However, I can't decide on the cooler.
> 
> Accelero L2 Plus vs Accelero S1 Rev.2
> 
> Even on their own site, Accelero L2 Plus is pretty bad cooling at 2k rpm, 7770 60.4c, 6850 has higher TDP so, i'm going towards S1 Rev.2. Actually S1 PLUS can do 61c on 7770 in passive Mode ! And 48.5c with a 12cm fan. S1 Rev.2 shouldn't be far behind.
> 
> And, L2 Plus height is 51mm with fan and S1 Rev.2 should be around 18.5mm + 25 = 43.5mm which is lower so a bit more space under it.
> 
> PS: Sapphire 6850 is 150$ but 7850 is 275$ here. That's why I can't upgrade. 7770 doesn't make sense. There are no direct comparisons on internet on 77xx CF vs 68xx CF because all review sites have "contracts" with manufacturers. If they show 6850 CF beats the crap outta even 7770 CF (which is true), how would they sell
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *I hate AMD for downgrading 6800 series to 7700 series and making the correct segment 7800 series overpriced. Failure.*
Click to expand...

Accelero L2 Plus is not good in a crossfire configuration. my friend had two on 5770s and the top card overheated no matter what


----------



## sinnedone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Take it from someone who has a crossfired 6870 set-up. Yes they will definitely outperform a 6950. And as for double your framerate no not double but you'll get about a 30-40% boost. I was asking the same questions a few months ago when I wanted to upgrade my 6870. I did alot of asking and research and decided it was cheaper for now and better outcome to crossfire my 6870 with another one than change cards. Unless your willing to spend $350-400 for a 7950-7970. And then you wont really be boosting it so much more as to make it worth speding that much just yet. If I were in your shoes and I was I would go Crossfire and wait till 8000 series comes out before fully upgrading.


Are you using a single monitor?

There was definately an increase of 30-40% with single monitor?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Take it from someone who has a crossfired 6870 set-up. Yes they will definitely outperform a 6950. And as for double your framerate no not double but you'll get about a 30-40% boost. I was asking the same questions a few months ago when I wanted to upgrade my 6870. I did alot of asking and research and decided it was cheaper for now and better outcome to crossfire my 6870 with another one than change cards. Unless your willing to spend $350-400 for a 7950-7970. And then you wont really be boosting it so much more as to make it worth speding that much just yet. If I were in your shoes and I was I would go Crossfire and wait till 8000 series comes out before fully upgrading.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you using a single monitor?
> 
> There was definately an increase of 30-40% with single monitor?
Click to expand...

in heaven benchmark i got exactly a 100% increase in performance
in games i'd say it's like 75-90% depending on the game http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/301?vs=290


----------



## sinnedone

Battlefield 3


----------



## ihatelolcats

http://www.overclock.net/t/1217195/hd-6870-crossfirex-bf3-performance#post_16496412


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> in heaven benchmark i got exactly a 100% increase in performance
> in games i'd say it's like 75-90% depending on the game http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/301?vs=290


Nowhere do those graphs show a 100% gain my friend. The most you see on thoe graphs is an increase of 82 frames and that was in the HAWX benchmark. 104 fps to 186 is not 100% . In no dual SLI or crossfire situation will you ever get 100%. But you do get anywhere from 30-50% 60% if your lucky.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Are you using a single monitor?
> There was definately an increase of 30-40% with single monitor?


I'm using a 23" 1080 monitor and yeah I get at least 30-40% increase on all games. Some get alot more. Battlefield 3 does very well with crossfire as long as you have the right CCC and CAP combo. And as for the microstutter issue I hear alot of people talking about. I haven't boticed it abit on my set-up. Maybe it's a by set-up issue some get it some don't? But yes trust me bestbet is go crossfired 6850 or 6870 now if you already have one card. And wait for 8000 series before fully upgrading. Not worth selling your card and going full upgrade right now. The price to performance ratio is enough to warrant it at any card level. Because if you think about it a 7950 is worth about $320 and a 6870 you can get for under $200. If you already have one card now for under $200 you will have a set-up that will blow the 7950 out the water.


----------



## sinnedone

True.

After looking at the average bump from the 6870 to the 6950 its not worth it. Unless it was like a really good deal like 140 or something.

Whats the right ccc (catalyst cc) and cap (?) for your crossfire setup?

What does microstutter look like?

In MSI Afterburner I usually stay at the 50+ framerate with dips in the 30's when theres alot of distruction/players on the screen (64). Is this an accurate way to measure framerates or is there a better program for that?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> in heaven benchmark i got exactly a 100% increase in performance
> in games i'd say it's like 75-90% depending on the game http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/301?vs=290
> 
> 
> 
> Nowhere do those graphs show a 100% gain my friend. The most you see on thoe graphs is an increase of 82 frames and that was in the HAWX benchmark. 104 fps to 186 is not 100% . In no dual SLI or crossfire situation will you ever get 100%. But you do get anywhere from 30-50% 60% if your lucky.
Click to expand...

i didn't claim that, but whatever

BF3 93% better
BFBC2 84%
crysis warhead 68%
ME2 69%
HawX 79%
etc

i think the ones with much lower scaling like civ 5 might be because of memory problems


----------



## majanboo

thats funny 100 x 25 multi dude u need to up tht to at least 4ghz thts why its running so low temps my 6100 runs at 36c loaded idels at 19c at 4.125 mghz an ill go higher once i figure out how to without bsod an so on lol:thumb:


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i didn't claim that, but whatever
> BF3 93% better
> BFBC2 84%
> crysis warhead 68%
> ME2 69%
> HawX 79%
> etc
> i think the ones with much lower scaling like civ 5 might be because of memory problems


If I misunderstood your post I apologize. I thought you were claiming to have gotten a 100% performance boost from a crossfired 6870 set-up. Which as we all know niether dual CF or SLI will give a 100% boost. But you do get a very good worthwhile boost from it. It is definitely more worth it to go crossfired 6870's if you already have on ovedr upgrading from a 6870 to a 6950 or 6970. Heck it even better than upgrading to a 7950.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> True.
> After looking at the average bump from the 6870 to the 6950 its not worth it. Unless it was like a really good deal like 140 or something.
> Whats the right ccc (catalyst cc) and cap (?) for your crossfire setup?
> What does microstutter look like?
> In MSI Afterburner I usually stay at the 50+ framerate with dips in the 30's when theres alot of distruction/players on the screen (64). Is this an accurate way to measure framerates or is there a better program for that?


Even if you can get a 6950 for $140 it's still not worth it IMO. Because for the same price you can get a second 6870 that will outperform the 6950 all day long.

The best CC and CAP combo I found so far for BF3,MW3 and most newer games is CC 12.6 and CAP 12-7 cap 3. They also have a new beta CCC 12-7 beta out. But I haven't tried that one yet.

As for microstuttering. I don't really know what it looks like.I say I don't have any because my set-up plays all games and videos smoothly and with no artifacts or any stuttering at all.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i didn't claim that, but whatever
> BF3 93% better
> BFBC2 84%
> crysis warhead 68%
> ME2 69%
> HawX 79%
> etc
> i think the ones with much lower scaling like civ 5 might be because of memory problems
> 
> 
> 
> If I misunderstood your post I apologize. I thought you were claiming to have gotten a 100% performance boost from a crossfired 6870 set-up. Which as we all know niether dual CF or SLI will give a 100% boost. But you do get a very good worthwhile boost from it. It is definitely more worth it to go crossfired 6870's if you already have on ovedr upgrading from a 6870 to a 6950 or 6970. Heck it even better than upgrading to a 7950.
Click to expand...

glad we cleared that up








i did get a 100% boost in the popular heaven benchmark though








proof pic: http://i.imgur.com/A1oDr.png

im not sure why exactly games don't do as well. it's probably a combination of poor optimization, vram getting full, and perhaps a bottleneck on the cpu


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> glad we cleared that up
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i did get a 100% boost in the popular heaven benchmark though
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> proof pic: http://i.imgur.com/A1oDr.png
> im not sure why exactly games don't do as well. it's probably a combination of poor optimization, vram getting full, and perhaps a bottleneck on the cpu


I think it's more just poor coding of the games themselves. Because bottlenecks from cpu's I can see if your still using Core Duos or budget cpu's.But like me I'm running a 2500k oc'ed to 4.8 24/7. I know it's not the best but I doubt it's going to bottleneck enough to reduce performance.


----------



## sinnedone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Even if you can get a 6950 for $140 it's still not worth it IMO. Because for the same price you can get a second 6870 that will outperform the 6950 all day long.
> The best CC and CAP combo I found so far for BF3,MW3 and most newer games is CC 12.6 and CAP 12-7 cap 3. They also have a new beta CCC 12-7 beta out. But I haven't tried that one yet.
> As for microstuttering. I don't really know what it looks like.I say I don't have any because my set-up plays all games and videos smoothly and with no artifacts or any stuttering at all.


I know what ccc is but what exactly is cap?

Also Im running a 2500k @ 4.2ghz, would my cpu then become a bottleneck with crossfired hd 6870's?

On a side note changed the oem thermal compound to mx-4 and dropped 10 degrees using furmark. I know hover at 79-80 during burn in instead of the stock 88-89.


----------



## ihatelolcats

cap is catalyst application profile


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> I know what ccc is but what exactly is cap?
> Also Im running a 2500k @ 4.2ghz, would my cpu then become a bottleneck with crossfired hd 6870's?
> On a side note changed the oem thermal compound to mx-4 and dropped 10 degrees using furmark. I know hover at 79-80 during burn in instead of the stock 88-89.


Yeah CAP is a Catylist Application Profile. When you run Crossfire you always want to have the newest one possible for your CCC version. It has alot of profile settings for most of the newest games out. Like that you don't have to amnually change settings on your crossfire everytime you play a different game or use a different program. As for you CPU, No it will definitely not be a bottleneck running 2 6870's. I am running the same CPU and it handles everything I throw at it smoothly. If you have a 2500k or better in the Sandy Bridge line-up there is no real reason to upgrade other than just wanting to have the latest and greatest hardware. Snady Bridge will not be causing bottlenecking issues for a few years to come. And you should always use some type of aftermarket TIM on all your CPU's and GPU's for best thermal performance. I use Artic Silver 5 on everything I use.


----------



## arrow0309

I've just finished the Skyrims DLC, Dawnguard
Very nice, a good couple of days of level 50 to 55 serious gaming









Hope the new dlc will show off soon as well
Now I have to say goodbye to my sweet vampire girl, Serana









http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i170651_serana-01.jpg
http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i170652_serana-02.jpg
http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i170653_serana-03.jpg
http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i170663_serana-04.jpg
http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i170667_serana-05.jpg
http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i170695_thor-01.jpg
http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i170696_thor-02.jpg
http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i170697_thor-03.jpg
http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i170698_thor-05.jpg


----------



## arrow0309

*AMD Catalyst 12.8 Software Suite Vista/7 64-bit*

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2162/AMD_Catalyst_12.8_Software_Suite_Vista7_64-bit.html


----------



## sinnedone

hows it working for you?

I tried downloading it but its not working for me on techpowerup or amd's site.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> hows it working for you?
> 
> I tried downloading it but its not working for me on techpowerup or amd's site.


Quite small improvements overall except some cases like Rage i.e. where users claim an evident performance loss even in cf
Try downloading them here:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=2959


----------



## Edge Of Pain

I've never tried taking overclocking seriously with my 6850s until now. I took out one of them and got this on stock voltage, 100% stable using MSI Kombustor's benchmark with every setting possible enabled (except force PhysX -> CPU). Any good? I can bump up voltage but I don't want to. Catalyst 12.6.

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



EDIT: Just realised that "Kombustor" is on the side of the face which is "Combusting"


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Edge Of Pain*
> 
> I've never tried taking overclocking seriously with my 6850s until now. I took out one of them and got this on stock voltage, 100% stable using MSI Kombustor's benchmark with every setting possible enabled (except force PhysX -> CPU). Any good? I can bump up voltage but I don't want to. Catalyst 12.6.
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/mdhfz/
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: Just realised that "Kombustor" is on the side of the face which is "Combusting"


I think that's a nice oc freq for your 6850's
If you're stable at default voltage, even better








Trying anything more than this, with the gpu overvolt will not bring you better performance IMHO
you won't fuel the combustion even more will you?


----------



## Edge Of Pain

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I think that's a nice oc freq for your 6850's
> If you're stable at default voltage, even better
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think trying anything more than that, with the gpu overvolt will bring you more power,
> you won't fuel the combustion even more will you?










I may have to overvolt because although the Kombustor benchy is stable starting games instantly makes my comp freeze up, unfortunately. Well, no nice OC for me lol.

Why would a benchmark stay stable, but games wouldn't? I'm confuz.


----------



## chino1974

Hey guys here's another update on my rig "Letha' Threat" I started a build log this morning. My storage drive died so I lost most of my pics. But I will be posting the ones I still have on the camera and my phone later on tonight to show as much of the process as possible. This is still an ongoing build. I would say it's about 50% where I want it to be.


----------



## 2therock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> the cover is pretty useless imo


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Case helps blow airflow over the VRM's and memory chips. But if you've got sufficient airflow flowing over the card, then you can do without the case.


Thanks!


----------



## sinnedone

Soo with the 12.8 I can overclock stable to....... wait for it.... wait for it............ 915MHz! lol

What program you guys recomend for testing memory overclock? Im looking for a slowdown rather then errors when overclocking the memory on this card correct?


----------



## sinnedone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Edge Of Pain*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I may have to overvolt because although the Kombustor benchy is stable starting games instantly makes my comp freeze up, unfortunately. Well, no nice OC for me lol.
> Why would a benchmark stay stable, but games wouldn't? I'm confuz.


I have the same issue. Was told is a lack of voltage.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Hey guys here's another update on my rig "Letha' Threat" I started a build log this morning. My storage drive died so I lost most of my pics. But I will be posting the ones I still have on the camera and my phone later on tonight to show as much of the process as possible. This is still an ongoing build. I would say it's about 50% where I want it to be.


Very nice. Whats the other 50% of the build consist of?


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Soo with the 12.8 I can overclock stable to....... wait for it.... wait for it............ 915MHz! lol
> 
> What program you guys recomend for testing memory overclock? Im looking for a slowdown rather then errors when overclocking the memory on this card correct?


I'd always try a short run (at least 15') of the OCCT's gpu tool v.0.70 to finally test my stability, leave everything at the default values, only enable the error check option
Try to keep your gpu temp as lowest as possible


----------



## VenG3ance

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Hey guys here's another update on my rig "Letha' Threat" I started a build log this morning. My storage drive died so I lost most of my pics. But I will be posting the ones I still have on the camera and my phone later on tonight to show as much of the process as possible. This is still an ongoing build. I would say it's about 50% where I want it to be.


That is a masterpeice


----------



## VenG3ance

Can i join? (puppy dog face)


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> I have the same issue. Was told is a lack of voltage.
> Very nice. Whats the other 50% of the build consist of?


The other 50%consist of adding a 240mm rad and moving the 120 to the rear of the case. Swapping out my pump for a better one. I got a MCP 355 but it died on me part way through leak testing. That's what I get for buying used at least I still have the Petra's Pump Top that came with them. Maybe a GPU upgrade and the last bits are still a secret. You'll have to sub my build log to see what it is when it's done.


----------



## chino1974

I just noticed I didn't post any pics of the front or side panel. OOPs sorry Here they are for anyone who's interested.





As you can see it's a Mititary/Patriotic Themed build in Honor of all the men and women who have served past,present and future.


----------



## VenG3ance

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> I just noticed I didn't post any pics of the front or side panel. OOPs sorry Here they are for anyone who's interested.
> 
> 
> As you can see it's a Mititary/Patriotic Themed build in Honor of all the men and women who have served past,present and future.


+ respect


----------



## chaics

guys.. whats the highest safe tempts. for 6850... i'm getting 75-81c on my crossfire 6850 while playing darksiders 2.. is it normal?? and my hdd is burning at 49c...


----------



## ihatelolcats

as long as it doesnt crash youre good


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chaics*
> 
> guys.. whats the highest safe tempts. for 6850... i'm getting 75-81c on my crossfire 6850 while playing darksiders 2.. is it normal?? and my hdd is burning at 49c...


90 is max iirc. Though I'm surprise it hasn't crashed on you over 60 degrees. Mine always did.


----------



## sinnedone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I'd always try a short run (at least 15') of the OCCT's gpu tool v.0.70 to finally test my stability, leave everything at the default values, only enable the error check option
> Try to keep your gpu temp as lowest as possible


I think I found that program but I see no options. It just runs a sort of furry donut animation and is all.I see no options to check for errors. Do you have any tips?


----------



## chaics

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> 90 is max iirc. Though I'm surprise it hasn't crashed on you over 60 degrees. Mine always did.


i'm in a hot weather country & a room without a/c... 60c is just so normal to me..







idle tempt around 50c..

anyway, thanks guys.. good to know that as long as it dont crash and over 90c, i'm good with it..


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *chaics*
> 
> guys.. whats the highest safe tempts. for 6850... i'm getting 75-81c on my crossfire 6850 while playing darksiders 2.. is it normal?? and my hdd is burning at 49c...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 90 is max iirc. Though I'm surprise it hasn't crashed on you over 60 degrees. Mine always did.
Click to expand...

Ok, but one thing is running at stock speeds and another thing is when you're overclocking. I think those 60° are referred to the oc part
Otherwise you can even get to 100° (not advised) without damage








I agree, 85-90° are recommended not to exceed imho
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *arrow0309*
> 
> I'd always try a short run (at least 15') of the OCCT's gpu tool v.0.70 to finally test my stability, leave everything at the default values, only enable the error check option
> Try to keep your gpu temp as lowest as possible
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think I found that program but I see no options. It just runs a sort of furry donut animation and is all.I see no options to check for errors. Do you have any tips?
Click to expand...

What?
The utility has this small control panel:



Btw, that's not an animation, is an intensive D3D (not OpenGL) stress test
Check your temps


----------



## sinnedone

I downloaded version .7d from softpedia and it only has the main window and no second window.

Do you have a link to where I can find this perticular version? Everyone I find is 0.7d.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> I downloaded version .7d from softpedia and it only has the main window and no second window.
> 
> Do you have a link to where I can find this perticular version? Everyone I find is 0.7d.


I have the OCCTGPU 0.7 and is complete
Download it from here:

http://www.ocbase.com/OpenBeta/OCCTGPUv0.70.zip

Launch the main exe, not the two from the Bin folder


----------



## Matt-Matt

I should be getting my 7950 soon to replace my 6850's. I only jumped on it because the 6850's are still selling for a decent price and the 7950 was cheap. (Almost the same price as a 7850)

I've sold the 6850's nonetheless if I actually end up with a 7950, so I guess it's all up in the air to whether or not I'll be getting a 7950 or not. It's still "processing" and they've "sold out".

I'll know by tomorrow hopefully and jump on that MSI 7870 Hawk


----------



## chino1974

Which single 7000 series can I get that will outperform 2 6870's in Crissfire? I was planning on waitting till the 8000 series comes out to upgrade but if I can find one single card that gives better performance and isn't too expensive I might pull the trigger now.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Which single 7000 series can I get that will outperform 2 6870's in Crissfire? I was planning on waitting till the 8000 series comes out to upgrade but if I can find one single card that gives better performance and isn't too expensive I might pull the trigger now.


7950 or better.. (I just bought one!







)
It's a bit better then 2x 560ti's in SLI seeing as they're about the same as 2x 6870 I'd say it's similar. This is without taking over-clocking into consideration and newer drivers etc.









EDIT: A 7870 would also work quite well, a 7850 would probably be a downgrade though. The 7870 overclocked matches a 7950 at stock but right now (for me anyway) 7950's are similar prices (if not cheaper in some cases) than a 7870 which makes it pointless.

EDIT: For reference I had 2x 6850's in CFX


----------



## chino1974

I ask cause I looked at the Anandtech benchmarks and CF 6870's are on average between 10-15 fps higher than a 6970 in games. But a 7970 GHZ edition is about 15-30 fps faster. So it would add up to about 5-15 fps more than my set-up now. And the cheapest one newwegg has is $429. I really don't think 5-15 extra frames is worth $430. Maybe if I wait alil longer for the prices to drop alil more? If they don't drop I might end up waitting for the 8000 series after all. I'm very happy with my set-ups performance right now. But I'm also very impatient and now that I see so many rigs using those 7000 series cards the bug is bitting again.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> I ask cause I looked at the Anandtech benchmarks and CF 6870's are on average between 10-15 fps higher than a 6970 in games. But a 7970 GHZ edition is about 15-30 fps faster. So it would add up to about 5-15 fps more than my set-up now. And the cheapest one newwegg has is $429. I really don't think 5-15 extra frames is worth $430. Maybe if I wait alil longer for the prices to drop alil more? If they don't drop I might end up waitting for the 8000 series after all. I'm very happy with my set-ups performance right now. But I'm also very impatient and now that I see so many rigs using those 7000 series cards the bug is bitting again.


Well remember you will get some cash for your 6870's.. I've got my 6850's on eBay right now. Starting at $100 AUD each, they've both got a bit of that on each right now and I'm hoping they'll go up..
I got my 7950 for $300 AUD new








I'm waiting on it in the post!









EDIT: Only went with it due to heat, power and CFX issues. vRAM is sometimes an issue and it'll be nice to have a single card over two.
I figured it'd be $60 at most.. Looking towards $80 or so now but oh well it'll keep me off the vodka for a bit


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Well remember you will get some cash for your 6870's.. I've got my 6850's on eBay right now. Starting at $100 AUD each, they've both got a bit of that on each right now and I'm hoping they'll go up..
> I got my 7950 for $300 AUD new
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm waiting on it in the post!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: Only went with it due to heat, power and CFX issues. vRAM is sometimes an issue and it'll be nice to have a single card over two.
> I figured it'd be $60 at most.. Looking towards $80 or so now but oh well it'll keep me off the vodka for a bit


That's true what you say about selling my 6870's and using that money towards a 7970. But if I do go that route instead of waitting for the 8000 series I have to get a 7970 and it has to be at least a GHZ edition. The only way I'll go 7950 or 7870 is if I can get 2 for Crossfire. I know it's alil off topic but since you kinda metioned it how much do you think I can get for 2 6870's? Both are XFX's one is a reference card and the other is a non-reference one. The non reference is about 3 moths old and I still have the box and all paperwork and accesories for it.


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> Which single 7000 series can I get that will outperform 2 6870's in Crissfire? I was planning on waitting till the 8000 series comes out to upgrade but if I can find one single card that gives better performance and isn't too expensive I might pull the trigger now.


Get a factory overclocked HD 7950 and push it to 1150 Mhz with voltage tweaking. you can easily beat your HD 6870 CF. sapphire HD 7950 950 Mhz edition is a good card to buy. comes with a HD 7970 PCB. DUAL BIOS for aggressive overclocking. clock for clock HD 7950 is 3 - 5% slower than HD 7970. With voltage overclocking this card at 1.15 Ghz would be faster than HD 7970 Ghz (1050 Mhz)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102991


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *raghu78*
> 
> Get a factory overclocked HD 7950 and push it to 1150 Mhz with voltage tweaking. you can easily beat your HD 6870 CF. sapphire HD 7950 950 Mhz edition is a good card to buy. comes with a HD 7970 PCB. DUAL BIOS for aggressive overclocking. clock for clock HD 7950 is 3 - 5% slower than HD 7970. With voltage overclocking this card at 1.15 Ghz would be faster than HD 7970 Ghz (1050 Mhz)
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102991


You mean the Vapor editon one? The one trhey have for $369 ? I would like to try something like that if I definitely got more performance out of it and was able to dell my 2- 6870's for a decent price so as not to have to throw too much out of pocket.


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> You mean the Vapor editon one? The one trhey have for $369 ? I would like to try something like that if I definitely got more performance out of it and was able to dell my 2- 6870's for a decent price so as not to have to throw too much out of pocket.


the sapphire HD 7950 vapor-x comes at USD 370.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202003

the sapphire 950 mhz with dual x cooler comes at USD 350. your HD 6870s can be sold for USD 100 - 110 each. So that means you have to spend another USD 130 to USD 150 depending on which model you want. here is a comparison of HD 7950 OC

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_7950_Flex/31.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7850_PCS_Plus/9.html

BF3 1920 X 1200 4x AA

HD 7950 (1025) - 69.7
HD 6870 - 31.4

http://www.guru3d.com/article/his-radeon-hd-7950-iceq-turbo-review/23
http://www.guru3d.com/article/his-radeon-hd-7950-iceq-turbo-review/19

HD 7950 (1125) - 71
HD 6870 - 31

HD 6870 CF normally will perform at 1.8x HD 6870. HD 7950 (1100 Mhz) performs more than 2x HD 6870. Sell your HD 6870s and grab one of the 2 above mentioned HD 7950 OC cards.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> That's true what you say about selling my 6870's and using that money towards a 7970. But if I do go that route instead of waitting for the 8000 series I have to get a 7970 and it has to be at least a GHZ edition. The only way I'll go 7950 or 7870 is if I can get 2 for Crossfire. I know it's alil off topic but since you kinda metioned it how much do you think I can get for 2 6870's? Both are XFX's one is a reference card and the other is a non-reference one. The non reference is about 3 moths old and I still have the box and all paperwork and accesories for it.


7950 would be good enough, you could always add a second/third later too - You can't do that with the 6870's.
As I said, I got my 7950 dirt cheap so that's why I jumped on it.. But I'd assume you'd get $100-$120+ish.

Maybe if you take pics and put up an appraisal? I did that with mine and people reckoned $120 each.








They were MSI 6850's though, one with 2 years warranty and the other with 2 and a half years warranty. Both have transferable warranty too. You might want to check that out to see how much warranty etc they have left









With my 7950 I plan to run BF3 on Ultra, compared to my 6850's running it on ultra/high with stutters and such sometimes.


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> 7950 would be good enough, you could always add a second/third later too - You can't do that with the 6870's.
> As I said, I got my 7950 dirt cheap so that's why I jumped on it.. But I'd assume you'd get $100-$120+ish.
> Maybe if you take pics and put up an appraisal? I did that with mine and people reckoned $120 each.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They were MSI 6850's though, one with 2 years warranty and the other with 2 and a half years warranty. Both have transferable warranty too. You might want to check that out to see how much warranty etc they have left
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> With my 7950 I plan to run BF3 on Ultra, compared to my 6850's running it on ultra/high with stutters and such sometimes.


I have the XFX's that both have transferable lifetime warrantees.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> I have the XFX's that both have transferable lifetime warrantees.


Well that's a bonus, If you were to sell them I'd put them on eBay if that's possible? (If you have a good seller rating too).
Because people around here seem to know how "good" XFX are with warranties


----------



## chino1974

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Matt-Matt*
> 
> Well that's a bonus, If you were to sell them I'd put them on eBay if that's possible? (If you have a good seller rating too).
> Because people around here seem to know how "good" XFX are with warranties


What do you mean ? Are they bad with their wanrantees ? I haven't had to deal with them yet. But one card I've had for about 6 months and the other 3 months.


----------



## Matt-Matt

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> What do you mean ? Are they bad with their wanrantees ? I haven't had to deal with them yet. But one card I've had for about 6 months and the other 3 months.


I've heard bad stories of XFX and their RMA's. You'd still get more money on eBay.
I sold my entire Q9400 rig for this Ivy Bridge rig and I think it costed me $50 in total!


----------



## oldcompgeek

Okay guys, I just bought a 6850 by Powercolor for 99 bucks -NEW so couldn't pass it up... I already have a 6870 by sapphire and should already be in the club but here's my information about my 6850 as wll. I didn't see my username in the 6870 list btw.


----------



## oldcompgeek

Sry for the dbl post but I forgot to let yall know to check out my "blue-and-black" build log!!


----------



## Juni

Got 2x Gigabyte HD6850s. Amazing cards, especially for the price.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *chino1974*
> 
> What do you mean ? Are they bad with their wanrantees ? I haven't had to deal with them yet. But one card I've had for about 6 months and the other 3 months.


A turd in a box with a lifetime warranty is still a turd.
XFX motherboard voltage regulators burnt in less than a year(few years back).
XFX video card fan fell apart literally in less 6 months(couple years back).
The problem with the card was easy to find once I figured out where the loud scary clicking noise was coming from.The fan was still working and slipped down and starting hitting the screws on the card bellow it.Turns out the fan was held together by a plastic clip that wore out.XFX would not return my money on either product but offered to replace the card and I refused.The last thing I needed was a new time bomb in my tower as the new card would have the same issue.
I put an aftermarket cooler on the video card and its run fine since.The motherboard I still have and will never throw out.Its a very pretty board in perfect condition except for the burn.lol

What better reminder never to buy another XFX product.

I truthfully hope you never have these issues and im sorry for the rant but I cant stand that company.


----------



## sinnedone

Quick question about power adapters for this card.

My power supply only has 2 pci express connectors and they are being used by my current card. If I crossfire I will have to use some sort of 4 pin molex to 6 pin pcie adapter.

Now should I use the kind where it has one molex connector on one end feeding the pcie plug or the ones that have 2 molex connecters feeding one pcie plug?

As of right now I have 4 or 6 free molex connectors from my power supply.

Oh I aslo have a spare square 4 pin power connector. Like the kind that goes into the motherboard.


----------



## arrow0309

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Quick question about power adapters for this card.
> 
> My power supply only has 2 pci express connectors and they are being used by my current card. If I crossfire I will have to use some sort of 4 pin molex to 6 pin pcie adapter.
> 
> Now should I use the kind where it has one molex connector on one end feeding the pcie plug or the ones that have 2 molex connecters feeding one pcie plug?
> 
> As of right now I have 4 or 6 free molex connectors from my power supply.
> 
> Oh I aslo have a spare square 4 pin power connector. Like the kind that goes into the motherboard.


Use the twin molex adapters if possible
Try to use one pcie 6 pin dedicated connector to each card and use the adapters to the second plug of each card too
According to your PS maybe you'll be able to overclock the video cards some more or not


----------



## JureS

Anyone has any experience with Darksiders 2 and two HD6870s in CrossFire? I am getting some strangely low scaling, and graphich card usage is very high for a graphic engine like this.

It seldom goes over 100fps at 1920*1200 resolution and it drops down to 40 sometimes. I find that very low, considering I've seen people with a single HD6870 scale 120 fps on average with a minimum just below 100 @ 1600*900.

Anyone has any idea?

TY,

J


----------



## AccellGarage

Hai OCN ...
I am in and add me ,,,



ID GPUZ



Link Validate

My Spec of RIG with OC'ed

AMD Phenom II X4 965BE 4.1Ghz [1.45v]
NB clock 3Ghz [cpu-nb offset 0.3000v]
DDR3 Patriot Sector 5 PC12800 Dual 8GB [1600 with CL8-9-8-16 1T 1.65v]
MSI AMD radeon Cyclone R6850 PE OC 980/1200Mhz
PSU Venom RX Fer De Lance 700watt 80+


----------



## ihatelolcats

anyone know what happened to this card?

PowerColor PCS++ HD6870

it was supposed to have 2 crossfire fingers (so you could trifire with it)


----------



## mojoe24

Hey, I have some extra money and was thinking about picking up a SSD or upgrading from a 6870 to a 7870. Which would you guys do? I've been trying to sell my 6870 in prepartion of getting a 7870, but I've had no luck. $100+shipping should be fine, right?


----------



## Jewremy

Hey guys. I have a Gigabyte 6850 1GB GDDR5 -- I think it's a reference board. Trying to figure out whether or not I should water cool it. CPU's an FX-8120, max I can get it to under load is 97F. GPU tops out around 150-160ish Fahrenheit. I have a Dangerden M4 GPU kit that I got for basically free. Debating the universal kit or trying to track down a waterblock that will take care of the video RAM as well.

If I do go universal, should I put a PCI slot fan under it to get air over the heatsinks? Not much air flow down there.

Also, is a triple 120mm radiator enough for the loop, or should I add another 120mm? Part details are in my sigrig.

Thanks!


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mojoe24*
> 
> Hey, I have some extra money and was thinking about picking up a SSD or upgrading from a 6870 to a 7870. Which would you guys do? I've been trying to sell my 6870 in prepartion of getting a 7870, but I've had no luck. $100+shipping should be fine, right?


definitely graphics upgrade before ssd


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *mojoe24*
> 
> Hey, I have some extra money and was thinking about picking up a SSD or upgrading from a 6870 to a 7870. Which would you guys do? I've been trying to sell my 6870 in prepartion of getting a 7870, but I've had no luck. $100+shipping should be fine, right?
> 
> 
> 
> definitely graphics upgrade before ssd
Click to expand...

And I've seen 6850's get sold at $100 a couple of weeks ago. Probably dropped since because of price drops so I'd say $100 is reasonable for 6870's now.


----------



## mojoe24

I've had it up for $100 for a couple weeks now on tomshardware and haven't had any takers. I post it on reddit.com/r/hardwareswap occasionally too. I guess I'll just have to stick around here and try to get enough rep to post into the classifieds. Maybe Ill be able to find a 7870 to buy too.


----------



## Krusher33

It is a hard sell on enthusiast sites.


----------



## sinnedone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mojoe24*
> 
> I've had it up for $100 for a couple weeks now on tomshardware and haven't had any takers. I post it on reddit.com/r/hardwareswap occasionally too. I guess I'll just have to stick around here and try to get enough rep to post into the classifieds. Maybe Ill be able to find a 7870 to buy too.


What brand/model is it?


----------



## sinnedone

Quick Question about crossfiring....

I already have an xfx 6870 dd.

If I would purchased the same card but overclocked edition would it work or what exactly would happen?

Would the factory overclocked card stay the same or would it be down clocked to match the other card?


----------



## mojoe24

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> What brand/model is it?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561

And yeah, I figure it would be hard to sell here so I never thought of posting it here, but there is enough of a mix on toms that I figure I had a chance which hasn't been the case.


----------



## sinnedone

If it was the dual fan one id buy it from you.

Unfortunately im anal like that. lol


----------



## mojoe24

Damn. LOL.


----------



## LMA-Winter

XFX Radeon™ HD 6850 1024 MB DDR5 DisplayPort (HD-685X-ZNFC)











allso a question: radeon hd6850 CF or radeon hd7870 or gtx660 ti?


----------



## Rinnosuke

Gigabyte HD 6850 1GB


----------



## Majorhi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JureS*
> 
> Anyone has any experience with Darksiders 2 and two HD6870s in CrossFire? I am getting some strangely low scaling, and graphich card usage is very high for a graphic engine like this.
> It seldom goes over 100fps at 1920*1200 resolution and it drops down to 40 sometimes. I find that very low, considering I've seen people with a single HD6870 scale 120 fps on average with a minimum just below 100 @ 1600*900.
> Anyone has any idea?
> TY,
> J


I too have dual ASUS HD 6870's. I have weird issues with black screens during the loading process and other areas as well as funky graphics during combat showing black instead of it's intended display. If I go down to just a single gpu, I have no issues at all in 1080p or 1440p. I even tried the application profile in CCC. So I'll settle for 60-90 fps on the single card until there is a fix.


----------



## Majorhi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Quick Question about crossfiring....
> I already have an xfx 6870 dd.
> If I would purchased the same card but overclocked edition would it work or what exactly would happen?
> Would the factory overclocked card stay the same or would it be down clocked to match the other card?


They'll run at the speed of the slowest card. You could try OCing the other one up to OC'd edition one. Mine run at 950/1150.


----------



## Majorhi




----------



## sinnedone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Majorhi*
> 
> They'll run at the speed of the slowest card. You could try OCing the other one up to OC'd edition one. Mine run at 950/1150.


Whats a good program to check this?

I ask becasue I installed black edition xfx HD 6870 Dual fan as my primary and the regular clocked DD as secondary.

In GPU-Z it shows the overclocked card running overclocked (940/1150) and the standard DD card running regular settings. (900/1050)

IN MSI afterburner it also shows the same.

Crossfire is enabled in CCC and seems to be working fine.

I used MSI Afterburner to monitor both cards while gaming (BF3) and supposedly each is running at their own individual speeds.

Another funny thing is that MSI afterburner now shows GPU 1 as using 1900mb or so of memory while playing BF3. Which I find odd since it only has 1gb of memory and according to what ive read croosfire does not add the total memory of both cards???

BF3 runs so much smoother now. Im not playing on some super high resolutions but on one card i would average 50-60 fps dipping to about 30 occasionally. Now with the crossfire setup im averaging triple digit fps and the lowest it will go is about 65 fps.


----------



## Majorhi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Whats a good program to check this?
> I ask becasue I installed black edition xfx HD 6870 Dual fan as my primary and the regular clocked DD as secondary.
> In GPU-Z it shows the overclocked card running overclocked (940/1150) and the standard DD card running regular settings. (900/1050)
> IN MSI afterburner it also shows the same.
> Crossfire is enabled in CCC and seems to be working fine.
> I used MSI Afterburner to monitor both cards while gaming (BF3) and supposedly each is running at their own individual speeds.
> Another funny thing is that MSI afterburner now shows GPU 1 as using 1900mb or so of memory while playing BF3. Which I find odd since it only has 1gb of memory and according to what ive read croosfire does not add the total memory of both cards???
> BF3 runs so much smoother now. Im not playing on some super high resolutions but on one card i would average 50-60 fps dipping to about 30 occasionally. Now with the crossfire setup im averaging triple digit fps and the lowest it will go is about 65 fps.


I use CPU & GPU-Z to check. I use MSI afterburner to OC. In after burner make sure you change the settings for each individual card. I also use open hardware monitor to monitor speeds and temps of the devices. It registers memory weirdly that way. It did it for me as well on Can You Run It and in Max Payne 3. My FPS are gonna be different with the higher res at 2560 x 1440.


----------



## sinnedone

When I switch to the second card on msi afterburner 2.2.3 the core and memory clocks say 0.

Should I switch them to their default values of 900 and 1050?

Everything is running fine right now and dont know if I should just leave as is.?

On a side note crossfire is doing just well on the latest 12.8 driver and cap. I have not sufferend any microstutter and everything appears to flow better while gaming.


----------



## Majorhi

You can stay with default. If you want to overclock though you have to configure them with crossfire disabled.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Majorhi*
> 
> You can stay with default. If you want to overclock though you have to configure them with crossfire disabled.


really? you cant just set it in ab and synchronize the settings?


----------



## Majorhi

You could try that. I just oc'd them individually.


----------



## sinnedone

And then what?

Go back and enable crossfire?

I know what the max of my secondary card is by itself, so can i just set it to that and be done?


----------



## Majorhi

You'll want to test out settings on the card that you don't know the max on. Not all cards are created equal. After you have found your max's on both. Set them both for the lowest of the two and then re-enable crossfire and enjoy.


----------



## sinnedone

unfortunately the lower card will only do 915/1150. anything higher on core clock and it dumps the driver while playing.

Right now one card is at 940/1150 and the other is at 900/1050.

Would there be an advantage if I set both of the to 915/1150?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Majorhi*
> 
> You'll want to test out settings on the card that you don't know the max on. Not all cards are created equal. After you have found your max's on both. Set them both for the lowest of the two and then re-enable crossfire and enjoy.


they don't have to be at the same clock


----------



## Majorhi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> they don't have to be at the same clock


True. Also a higher core speed is more beneficial than a higher memory speed IMHO.


----------



## savage1987

Are there any pitfalls in BIOS settings to watch out for when setting up a pair of 6870s in Crossfire?

Thread on a few of my issues here.

I'd appreciate the help.

I'm away with work this week but after that I'll have all the parts to build a friend's new system, and then I want to get stuck into this one again and get it running properly.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Whats a good program to check this?
> *1.* I ask becasue I installed black edition xfx HD 6870 Dual fan as my primary and the regular clocked DD as secondary.
> In GPU-Z it shows the overclocked card running overclocked (940/1150) and the standard DD card running regular settings. (900/1050)
> IN MSI afterburner it also shows the same.
> Crossfire is enabled in CCC and seems to be working fine.
> I used MSI Afterburner to monitor both cards while gaming (BF3) and supposedly each is running at their own individual speeds.
> *2.* Another funny thing is that MSI afterburner now shows GPU 1 as using 1900mb or so of memory while playing BF3. Which I find odd since it only has 1gb of memory and according to what ive read croosfire does not add the total memory of both cards???
> BF3 runs so much smoother now. Im not playing on some super high resolutions but on one card i would average 50-60 fps dipping to about 30 occasionally. Now with the crossfire setup im averaging triple digit fps and the lowest it will go is about 65 fps.


*1.*
Honestly I've repeated my self too many times in this thread. Crossfire will not underclock to the lowest clocked card. Each card will run at its own specs and each card will have its own specified load to keep up with the other. So if you have a 1Ghz 6850 crossfired with a 775Mhz 6850 there's an high chance that in crossfire supported games the 1Ghz GPU is only working at 80%.

*2.*This happens to me too, I think its hypermemory.


----------



## sinnedone

What exactly is hypermemory?

Ive read here and in other places that in crossfire the higher clocked card would match the lower clocked. Thats why when I finally crossfired it was a little surprising. I searched but could not read every post in this thread.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> *1.*
> Honestly I've repeated my self too many times in this thread. Crossfire will not underclock to the lowest clocked card. Each card will run at its own specs and each card will have its own specified load to keep up with the other. So if you have a 1Ghz 6850 crossfired with a 775Mhz 6850 there's an high chance that in crossfire supported games the 1Ghz GPU is only working at 80%.
> 
> *2.*This happens to me too, I think its hypermemory.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> What exactly is hypermemory?
> 
> Ive read here and in other places that in crossfire the higher clocked card would match the lower clocked. Thats why when I finally crossfired it was a little surprising. I searched but could not read every post in this thread.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> *1.*
> Honestly I've repeated my self too many times in this thread. Crossfire will not underclock to the lowest clocked card. Each card will run at its own specs and each card will have its own specified load to keep up with the other. So if you have a 1Ghz 6850 crossfired with a 775Mhz 6850 there's an high chance that in crossfire supported games the 1Ghz GPU is only working at 80%.
> 
> *2.*This happens to me too, I think its hypermemory.


Yeah I've given up on that. That has to be the most common misinformation spread out.


----------



## sinnedone

Sticky maybe or some faq's in the first post?

On a side note

Im running windows 7 64 bit and after the croosfire setup my gaming and graphics score went down to 6.0 crossfired from 7.8 single card???

Anyway to fix that?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Sticky maybe or some faq's in the first post?
> 
> On a side note
> 
> Im running windows 7 64 bit and after the croosfire setup my gaming and graphics score went down to 6.0 crossfired from 7.8 single card???
> 
> Anyway to fix that?


yeah, disable WEI


----------



## sinnedone

lol

I would like it to show correctly though.

WEI 6.0........... Its Lies I tell ya LIES!


----------



## Mr357

Posting again since I never got added

2x HIS IceQ X Turbo 6850's

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2502347

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/3qu5b/



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Post #6000 is mine!


----------



## sinnedone

If anyone wants to fix their wei score I found this bit of info from Seans ssd setup thread.
Quote:


> 1.Go to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT and delete the winsat.txt
> 2.Then go to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore and delete all the files in there.
> 3.Now restart W.E.I.
> Note: The scores should be the proper score now.


----------



## AccellGarage

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mr357*
> 
> Posting again since I never got added
> 2x HIS IceQ X Turbo 6850's
> http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2502347
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Post #6000 is mine!


GPUZ please, Dude


----------



## Alastair

Add me please!
2 MSI 6850 Cyclone Power Edition's @ 970/1220


----------



## Blade 117

Oh Yeah Thats how we do it!


----------



## Alastair

Thanks to some Actic MX-4 I am now the proud owner of two 6850 GHz Editions!











That is 29% overclock on the core and 23% on the memory over the stock 6850's speeds of 775/1000!


----------



## SortOfGrim

Hi all!


Also have an older XFX HD 6850


----------



## Krusher33

The car has a naked booty... is that considered naked pics or...?


----------



## SortOfGrim

Krusher33, yes but still SFW

I Installed the HD6870 but for some reason I can't setup 3 monitors..all worked well with the HD6850

I use the following cables/connection (that worked on the HD6850)
DVI-Dual -> HDMI
DVI-single -> HDMI
MDP -> active Wieson Adapter to DVI-Single -> HDMI

But I get no signal from the Display Port.
I also used only the Display Port but nothing, no signal.


----------



## ColdCheese

I just inherited an XFX 6850BE 1gb with a Zalman aftermarket cooler, got it to the max CCC allows me which is 875/1150, which is a shame because this cooler keeps it ice cold under load, I know it can easily do more. Is there a way to officially push the clocks on these further without having to resort to aftermarket software like Afterburner?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ColdCheese*
> 
> I just inherited an XFX 6850BE 1gb with a Zalman aftermarket cooler, got it to the max CCC allows me which is 875/1150, which is a shame because this cooler keeps it ice cold under load, I know it can easily do more. Is there a way to officially push the clocks on these further without having to resort to aftermarket software like Afterburner?


No not that I know of. But afterburner really is worth it if you want to push your clocks higher! If you are using a newer version of Catalyst you are going to probably have to use Tech Power Up's Radeon BIOS editor to edit the CCC limits for your cards as AMD has locked down on those! But remember you modify your BIOS at your own risk. It is really safe so don't worry too much! It will be worth it if you can crank your card up to 1GHz like my cards!


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ColdCheese*
> 
> I just inherited an XFX 6850BE 1gb with a Zalman aftermarket cooler, got it to the max CCC allows me which is 875/1150, which is a shame because this cooler keeps it ice cold under load, I know it can easily do more. Is there a way to officially push the clocks on these further without having to resort to aftermarket software like Afterburner?


Its easier to resort to an aftermarket software... But yes you can change the clocks limitations on CCC, there should be several complicated ways...
Editing your vbios, or messing with the driver.
I prefer using the "aftermarket" tool, its simple...

Like the other guy said, flashing a gpu bios is really safe if you know what you doing.
Worst thing that might happen is that you get your GPU bricked... No biggie.
Msi Afterburner since its an aftermarket solution is totally dangerous, you might lose video output and be forced to restart your computer to get image again.
/sarcasm (directed at ColdCheese btw)

Lets be honest, if you are going to change the limitations in CCC thro a bios edit, it would be easier for you to discover the stable limits of that card thro MSI Afterburner and edit the bios to put the card running at those overclocked speeds you tested.

Just a suggestion.
MSI Afterburner can end up in being pretty handy since it has a built in FPS limiter and a video recorder(that does not eat system performance unlike fraps and some others).


----------



## R4V3N

I'm afraid I have to leave, guys. My 6870s have gone to a friend and I now have the first of two 7970s...


----------



## sinnedone

Can anyone answer why when 2 6870's are crossfired they would make a high pitch squealing sound?

Its not the fans, and without crossfire no noise is made but as soon as croosfire is enabled and playing games the high pitch whine noise comes back.

It sounds like electronics static or something.

Performance wise I have seen no difference bt the sound seems to have gotten louder.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Can anyone answer why when 2 6870's are crossfired they would make a high pitch squealing sound?
> 
> Its not the fans, and without crossfire no noise is made but as soon as croosfire is enabled and playing games the high pitch whine noise comes back.
> 
> It sounds like electronics static or something.
> 
> Performance wise I have seen no difference bt the sound seems to have gotten louder.


Where is the squeal coming from? It could possibly be your power supply.


----------



## sinnedone

I checked and its not coming from the power supply its coming from one of the cards. I cant pinpoint it exactly but its towards the rear of the cards. (where the plugs are)

Ive been looking online and I think what Im experiencing is "coil whine" from one of the cards.

If this is the case can anyone suggest somethinig I can do? I think its gotten louder over the past week.


----------



## Alastair

My motherboard suffers from coil whine when C1E is turned on. Try disabling all you graphics cards power saving features and turning on "force constant voltage" in afterburner.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> I checked and its not coming from the power supply its coming from one of the cards. I cant pinpoint it exactly but its towards the rear of the cards. (where the plugs are)
> 
> Ive been looking online and I think what Im experiencing is "coil whine" from one of the cards.
> 
> If this is the case can anyone suggest somethinig I can do? I think its gotten louder over the past week.


does it change at all when running furmark? try the test where the donut spins around


----------



## savage1987

Hey guys, is there any way to control when the card goes into 'performance mode' in AMD Vision Control Engine?

I'm trying to set a manual fan profile so when the loads are high it will run at 60% instead of MSI's 34% maximum (80+ temps) .. but when I enable it (with a slight overclock through same software) it's engaged ALL the time, even just sitting at Windows desktop....?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *savage1987*
> 
> Hey guys, is there any way to control when the card goes into 'performance mode' in AMD Vision Control Engine?
> I'm trying to set a manual fan profile so when the loads are high it will run at 60% instead of MSI's 34% maximum (80+ temps) .. but when I enable it (with a slight overclock through same software) it's engaged ALL the time, even just sitting at Windows desktop....?


You can't do a custom fan profile with the Catalyst software.
Your best option is a 3rd party solution...


----------



## savage1987

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> You can't do a custom fan profile with the Catalyst software.
> Your best option is a 3rd party solution...


Ended up saving two user profiles, a stock clocks 2d profile and an overclocked gaming profile with fans set at a nice level. Alt+1 and Alt+2 select them on the fly. Seems like it'll work OK.









I don't really like the idea of 3rd party software being open all the time needlessly, Windows does enough of that on its own..


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *savage1987*
> 
> Ended up saving two user profiles, a stock clocks 2d profile and an overclocked gaming profile with fans set at a nice level. Alt+1 and Alt+2 select them on the fly. Seems like it'll work OK.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't really like the idea of 3rd party software being open all the time needlessly, Windows does enough of that on its own..


I used to not like it too tbh, when I had low ram...
Every bit of free ram counted! Now I'm more relaxed about it, I don't have any overclocking software installed atm, overclocked my graphics cards thro their bios since one of them hated to be overclocked with Afterburner.
I used to have after it installed for quite some time cause of the on screen display and the video recorder, which is way better than fraps and its 100% free.
So I used it cause of the extra tools it had and not cause of what it was actually meant to do.


----------



## sinnedone

I thought the c1e and the rest was all for cpu not gpu? I tried the force option in afterburner but still does it.

Anything in Bios I can try?

I ran furmark and heaven. Pretty much anytime the secondary crossfire card is used in crossfire. (gaming and gpu benchmarks) it makes that noise.

Common sense would say that it could possibly be the second card, but who knows.

Im going to try the suggestions and using ony a single card at a time to see if it only happens on one specific card or if it just happens whenever the secondary card in crossfire is enabled.

Does anyone know if I have to remove the drivers and reinstall just to go back to one card to test, or will simply disabling crossfire in ccc>power off>remove secondary card>power on will do just fine?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Does anyone know if I have to remove the drivers and reinstall just to go back to one card to test, or will simply disabling crossfire in ccc>power off>remove secondary card>power on will do just fine?


All you have to do is disable the crossfire and the card wont be used anymore.
You can additionally remove it from the system to be 100% sure of the source of the noise.

Btw you should search upon GPU whine on google.
Some cards/systems have it even tho everything perfectly fine.

If it is GPU whine enabling vsyng while you play/bench should remove the noise


----------



## savage1987

Don't know if it's the _best_ way, but you could just disable a card in Device Manager, then re-enable it and disable the other one.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *savage1987*
> 
> Don't know if it's the _best_ way, but you could just disable a card in Device Manager, then re-enable it and disable the other one.


Well it isnt the best way lol
Since the graphics card will still power up if it is plugged to the PCIe, I still consider removing the cards to test them.
I once faced that problem too regarding overclock issues and the only way I managed to solve it was when I stopped being lazy and decided to test them out individually.
And what I found out was that both cards are capable of doing 1Ghz/1100Mhz solo, when paired up even tho both are being fed cool air and not getting high temp's they hate any kind of overclock done to them.

I later realized that it was the memory that was making my driver crash, even tho the temp's were cool the memory on one of the card was too hot.


----------



## sinnedone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> I later realized that it was the memory that was making my driver crash, even tho the temp's were cool the memory on one of the card was too hot.


How did you resolve it?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> How did you resolve it?


Moar fan's








Even tho the GPU was being fed fresh hair, the inside of my case was getting hot, since my mem is passively cooled it would get too hot.

I already had one intake fan pushing air to the GPU's, another intake fan pushing air thro the front of my case and 2 exhaust fans in the top.
I decided to mount a fan inside my case that would be fed by my HDD fan and push all the air being expelled by my GPU's to the top where it would be expelled.
My Noctua cooler was mounted in reverse, its intake now cause of that, the hot air that was being expelled ended up being sucked by the Noctua giving me a considerable good increase in temp's for my CPU.

I should have bought an after market cooler for the GPU's it would've been an easier way to solve it, but it was hella fun monitoring and figuring out ways to get the system running like I wanted it to









Edit: The card that crashed was the newer revision of Sapphire 6850, it has an unknown(to me) brand of memory...
I had to struggle with it to put it working properly but in the end, Im satisfied.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> I later realized that it was the memory that was making my driver crash, even tho the temp's were cool the memory on one of the card was too hot.
> 
> 
> 
> How did you resolve it?
Click to expand...

I can't even OC my memory 25 MHz without it crashing. My core on the other hand can hit 1 GHz on stock voltage no problem.


----------



## sinnedone

you never thought of somevram heatsinks?


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> you never thought of somevram heatsinks?


I have RAM sinks, my card just doesn't like overclocking the memory.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> you never thought of somevram heatsinks?
> 
> 
> 
> I have RAM sinks, my card just doesn't like overclocking the memory.
Click to expand...

Just curious, what brand is it?


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> you never thought of somevram heatsinks?
> 
> 
> 
> I have RAM sinks, my card just doesn't like overclocking the memory.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just curious, what brand is it?
Click to expand...

Sapphire reference, purchased on release date, paired with a Zalman VF3000A. Fan speed at lowest setting keeps the GPU at 55 C at 1000 MHz.


----------



## Alastair

My 6850's got 220MHz extra on the vRAM for me without heatsinks. Do RAM sinks really help?


----------



## Krusher33

When I had my Sapphire 6850, I was only able to do 950/1050 with the stock cooler. When I added an Antec 620, and Ram sinks from my Accellero kit, I was able to push it to 1000/1200 for gaming and 1030/1250 for folding. I couldn't see the VRM temps in GPU-z though.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> When I had my Sapphire 6850, I was only able to do 950/1050 with the stock cooler. When I added an Antec 620, and Ram sinks from my Accellero kit, I was able to push it to 1000/1200 for gaming and 1030/1250 for folding. I couldn't see the VRM temps in GPU-z though.


with the original Sapphire 6870, I have full voltage monitoring and temperature of the VRM's too, for some reason I just can't OC my memory though









In other news, 3526x1920 3x1 portrait Eyefinity + Auxilary 32" T @ 1080p off a single 6870 @ 1 GHz playing back 1080p 5.1 video in VLC, Folding on the GPU, and playing Skyward Sword in Dolphin at 1080p being rendered internally at twice that for some amazing quality. Who says the 6870 is weak... Can a single Nvidia high-end card even do the auxiliary screen yet *properly*? Last I checked Nvidia could finally to 4 screens off one card finally, but the aux screen was glitchy and couldn't have full screen content on both surfaces.

That's another thing to note, Windows 8 fixed fullscreen, no longer does clicking outside a full screen window on another screen minimize the full screen window.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> with the original Sapphire 6870, I have full voltage monitoring and temperature of the VRM's too, for some reason I just can't OC my memory though
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, 3526x1920 3x1 portrait Eyefinity + Auxilary 32" T @ 1080p off a single 6870 @ 1 GHz playing back 1080p 5.1 video in VLC, Folding on the GPU, and playing Skyward Sword in Dolphin at 1080p being rendered internally at twice that for some amazing quality. Who says the 6870 is weak... Can a single Nvidia high-end card even do the auxiliary screen yet *properly*? Last I checked Nvidia could finally to 4 screens off one card finally, but the aux screen was glitchy and couldn't have full screen content on both surfaces.
> That's another thing to note, Windows 8 fixed fullscreen, no longer does clicking outside a full screen window on another screen minimize the full screen window.


Okay Im sold now.
My laptop is going windows 8!








Full screen on 1 screen with the other screen not minimizing the full screen window?
I hated that I tried watching youtube videos in full screen on one screen while I worked and it minimized...


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> with the original Sapphire 6870, I have full voltage monitoring and temperature of the VRM's too, for some reason I just can't OC my memory though
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, 3526x1920 3x1 portrait Eyefinity + Auxilary 32" T @ 1080p off a single 6870 @ 1 GHz playing back 1080p 5.1 video in VLC, Folding on the GPU, and playing Skyward Sword in Dolphin at 1080p being rendered internally at twice that for some amazing quality. Who says the 6870 is weak... Can a single Nvidia high-end card even do the auxiliary screen yet *properly*? Last I checked Nvidia could finally to 4 screens off one card finally, but the aux screen was glitchy and couldn't have full screen content on both surfaces.
> That's another thing to note, Windows 8 fixed fullscreen, no longer does clicking outside a full screen window on another screen minimize the full screen window.
> 
> 
> 
> Okay Im sold now.
> My laptop is going windows 8!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Full screen on 1 screen with the other screen not minimizing the full screen window?
> I hated that I tried watching youtube videos in full screen on one screen while I worked and it minimized...
Click to expand...

Yep all last night I had my 32" with Youtube maximized and playing on my Eyefinity display doing random things. Also the dual-fullscreen was nice with VLC for music videos and fullscreen Dolphin on the other.

It was a very tricky setup though, I had to play around with CCC and Windows Screen Resolution pages to get the Aux screen in landscape mode. Would probably be much easier when all screens are in landscape mode.


----------



## sinnedone

What exactly did you do?

Will work on Windows 7?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> Yep all last night I had my 32" with Youtube maximized and playing on my Eyefinity display doing random things. Also the dual-fullscreen was nice with VLC for music videos and fullscreen Dolphin on the other.
> It was a very tricky setup though, I had to play around with CCC and Windows Screen Resolution pages to get the Aux screen in landscape mode. Would probably be much easier when all screens are in landscape mode.


Cool, if it works I'll get it done








And yea the 6800 series are pretty good cards, the 2 I got will probably hold me over till 2014, I dont mind tuning down the settings a bit for enjoyable framerates.


----------



## savage1987

Any tips for shutting up a noisy fan on a MSI TFII cooler?


----------



## Alastair

Noisy as in high RPM noisy or noisy as in bad bearing noise?


----------



## savage1987

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Noisy as in high RPM noisy or noisy as in bad bearing noise?


All fans on both cards are high RPM noisy









Noisy as in bearing, or vibration, or some annoying buzzing noise. If i flick the fan (e.g. with a fingernail) it usually goes away. Happens around 60-80% fan speed and sometimes elsewhere. I'm hoping a drop of oil will fix it if I can get access..


----------



## Ganf

You'll have to take off the shroud, if not the whole cooler, but it's not that hard.


----------



## savage1987

I read somewhere that these fans aren't really meant to be a serviceable unit though... they have a seal that's glued in place or something?? Was wondering if anyone here had experience with that, or if this was a super common problem with the TF II coolers. I had the cards both apart the other day for cleaning so I can get the fans off no worries.


----------



## JRuxGaming

SAPPHIRE ATI Radeon HD 6850




Does that work?

Edit: Dat Typo.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> SAPPHIRE ATI Radeon HD 6850
> Does that work?
> Edit: Dat Typo.


Welcome to OCN and Congratz on the 6850.
Hope you have a blast with it, it's a nice little card.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> SAPPHIRE ATI Radeon HD 6850
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does that work?
> 
> Edit: Dat Typo.


Get a second for double the fun!







It's worth it!


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Get a second for double the fun!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's worth it!


Double the pain too sometimes... Depending on luck


----------



## savage1987

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Double the pain too sometimes... Depending on luck


haha yes!! My 6870s have been in _functional_ Crossfire for about one month out of two years since building the system!!! I am now RMA'ing the card I already RMA'd because it turns out the replacement is stuffed also, causing all sorts of craziness









Can't wait to get it working as it should though, should be much nicer.


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Get a second for double the fun!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's worth it!


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Welcome to OCN and Congratz on the 6850.
> Hope you have a blast with it, it's a nice little card.


Oh, don't worry, I will be getting a second card in the Spring. Actually I will be doing a nice upgrade in the Spring. Upgrade here: link. After the upgrade the build attached to my account is what my PC will have.









Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention. I do plan on Tri-CrossfireX configuration in the future; maybe even Quad CrossfireX.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> Oh, don't worry, I will be getting a second card in the Spring. Actually I will be doing a nice upgrade in the Spring. Upgrade here: link. After the upgrade the build attached to my account is what my PC will have.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention. I do plan on Tri-CrossfireX configuration in the future; maybe even Quad CrossfireX.


You wont be able to do it with a 6850 tho, only 1 crossfire connector.


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> You wont be able to do it with a 6850 tho, only 1 crossfire connector.


I believe it is actually possible. They have Tri and Quad bridges for CrossfireX. If the card itself can't handle Tri and Quad is a different story.


----------



## savage1987

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> I believe it is actually possible. They have Tri and Quad bridges for CrossfireX. If the card itself can't handle Tri and Quad is a different story.


*looks at motherboard*
*looks at slots for 3 cards*
*looks on ebay for 6870 prices*

...hmmm...


----------



## JRuxGaming

Hmm... After further research, I have come to the conclusion of you sadly cannot Triple CrossfireX this graphics card.







Unless, however, you can find a tri and quad CrossfireX Bridge, I know they come with the Asus Maximus V Extreme.
Oh well, when the time comes I'll upgrade to a different card.







Preferably another ATI card.

Edit: Though it was possible at one point with this.

Correction: The ASUS Maximus V Extreme comes with a double and triple CrossfireX bridge.

Correction Fail: They are Triple and Quad, but they happen to be SLI bridges.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> Hmm... After further research, I have come to the conclusion of you sadly cannot Triple CrossfireX this graphics card.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Unless, however, you can find a tri and quad CrossfireX Bridge, I know they come with the Asus Maximus V Extreme.
> Oh well, when the time comes I'll upgrade to a different card.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Preferably another ATI card.
> Edit: Though it was possible at one point with this.
> Correction: The ASUS Maximus V Extreme comes with a double and triple CrossfireX bridge.
> Correction Fail: They are Triple and Quad, but they happen to be SLI bridges.


I wish I had seen what you typed sooner, so I could correct you.
But well here I go, there are 6850 card's that are capable of doing Trifire and Quadfire, they were made by PowerColor and one of them is a single slot card, but taking in consideration that the card I was speaking about is equal to the ones I own and since it seems catalyst needs a physical connection in the cards unless you have 2 crossfire connectors you won't be able to establish a trifire/quadfire connection.
I heard tales of people who managed to get trifire and quadfire working without crossfire bridges by modding the driver, even tho that might be possible you'd have to go thro a whole lot bigger of an head ache to put your cards working.

And it happens the same thing with Nvidia. If you go check the SLI bridge you spoke of you will find that you still require the same ammount of crossfire 'fingers' to make the connection, for a tri sli connection the cards are required to have two of these fingers.

Trisli bridge pic


Edit:
Just clicked on your link after posting, yes if you manage to get your hands on one of those and use it with two other 6850's you should be able to do Trifire.


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> I wish I had seen what you typed sooner, so I could correct you.
> But well here I go, there are 6850 card's that are capable of doing Trifire and Quadfire, they were made by PowerColor and one of them is a single slot card, but taking in consideration that the card I was speaking about is equal to the ones I own and since it seems catalyst needs a physical connection in the cards unless you have 2 crossfire connectors you won't be able to establish a trifire/quadfire connection.
> I heard tales of people who managed to get trifire and quadfire working without crossfire bridges by modding the driver, even tho that might be possible you'd have to go thro a whole lot bigger of an head ache to put your cards working.
> And it happens the same thing with Nvidia. If you go check the SLI bridge you spoke of you will find that you still require the same ammount of crossfire 'fingers' to make the connection, for a tri sli connection the cards are required to have two of these fingers.
> Trisli bridge pic
> 
> Edit:
> Just clicked on your link after posting, yes if you manage to get your hands on one of those and use it with two other 6850's you should be able to do Trifire.


Okay, cool, then I wasn't just blowing wind. I thought it was possible. Although a slim chance, it is still possible.


----------



## JRuxGaming

So I did find this. If you have the money, it may be worth it. I also validated the site though this. Only 2 people did review, so if you can trust the reviews that is up to you. In my opinion I would want to see proof that this online store actually has them. Oh, apparently you can also make an offer. You could slim the price down a bit if they accept.


----------



## Tokkan

That card would be awesome, I'd love to get my hands on one of those tbh, if it were cheap... Have an extra PCIe slot








Would just buy an aftermarket cooler and I'd be golden. But at this point I think it would be better to sell my current cards and get a new one...
One of them is 1 and a half year old and the other is 1 year old, I hate the most recent on, it has made me go thro hell and back.


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> That card would be awesome, I'd love to get my hands on one of those tbh, if it were cheap... Have an extra PCIe slot
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Would just buy an aftermarket cooler and I'd be golden. But at this point I think it would be better to sell my current cards and get a new one...
> One of them is 1 and a half year old and the other is 1 year old, I hate the most recent on, it has made me go thro hell and back.


Yeah, I agree with you on that. After the upgrade in spring I will be investing in the next gen cards (i.e. 8000-series or whatever they are called. Link would be helpful.). Expecially since 6800s only support up to PCI 2.1. It definitely keeps you from getting maximum performance, compared to the 7000-series, which support PCI 3.0, that you get with pretty much any Ivy Bridge motherboard.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> Yeah, I agree with you on that. After the upgrade in spring I will be investing in the next gen cards (i.e. 8000-series or whatever they are called. Link would be helpful.). Expecially since 6800s only support up to PCI 2.1. It definitely keeps you from getting maximum performance, compared to the 7000-series, which support PCI 3.0, that you get with pretty much any Ivy Bridge motherboard.


Dont buy all the marketing crap, we barely hit the PCIe 2.0 wall...
You would see almost no performance hit from running a 500 series or a 6000 series graphics card on PCIe 2.0 at 8x, and with the crap Intel is feeding people makes me laugh.
Hope you know that PCIe 2.0 @ 16x is = in speeds to PCIe 3.0 @ 8x
Since running 8x isn't a bottleneck it won't be a serious issue for Intel when they decide to add a second card... but whoops AMD manages to get two PCIe 2.0 running at 16x in their lower end motherboards.
While my 890FX chipset gives me two PCIe 2.0 at 16x and one PCIe 2.0 at 8x.
Same happens with the 990FX chipset.
Which means that in multi GPU configurations(motherboard wise) Intel and AMD are neck to neck in the ammount of usable speed given to the graphics cards.


----------



## famous1994

Need mine updated to 1 HIS HD6850 and 1 AMD OEM HD6850 in Crossfire


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> Yeah, I agree with you on that. After the upgrade in spring I will be investing in the next gen cards (i.e. 8000-series or whatever they are called. Link would be helpful.). Expecially since 6800s only support up to PCI 2.1. It definitely keeps you from getting maximum performance, compared to the 7000-series, which support PCI 3.0, that you get with pretty much any Ivy Bridge motherboard.
> 
> 
> 
> Dont buy all the marketing crap, we barely hit the PCIe 2.0 wall...
> You would see almost no performance hit from running a 500 series or a 6000 series graphics card on PCIe 2.0 at 8x, and with the crap Intel is feeding people makes me laugh.
> Hope you know that PCIe 2.0 @ 16x is = in speeds to PCIe 3.0 @ 8x
> Since running 8x isn't a bottleneck it won't be a serious issue for Intel when they decide to add a second card... but whoops AMD manages to get two PCIe 2.0 running at 16x in their lower end motherboards.
> While my 890FX chipset gives me two PCIe 2.0 at 16x and one PCIe 2.0 at 8x.
> Same happens with the 990FX chipset.
> Which means that in multi GPU configurations(motherboard wise) Intel and AMD are neck to neck in the ammount of usable speed given to the graphics cards.
Click to expand...

Manufactures of Intel boards had to use nVidia NF200 chips to get the extra pci-e lanes on their higher mid-range motherboards to compete with the AMD boards in this department..


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Manufactures of Intel boards had to use nVidia NF200 chips to get the extra pci-e lanes on their higher mid-range motherboards to compete with the AMD boards in this department..


Exactly, but the problem is that if they used a chip there will be a certain delay in the PCIe, plus this chip has given quite some trouble for some people.
Edit: The processor's only have 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, using an Nvidia chipset won't magically increase the number of PCIe lanes available in the processor, it will just fool you to think you are running full speed on the card's but you still end up being limited by the CPU lanes.
Marketing scam.

I'm not an AMD fan even tho I might sound like one, I'm a realistic person. The 1155 platform was made by Intel to provide full bandwidth to only one graphics card, if you want more than one graphics card to get full bandwidth you need to move on to their 2011 platform.
It isn't expensive to do it in any form, you can get good boards for the equivalent price you would pay in the 1155 but you are forced to pay the 300$ for the lowest performing i7 in that socket, it's Sandy Bridge based so you can achieve overclocks of 5Ghz which is on par with IB at 4.8Ghz. and it will offer you the chance to upgrade to IB-E if you an upgrade fanatics.
*BUT* they have no PCIe 3.0 support on the 2011 socket yet _I think_. In the end, you end up having always the same bandwidth being given to your graphics card in multi-gpu configurations, whether you opt for 1155, 2011 or AM3/AM3+
The only real difference is the computing power in the processor's and how easy/hard it is to overclock, since Intel has given us no FSB/BUS overclock this past two generations.

Edit2: The 2011 boards are compatible with PCIe 3.0 some of them, but SB-E failed to deliver PCIe 3.0 implementation. I read this a long time ago, so if it changed please correct me.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Manufactures of Intel boards had to use nVidia NF200 chips to get the extra pci-e lanes on their higher mid-range motherboards to compete with the AMD boards in this department..
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly, but the problem is that if they used a chip there will be a certain delay in the PCIe, plus this chip has given quite some trouble for some people.
> Edit: The processor's only have 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, using an Nvidia chipset won't magically increase the number of PCIe lanes available in the processor, it will just fool you to think you are running full speed on the card's but you still end up being limited by the CPU lanes.
> Marketing scam.
> 
> I'm not an AMD fan even tho I might sound like one, I'm a realistic person. The 1155 platform was made by Intel to provide full bandwidth to only one graphics card, if you want more than one graphics card to get full bandwidth you need to move on to their 2011 platform.
> It isn't expensive to do it in any form, you can get good boards for the equivalent price you would pay in the 1155 but you are forced to pay the 300$ for the lowest performing i7 in that socket, it's Sandy Bridge based so you can achieve overclocks of 5Ghz which is on par with IB at 4.8Ghz. and it will offer you the chance to upgrade to IB-E if you an upgrade fanatics.
> *BUT* they have no PCIe 3.0 support on the 2011 socket yet _I think_. In the end, you end up having always the same bandwidth being given to your graphics card in multi-gpu configurations, whether you opt for 1155, 2011 or AM3/AM3+
> The only real difference is the computing power in the processor's and how easy/hard it is to overclock, since Intel has given us no FSB/BUS overclock this past two generations.
> 
> Edit2: The 2011 boards are compatible with PCIe 3.0 some of them, but SB-E failed to deliver PCIe 3.0 implementation. I read this a long time ago, so if it changed please correct me.
Click to expand...

I am very happy with my AM3+ 990FX board and Phenom 2. They have served me well and will continue to serve since Piledriver and Steamroller will still be compatible AM3+ in the future so I am happy!


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> What exactly did you do?
> 
> Will work on Windows 7?


Well Eyefinity + Aux works on Windows 7, I forget how well it supported fullscreen on both though.


----------



## Crowe98

Hai here is my XFX Radeon 6850 DD..


----------



## Crowe98

DUDE! youve got to link me that wallpaper!


----------



## Alastair

What?


----------



## Crowe98

sorry, i forgot to quote. haha, my bad. <3


----------



## Alastair

Thread has been quite for a while....


----------



## Crowe98

ikr?


----------



## JRuxGaming

Wait the thread is dead? What for?


----------



## Alastair

I dunno. I have to agree. there has been very little happening on this thread for a while... I think many people have just dumped their HD6000 cards for HD7000 cards...:'(


----------



## SortOfGrim

Just because nobody post here doesn't mean they changed cards, it just means it works perfectly.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SortOfGrim*
> 
> Just because nobody post here doesn't mean they changed cards, it just means it works perfectly.


About time!
Those who had problems already ditched...
Hell the OP was prolly the 1st one to jump the boat


----------



## JRuxGaming

Even though the 6xxx series cards are going to be 2 generation cards by next year, they are still very well made cards and run great.


----------



## Alastair

Yeah have to agree. And with the way the consoles are looking we will still have us enough power for maybe another 2 or 3 generations. I hope my 6850's can run 1GHz for that long...


----------



## Alastair

Yeah have to agree. And with the way the consoles are looking we will still have us enough power for maybe another 2 or 3 generations. I hope my 6850's can run 1GHz for that long...


----------



## oldcompgeek

Hey all! I just wanted to check and see if anyone has ever tried to use a coolermaster aquagate duo-viva liquid cooler on crossfire before? If so, what kind-of performance did you get from them? I know they were designed for the 3850 series, but I also know that tdp and heat keeps getting lower each generation, so using them on a CF 6850/6870 shouldn't create any more heat than dual 3850's did. The reason for asking is that I have the coolermaster setup or an Asatek dual cpu/gpu system that I could use on them as I have had an adapter machined so they'll both fit my cards and copper vrm coolers to add. Any advice is greatly appreciated as I want to get as much information before making the mistake of screwing up both of my new video cards. I run an Antec kuhler 920 on my cpu and the asatek has the same size 49mm x 120 rad. Thanks!!!!!


----------



## Tokkan

My crossfire 6850 is strong, all it needed was a little more VRAM and the only game I see them struggling at 100% all the time without going past 30fps's is heavily modded skyrim.
Other than that, they cool.
Run borderlands 2 maxed out and BF3 maxed too.
These are atm the only punishing games I have.


----------



## sinnedone

The XFX HD 6870 was and is my first crossfire setup and so far I am very satisfied.

Battlefield 3 might dip to upper 60's framerate wise on the bigger maps with lost of explosions but most of the time stays around 100 fps. 1GB is enough for the resolutions I play on right now but that might change.

Right now the only problem I have is the 12.10 driver cap stuff. Been buggy since installed and im about to roll back to 12.8


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> The XFX HD 6870 was and is my first crossfire setup and so far I am very satisfied.
> Battlefield 3 might dip to upper 60's framerate wise on the bigger maps with lost of explosions but most of the time stays around 100 fps. 1GB is enough for the resolutions I play on right now but that might change.
> Right now the only problem I have is the 12.10 driver cap stuff. Been buggy since installed and im about to roll back to 12.8


You should try out 12.11 beta. It seems to have increased performance on all my games.


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

hey what sup morning, i would like to know if there is any after market cooler for the XFX RADEON HD6870 (SINGLE FAN) NOT (DD) edition
and if some how i can convert it to double fan?


----------



## SortOfGrim

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> hey what sup morning, i would like to know if there is any after market cooler for the XFX RADEON HD6870 (SINGLE FAN) NOT (DD) edition
> and if some how i can convert it to double fan?


here are a few that I know:

Arctic Accelero Xtreme Plus II
Arctic Cooling Accelero TWIN TURBO II
GELID Rev. 2 ICY VISION GPU Cooler


----------



## ihatelolcats

i use the arctic cooling twin turbo pro on mine


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i use the arctic cooling twin turbo pro on mine


does it fit screw for screw like factory bolt on ?


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> i use the arctic cooling twin turbo pro on mine
> 
> 
> 
> does it fit screw for screw like factory bolt on ?
Click to expand...

yeah
they're somewhat standardized


----------



## oldcompgeek

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> Even though the 6xxx series cards are going to be 2 generation cards by next year, they are still very well made cards and run great.


I am with you as well. I don't have the expertise or experience as alot of y'all but have been extremely happy with the performance of my 6870 and the 6850 that I added to it recently(CF setup) Not to mention that I got the Powercolor 6850 for 99 bucks new and that's probably due to not as many ppl getting them because of the 7000 series. My ol' Sapphire 6870 is chugging along perfectly as well although it cost 70 bucks more but that was 6 mos. ago.... I ALMOST decided to switch off and go with a 6790 CF setup before-- but the sale on the 6850 made up my mind for me and sure am glad that it did... BTW, just wanted to throw this out there -- I bought a Powercolor 6570 for $35 for my 2 youngest boys a while back and after some problems unrelated to it we finally were able to really let them try it out and WOW!! That little card has just far exceeded the expectations especially on a 27" hd monitor at 1360 by 768. Torchlight,BF3,MW4, and even dirt showdown at med-high to high settings! They have been so happy that even my 12 yr old has let the x-box collect dust.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> I am with you as well. I don't have the expertise or experience as alot of y'all but have been extremely happy with the performance of my 6870 and the 6850 that I added to it recently(CF setup) Not to mention that I got the Powercolor 6850 for 99 bucks new and that's probably due to not as many ppl getting them because of the 7000 series. My ol' Sapphire 6870 is chugging along perfectly as well although it cost 70 bucks more but that was 6 mos. ago.... I ALMOST decided to switch off and go with a 6790 CF setup before-- but the sale on the 6850 made up my mind for me and sure am glad that it did... BTW, just wanted to throw this out there -- I bought a Powercolor 6570 for $35 for my 2 youngest boys a while back and after some problems unrelated to it we finally were able to really let them try it out and WOW!! That little card has just far exceeded the expectations especially on a 27" hd monitor at 1360 by 768. Torchlight,BF3,MW4, and even dirt showdown at med-high to high settings! They have been so happy that even my 12 yr old has let the x-box collect dust.


Currently all desktop card's are built thinking of powering Full HD resolution's.
So the 6570 is more than enough for 1366x768, I have a friend with financial problem's but he wanted a computer that he could play on for real cheap.
I got him an i3, cheap motherboard 4gb of ram a noname psu and an HD6450 to power his 1280*1024 screen.
He plays everything he wishes at high-medium too, he even played BF3 there.
The guy was so happy








It's amazing tbh. I have my crossfire 6850 and I think it's starting to getting severely outperformed by some other solutions in the market.
When my cousin comes to my house I let him play w,e he wishes, he has a PS3 and BF3 for the PS3 so he usually ends up playing BF3, he tells me that the experience is 100% different and that he enjoys it much more on my computer with ultra settings.
So in the end this really is overclock.net and we all want more performance even tho we already have enough to max whats out there.


----------



## Tokkan

I tried out the new Wonder Driver's and they in fact seem to increase a bit the performance on the 68x0's.
Atleast I seem to be having bigger scores/fps's all arround, can any1 confirm?
It's a very small increase, I would say arround 1%/2%.
But hey its free.
Too buggy atm tho


----------



## sinnedone

Downloaded the beta driver but game me some error and wont install.

Download was good to.

Guess Ill have to wait until they finalize


----------



## oldcompgeek

Tokkan, that's so true reguarding the available video solutions that are available now. Although I'm very happy with my x-fire 6850/6870 solution, I do know that 2-7770's will get better frame rates in certain situations even though they have far less stream processors. My friend has a gigabyte 970a-d3 with a phenom II 965 and dual 7770's and his system gets excellent frame rates on his 60" hdtv playing Battlefield 3 and MW4. It just seems that the sapphire 7770's that he has really work well together because he had a 6970 before that and it didn't nearly compare to the x-fire setup. Personally, though I don't think I'll go to 7000 series or newer until AMD has PCI-E gen 3 available. As far as your driver issues, I can't comment as luckily i haven't had any AMD driver issues yet (knock on wood) besides when I first built my fx-8120 system and I think those troubles were related to the fx. Good luck!!


----------



## Krusher33

I sold my 7750 and 6850 to get my current 6970. I'm happy with it, but I very much miss my 6850.


----------



## oldcompgeek

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I sold my 7750 and 6850 to get my current 6970. I'm happy with it, but I very much miss my 6850.


I understand what you mean, I'd surely miss mine as well, especially the way they overclock and just plain perform. I might just be lucky and have a 6850 and 6870 that are both gem's but I personally think the "Barts" gpu's are just a great performer. I had a Nvidia before them (only due to finances) that I got for cheap but that GTX460 didn't hold a candle to my Sapphire 6870. The quality of the imaging and the tessalation blew me away and that 460 was sold for 50 bucks quick. Haven't used them b4 or since. Am currently in the process of putting h2o pump/blocks on both cards and really see how they perform vs. temps.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> Tokkan, that's so true reguarding the available video solutions that are available now. Although I'm very happy with my x-fire 6850/6870 solution, I do know that 2-7770's will get better frame rates in certain situations even though they have far less stream processors. My friend has a gigabyte 970a-d3 with a phenom II 965 and dual 7770's and his system gets excellent frame rates on his 60" hdtv playing Battlefield 3 and MW4. It just seems that the sapphire 7770's that he has really work well together because he had a 6970 before that and it didn't nearly compare to the x-fire setup. Personally, though I don't think I'll go to 7000 series or newer until AMD has PCI-E gen 3 available. As far as your driver issues, I can't comment as luckily i haven't had any AMD driver issues yet (knock on wood) besides when I first built my fx-8120 system and I think those troubles were related to the fx. Good luck!!


It's a beta driver and it seems to be common with people, my cards start randomly drop/increase their clocks and flickers my screen alot if I try to overclock them, so I'm letting them with no overclock for now.

I also opened both of my Sapphire cards and was amazed at the quality of one and the garbage that the other one was.
Looking at the components of my best clocking 6850, 930Mhz stock voltage and it's capable of 1Ghz easily but I only went that far for some bench's while the bad clocking 6850 need's 1.2 for 900Mhz and it stops working if I pass the 1.2v mark.
No video output etc.

Also I think I should RMA the card's, whenever I try to use the good clocking card as my main card they don't get full PCIe speed's... one gets 1x and the other 4x.
If I switch them arround I get full 16x-16x not a motherboard issue.

Edit: I got a pic taken with my phone, hopefully its good enough for you guys to see.
Whats the best clocking card of those two? Top one or the bottom one?
Also one of the chip's is made in Taiwan and the other in China, what's made in China and whats made in Taiwan?









1st question shouldnt be hard but the 2nd might be tricky








http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2636/20121030011935.jpg


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> Tokkan, that's so true reguarding the available video solutions that are available now. Although I'm very happy with my x-fire 6850/6870 solution, I do know that 2-7770's will get better frame rates in certain situations even though they have far less stream processors. My friend has a gigabyte 970a-d3 with a phenom II 965 and dual 7770's and his system gets excellent frame rates on his 60" hdtv playing Battlefield 3 and MW4. It just seems that the sapphire 7770's that he has really work well together because he had a 6970 before that and it didn't nearly compare to the x-fire setup. Personally, though I don't think I'll go to 7000 series or newer until AMD has PCI-E gen 3 available. As far as your driver issues, I can't comment as luckily i haven't had any AMD driver issues yet (knock on wood) besides when I first built my fx-8120 system and I think those troubles were related to the fx. Good luck!!
> 
> 
> 
> It's a beta driver and it seems to be common with people, my cards start randomly drop/increase their clocks and flickers my screen alot if I try to overclock them, so I'm letting them with no overclock for now.
> 
> I also opened both of my Sapphire cards and was amazed at the quality of one and the garbage that the other one was.
> Looking at the components of my best clocking 6850, 930Mhz stock voltage and it's capable of 1Ghz easily but I only went that far for some bench's while the bad clocking 6850 need's 1.2 for 900Mhz and it stops working if I pass the 1.2v mark.
> No video output etc.
> 
> Also I think I should RMA the card's, whenever I try to use the good clocking card as my main card they don't get full PCIe speed's... one gets 1x and the other 4x.
> If I switch them arround I get full 16x-16x not a motherboard issue.
> 
> Edit: I got a pic taken with my phone, hopefully its good enough for you guys to see.
> Whats the best clocking card of those two? Top one or the bottom one?
> Also one of the chip's is made in Taiwan and the other in China, what's made in China and whats made in Taiwan?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1st question shouldnt be hard but the 2nd might be tricky
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2636/20121030011935.jpg
Click to expand...

I think it's the bottom one that I had. I remember the heatsink being skinny like that. I had it clocked to a ghz for gaming and folded at 1030 @ 1.3v with an Antec 620 as the cooler.


----------



## axipher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> Tokkan, that's so true reguarding the available video solutions that are available now. Although I'm very happy with my x-fire 6850/6870 solution, I do know that 2-7770's will get better frame rates in certain situations even though they have far less stream processors. My friend has a gigabyte 970a-d3 with a phenom II 965 and dual 7770's and his system gets excellent frame rates on his 60" hdtv playing Battlefield 3 and MW4. It just seems that the sapphire 7770's that he has really work well together because he had a 6970 before that and it didn't nearly compare to the x-fire setup. Personally, though I don't think I'll go to 7000 series or newer until AMD has PCI-E gen 3 available. As far as your driver issues, I can't comment as luckily i haven't had any AMD driver issues yet (knock on wood) besides when I first built my fx-8120 system and I think those troubles were related to the fx. Good luck!!
> 
> 
> 
> It's a beta driver and it seems to be common with people, my cards start randomly drop/increase their clocks and flickers my screen alot if I try to overclock them, so I'm letting them with no overclock for now.
> 
> I also opened both of my Sapphire cards and was amazed at the quality of one and the garbage that the other one was.
> Looking at the components of my best clocking 6850, 930Mhz stock voltage and it's capable of 1Ghz easily but I only went that far for some bench's while the bad clocking 6850 need's 1.2 for 900Mhz and it stops working if I pass the 1.2v mark.
> No video output etc.
> 
> Also I think I should RMA the card's, whenever I try to use the good clocking card as my main card they don't get full PCIe speed's... one gets 1x and the other 4x.
> If I switch them arround I get full 16x-16x not a motherboard issue.
> 
> Edit: I got a pic taken with my phone, hopefully its good enough for you guys to see.
> Whats the best clocking card of those two? Top one or the bottom one?
> Also one of the chip's is made in Taiwan and the other in China, what's made in China and whats made in Taiwan?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1st question shouldnt be hard but the 2nd might be tricky
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2636/20121030011935.jpg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think it's the bottom one that I had. I remember the heatsink being skinny like that. I had it clocked to a ghz for gaming and folded at 1030 @ 1.3v with an Antec 620 as the cooler.
Click to expand...

the bottom one with the skinny heatsink on the VRM's looks like the reference one which most likely has voltage unlocked and slightly better GPU itself. AMD is pretty good for supplying top-end parts on release, then as the life of a product goes on, the lower quality silicon comes out.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *axipher*
> 
> the bottom one with the skinny heatsink on the VRM's looks like the reference one which most likely has voltage unlocked and slightly better GPU itself. AMD is pretty good for supplying top-end parts on release, then as the life of a product goes on, the lower quality silicon comes out.


Yap you got it right, the bottom one is the decent one.
I had so much fun with it and it promised so much that I decided to go crossfire with them... learned my lesson.
Even tho its a crap picture you can see the quality difference in both boards.

The voltage in the crap/more recent HD6850 is locked in everything except Sapphire Trixx, but Trixx has troubles accessing it if it is the secondary card, needs to be the main card.
Most of the stuff that I say about my pair of HD6850 might not make sense, I admit it. But it's what happens...
The crap card has to be the main card else crossfire won't work properly nor will my PCIe slots give 16x speed, I tested the PCIe slots alone and they work fine.
With ulps disabled I can't overvolt the recent card if it is working as a slave card, it need's to be the main card else my pc will shutdown everytime I change voltages and everytime I stress them with any kind of overclock, I did that with 790Mhz, 15Mhz above the stock core...

Any1 wanna buy it from me?








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I think it's the bottom one that I had. I remember the heatsink being skinny like that. I had it clocked to a ghz for gaming and folded at 1030 @ 1.3v with an Antec 620 as the cooler.


I had it at 1Ghz with 1.3v but the temperatures would become an issue since the stock cooler couldn't handle it, so I played it safe with 920/1150 at stock voltage.
Was expecting of reaching arround the same values when I decided to crossfire but far from that, the crap card has its own will.


----------



## oldcompgeek

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> It's a beta driver and it seems to be common with people, my cards start randomly drop/increase their clocks and flickers my screen alot if I try to overclock them, so I'm letting them with no overclock for now.
> I also opened both of my Sapphire cards and was amazed at the quality of one and the garbage that the other one was.
> Looking at the components of my best clocking 6850, 930Mhz stock voltage and it's capable of 1Ghz easily but I only went that far for some bench's while the bad clocking 6850 need's 1.2 for 900Mhz and it stops working if I pass the 1.2v mark.
> No video output etc.
> Also I think I should RMA the card's, whenever I try to use the good clocking card as my main card they don't get full PCIe speed's... one gets 1x and the other 4x.
> If I switch them arround I get full 16x-16x not a motherboard issue.
> Edit: I got a pic taken with my phone, hopefully its good enough for you guys to see.
> Whats the best clocking card of those two? Top one or the bottom one?
> Also one of the chip's is made in Taiwan and the other in China, what's made in China and whats made in Taiwan?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1st question shouldnt be hard but the 2nd might be tricky
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2636/20121030011935.jpg


The top card looks almost EXACTLY like my sapphire 6870 1ghz card (it's not a reference card) and it's an oc'n beast. I personally haven't seen one that looks like the bottom card, the cap and vrm spacing looks wierd.


----------



## Krusher33

I would think the VRM's would cool better in the bottom one compared to top. Because of how it's lined up instead of bunched together.


----------



## oldcompgeek

Yeah, the differences in the 6850's are many. My powercolor 6850 has actually more spacing than my 6870 sapphire does but the pcb is about 1/2" shorter? It also has 2 more capacitors as well? It's strange how these partners change up the designs.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> The top card looks almost EXACTLY like my sapphire 6870 1ghz card (it's not a reference card) and it's an oc'n beast. I personally haven't seen one that looks like the bottom card, the cap and vrm spacing looks wierd.


The 1st thought it came accross my mind when I opened this GPU out of it box was that it seemed like it was a 6870 PCB








The cooler can't even hide the whole PCB, its too short for it... a lil bit of the PCB sticks out.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> I would think the VRM's would cool better in the bottom one compared to top. Because of how it's lined up instead of bunched together.


I can't tell you the VRM temp's on the top one unless I monitor them with some sort of tools... But the bottom one has sensor's for everything basicly and they idle at 25 celsius. Just noticed that one of the sensor's seems to have died tho... registers a 0 degrees celsius...
It has 5 temperature sensor's








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *oldcompgeek*
> 
> Yeah, the differences in the 6850's are many. My powercolor 6850 has actually more spacing than my 6870 sapphire does but the pcb is about 1/2" shorter? It also has 2 more capacitors as well? It's strange how these partners change up the designs.


These are both from Sapphire, they just different revision's.

And since no1 tried to make a guess at the 2nd question the answer is:
The top GPU(worst clocker) was made in China while the bottom(best clocker) was made in Taiwan.


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> So in the end this really is overclock.net and we all want more performance even tho we already have enough to max whats out there.


^This... why does building a computer cost so much? D:


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> ^This... why does building a computer cost so much? D:


Building a computer doesn't cost much, I can make cheap and good builds for other people... Doing a computer for me becomes an issue tho.
Need to buy a good(By good means one of the best arround) CPU, also need a good motherboard to OC the hell out of the CPU without an issue... 200 euros on motherboard and 300 euros on CPU.
Need a good graphics card, 300 euros on graphics cards... HD7970 and oh goodie it comes with 3 free games which totally justifies since I save like 100 euros in games(I know that most likely I wont even play them and knowing the dumbass I am I wont sell the codes neither).
Well with all this I need a good PSU... need to make a thread in the psu section of the forum asking for a good psu... meanwhile I'll search for some seasonic or some nzxt hale90 850w(a 500w quality PSU would be enough for eh dont we all love overkill) 150~200 euros there.
Need fast ram! 1866Mhz with the lowest CL possible... 16Gb of ram! A pair of corsair dominators 1600Mhz CL7 leaves me a good room to overclock... 180 euros...
Now I need cooling *looks at old rig* Noctua......









Need new case tired of that small case... want something big and good looking... *search's on amazon.co.uk* Hmm a Silverstone Raven RV03... for 145 euros.
An SSD... 100 euros.
And I'll salvage the rest from my old desktop.

*makes math* 200+300+300+200 from PSU+180 from RAM+140 from case+100=1420 euros...
Good thing for some of us is that we sell our beastly rig's before they get extremely outdated, and for us they are running slow but for other people its the fastest thing they ever seen.
Like seriously I have my Phenom II X6 1090T at 4.2Ghz in all 6 cores and stable.
Okay an i5 at stock speed can probably beat it but your normal person doesn't know that does he?
Plus if I put my whole rig for sale at something like 1000 euros, I would be gaining enough money to build an even better one without having to spend too much money... and I know that I'd be able to sell it for 1000 euros here. Since I see i3 with onboard GPU's going for 600 euros. lol


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Building a computer doesn't cost much, I can make cheap and good builds for other people... Doing a computer for me becomes an issue tho.
> Need to buy a good(By good means one of the best arround) CPU, also need a good motherboard to OC the hell out of the CPU without an issue... 200 euros on motherboard and 300 euros on CPU.
> Need a good graphics card, 300 euros on graphics cards... HD7970 and oh goodie it comes with 3 free games which totally justifies since I save like 100 euros in games(I know that most likely I wont even play them and knowing the dumbass I am I wont sell the codes neither).
> Well with all this I need a good PSU... need to make a thread in the psu section of the forum asking for a good psu... meanwhile I'll search for some seasonic or some nzxt hale90 850w(a 500w quality PSU would be enough for eh dont we all love overkill) 150~200 euros there.
> Need fast ram! 1866Mhz with the lowest CL possible... 16Gb of ram! A pair of corsair dominators 1600Mhz CL7 leaves me a good room to overclock... 180 euros...
> Now I need cooling *looks at old rig* Noctua......
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Need new case tired of that small case... want something big and good looking... *search's on amazon.co.uk* Hmm a Silverstone Raven RV03... for 145 euros.
> An SSD... 100 euros.
> And I'll salvage the rest from my old desktop.
> *makes math* 200+300+300+200 from PSU+180 from RAM+140 from case+100=1420 euros...
> Good thing for some of us is that we sell our beastly rig's before they get extremely outdated, and for us they are running slow but for other people its the fastest thing they ever seen.
> Like seriously I have my Phenom II X6 1090T at 4.2Ghz in all 6 cores and stable.
> Okay an i5 at stock speed can probably beat it but your normal person doesn't know that does he?
> Plus if I put my whole rig for sale at something like 1000 euros, I would be gaining enough money to build an even better one without having to spend too much money... and I know that I'd be able to sell it for 1000 euros here. Since I see i3 with onboard GPU's going for 600 euros. lol


Well being a college student I am looking at not having money in the equation.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> Well being a college student I am looking at not having money in the equation.


Meh... I don't even have money for college... Was planning to go to college this year, but my parents denied to pay for it...
So yeah, wanted to go onto computer engineering.
My grades are pretty good, my average is 18 in a scale of 0 to 20. Need to do an exam and I can enter any uni I wish but I need the money to pay for everything.
I was just talking about how we all want the best when if some1 asked us we could probably fit a good rig in a smaller budget with an equal performance


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> I was just talking about how we all want the best when if some1 asked us we could probably fit a good rig in a smaller budget with an equal performance


Yeah, that's true.


----------



## Zethlis

Let me in!



http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1076246


----------



## anothergeek

I haven't run Far Cry 2 benchmark since 2009

I got 108 FPS at 1080p, Ultra Settings, 8xAA (crossfire 6850)

Impressive to say the least







The notebook I had would be lucky to get more than 30 with those settings

In Metro 2033 with DoF enabled and AAA, I get 40 FPS. With DoF disabled 50 FPS. Switch to MSAA x4 and drops to 43 and 33 FPS with DoF. Strangely performance is down in DX9 mode, just like in FC2.

My CPU is an FX4100 @4.6 and my clocks are 850/1150

No throttling issues here, with aftermarket cooling

Also, I can play Crysis 2 on Ultra in DX9 mode at a rock solid 60 frames. DX11 is choppy


----------



## Tokkan

Well I'm running my decent quality graphics card at 1Ghz right now in single mode. Took out my 2nd card cause BF3 went berserk on me and decided to give crap performance with crossfire enabled.
25% usage per card(average).... and 20 fps's at the lowest settings possible.
So I said screw it and took off the card.

I'm thinking of selling it for arround 90 euros/80pounds... Dunno if it's a good price or even if I should go back to single card.
I just hate that this all started cause I noticed that the graphics settings were in auto and I decided to change them to High with the max FOV.
After doing the change I lost all the performance I had.
I'm currently running all High with some Ultra and having no sort of slowdown's or issues with my 6850 at 1Ghz/1100Mhz.


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Well I'm running my decent quality graphics card at 1Ghz right now in single mode. Took out my 2nd card cause BF3 went berserk on me and decided to give crap performance with crossfire enabled.
> 25% usage per card(average).... and 20 fps's at the lowest settings possible.
> So I said screw it and took off the card.
> I'm thinking of selling it for arround 90 euros/80pounds... Dunno if it's a good price or even if I should go back to single card.
> I just hate that this all started cause I noticed that the graphics settings were in auto and I decided to change them to High with the max FOV.
> After doing the change I lost all the performance I had.
> I'm currently running all High with some Ultra and having no sort of slowdown's or issues with my 6850 at 1Ghz/1100Mhz.


Sell both your HD 6850s and you can easily get a HD 7950 which will perform very well. With 12.11b HD 7950 kills BF3 and at 1.2+ Ghz outruns GTX 680 (1.3 Ghz). Always go for a good single GPU. multi GPU is only at the high end with GTX 680 SLI and HD 7970 CF where a single GPU can't go.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *raghu78*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Well I'm running my decent quality graphics card at 1Ghz right now in single mode. Took out my 2nd card cause BF3 went berserk on me and decided to give crap performance with crossfire enabled.
> 25% usage per card(average).... and 20 fps's at the lowest settings possible.
> So I said screw it and took off the card.
> I'm thinking of selling it for arround 90 euros/80pounds... Dunno if it's a good price or even if I should go back to single card.
> I just hate that this all started cause I noticed that the graphics settings were in auto and I decided to change them to High with the max FOV.
> After doing the change I lost all the performance I had.
> I'm currently running all High with some Ultra and having no sort of slowdown's or issues with my 6850 at 1Ghz/1100Mhz.
> 
> 
> 
> Sell both your HD 6850s and you can easily get a HD 7950 which will perform very well. With 12.11b HD 7950 kills BF3 and at 1.2+ Ghz outruns GTX 680 (1.3 Ghz). Always go for a good single GPU. multi GPU is only at the high end with GTX 680 SLI and HD 7970 CF where a single GPU can't go.
Click to expand...

that's just like your opinion man


----------



## sinnedone

So far so good. FPs barely hit anything lowere than high 60's while playing BF3. Most of the time it hovers in the triple digits.


----------



## oldcompgeek

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *raghu78*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Well I'm running my decent quality graphics card at 1Ghz right now in single mode. Took out my 2nd card cause BF3 went berserk on me and decided to give crap performance with crossfire enabled.
> 25% usage per card(average).... and 20 fps's at the lowest settings possible.
> So I said screw it and took off the card.
> I'm thinking of selling it for arround 90 euros/80pounds... Dunno if it's a good price or even if I should go back to single card.
> I just hate that this all started cause I noticed that the graphics settings were in auto and I decided to change them to High with the max FOV.
> After doing the change I lost all the performance I had.
> I'm currently running all High with some Ultra and having no sort of slowdown's or issues with my 6850 at 1Ghz/1100Mhz.
> 
> 
> 
> Sell both your HD 6850s and you can easily get a HD 7950 which will perform very well. With 12.11b HD 7950 kills BF3 and at 1.2+ Ghz outruns GTX 680 (1.3 Ghz). Always go for a good single GPU. multi GPU is only at the high end with GTX 680 SLI and HD 7970 CF where a single GPU can't go.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> that's just like your opinion man
Click to expand...

I agree. My cf 6850/6870 setup performs awesome per dollar versus a single gpu that cost 200 bucks. Then again thats just my opinion as well. I have also heard the 777o's x-fired perform excellent as well. It's just personal preference like most things....


----------



## AMOCO

You can include me:I've got 2 Gigabyte HD 6870's
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3663#ov


----------



## Tokkan

These card's were running perfectly together and I had found a stable overclock for both of them in crossfire... 900/1050.
But as soon as I decided to change the graphics settings the performance in BF3 got choppy, each card was being used by 25% only and giving me 30fps with dips to 10 with every setting in the game, from low to ultra it always did this.

I'm tired of troubleshooting them but I decided to try and see what happened with single OC'ed to the top vs crossfire stock, I was amazed that my single card is able to keep me above 60 fps in bf3 most of the time and when it lowers it isnt noticeable...
Anyway I really plan on getting a job soon cause a friend of mine talked with some people to open up a spot for me, gonna wait and hop to the 8970 single card









Edit: I do not regret going crossfire, I regret having the bad luck I had and get a crap card that needs volts to OC above stock, and it's voltage locked in almost everything.
Performance wise, I got the performance of a GTX580 that was worth 600 euros in my country for only 300 euros.


The minimum framerate on Heaven Benchmark 3.0 is equal in crossfire or single.


----------



## Crowe98

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> 
> So far so good. FPs barely hit anything lowere than high 60's while playing BF3. Most of the time it hovers in the triple digits.


DUDE! i love that colour scheme! it fits so well! Nice job! Atm, ive only got one 6850 Double Dissapation from XFX, and im not sure whether to buy another one and xfire, or upgrade to a 660, 660ti, 7850.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Crowe98*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> 
> So far so good. FPs barely hit anything lowere than high 60's while playing BF3. Most of the time it hovers in the triple digits.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DUDE! i love that colour scheme! it fits so well! Nice job! Atm, ive only got one 6850 Double Dissapation from XFX, and im not sure whether to buy another one and xfire, or upgrade to a 660, 660ti, 7850.
Click to expand...

I would go for a 7850 because the 8000 series will be out soon. So the 7000 series will have a price drop when the 8000's are released so you can get a second card soon for a good price and xfire goodness!


----------



## Krusher33

I was surprised to see a Sapphire 6870 on *sale* for $150 this morning. I was thinking it was down to $100 by now.


----------



## sinnedone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Crowe98*
> 
> DUDE! i love that colour scheme! it fits so well! Nice job! Atm, ive only got one 6850 Double Dissapation from XFX, and im not sure whether to buy another one and xfire, or upgrade to a 660, 660ti, 7850.


Thanks.









The 1GB limit would probably be a factor if you want to future proof your gaming. If you can get one cheap (90-100) then sure why not.

If I had the money id go for something newer and with more memory.

I only use lower resolutions so I can game on ultra settings and be fine, but if your running higher res on 120hz monitors/tv's i say upgrade.


----------



## Alastair

Guys how come 68xx series cards dont have the powertune settings in afterburner like the 69xx cards and newer cards?


----------



## Krusher33

I think they didn't start that feature till 6900's.


----------



## Alastair

Oh i see... and what does that feature do exactly?


----------



## Alastair

Oh i see...


----------



## Zerkk

What driver is everyone using? I tried updating to 12.10 last night but I get some strange screen flicker when moving around windows. I tried reinstalling it but i got the same result. I ended up going back to 12.8.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Zerkk*
> 
> What driver is everyone using? I tried updating to 12.10 last night but I get some strange screen flicker when moving around windows. I tried reinstalling it but i got the same result. I ended up going back to 12.8.


Flicker only happens if you OC the card/card's lol
And I prefer 12.8 driver too.


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Flicker only happens if you OC the card/card's lol
> And I prefer 12.8 driver too.


Normally I would agree with you, but this was without any overclock or voltage change, so that being the cause is impossible.


----------



## ihatelolcats

has anyone been able to underclock the memory on this card? i did unofficial overclocking in afterburner, doesnt seem to have changed anything. i don't care to go below the 525mhz limit

[ATIADLHAL]
EnableUnofficialOverclocking = 1
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 = 2
AccessibilityCheckingPeriod = 0
UnifiedMemoryUsageMonitoring = 1

edit: have it at 800mhz now without the unofficial oc business. wont go lower than that


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Zerkk*
> 
> Normally I would agree with you, but this was without any overclock or voltage change, so that being the cause is impossible.


Well I only noticed it with my cards overclocked, I also removed them without testing much further since I saw no gain overall.


----------



## SortOfGrim

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Zerkk*
> 
> What driver is everyone using? I tried updating to 12.10 last night but I get some strange screen flicker when moving around windows. I tried reinstalling it but i got the same result. I ended up going back to 12.8.


I'm using 12.10 and have no problem.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Oh i see... and what does that feature do exactly?


As I understand it, it's similar to LLC on motherboards. If there's alot of vdroop or spikes, use it to bring it down.

I've yet to use it on my 6970.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> has anyone been able to underclock the memory on this card? i did unofficial overclocking in afterburner, doesnt seem to have changed anything. i don't care to go below the 525mhz limit
> 
> [ATIADLHAL]
> EnableUnofficialOverclocking = 1
> 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 = 2
> AccessibilityCheckingPeriod = 0
> UnifiedMemoryUsageMonitoring = 1


Some ways above that is unlock voltage control and speed control. Those needs to = 1 as well.


----------



## Zerkk

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Well I only noticed it with my cards overclocked, I also removed them without testing much further since I saw no gain overall.


Gotcha, thanks for the info.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SortOfGrim*
> 
> I'm using 12.10 and have no problem.


Thanks, I may try to install them again. Or maybe jump to the beta drivers.


----------



## savage1987

Bonus, my RMA'd MSI 6870 tested bad, and it came back as a MSI 6950







Same TFII cooler so should still look the part next to the other 6870. Hoping no issues with crossfire this time, untested as yet.


----------



## NeoReaper

well i couldnt take a pic of the card (since opening the gmc bulldozer is a nightmare since the temp reader is on that side) so i took a pic of the box...

there is one thing... is it possible for me to get the twin frozr II fan and replace it with the msi stock fan ive got on it


----------



## Guovssohas

Hi. Recently i tried out Afterburner for the first time for some oc'ing.

I have a XFX 6870 Dual fan, it's now running at 1000core / 1125mem, i increased the voltage slightly to 1.195v. It's rock stable, gamed for hours with BF3, temps are very good.

But i can't increase the core past 1000mhz, is this the max on these cards?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Guovssohas*
> 
> Hi. Recently i tried out Afterburner for the first time for some oc'ing.
> I have a XFX 6870 Dual fan, it's now running at 1000core / 1125mem, i increased the voltage slightly to 1.195v. It's rock stable, gamed for hours with BF3, temps are very good.
> But i can't increase the core past 1000mhz, is this the max on these cards?


You'll have to unlock the unofficial overclocking mode in MSI Afterburner, after doing that you should have a max limit of 1200Mhz on core


----------



## robbo2

Picked up a direct CU 6870 and it seems I am stuck at 1.2v. Looking on google seems to be a pretty common problem, and it sucks. One last thing to try and that is to use the drivers from the asus site and see if that works with smart doctor.


----------



## Tokkan

Do that and try Sapphire trix too, but yea it may be locked at 1.2. One of my 6850's is.


----------



## robbo2

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Do that and try Sapphire trix too, but yea it may be locked at 1.2. One of my 6850's is.


I hope not







I've got the drivers downloaded so I will install them in a second.

Here is what I got with 1.2v. Any good? My first AMD card in a long time lol



Edit: With the drivers and smart doctor I was able to go up to 1.4v but I restarted the PC and the drivers just aren't working anymore. This is frustrating!


----------



## Alastair

Is 1.4v safe on Barts GPU's?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Is 1.4v safe on Barts GPU's?


As long as it's cold... It's safe.
I mean on the Barts core, not the surroundings.

@robbo2 You may very well have a locked card, if you into it , you can modify the BIOS and try to get voltage up thro it.
Will be harder to find out a stable clock, but worth a shot I guess.
If something goes wrong you will have to either use your Intel system or your GTX680 to restore the GPU vBIOS.
Edit: The clocks you got are good. I don't see it going much further than that.


----------



## robbo2

The card wasn't locked it just needed to be run with the Asus drivers and smart doctor. Bit of a pain I guess but at least it's working. It didn't go much further because it was just getting too hot. 1.3v max used here. I had to remove the backplate and ghetto rig the cooler back on just to get it to fit into my board. Backplate kept hitting the ram slots.


----------



## Crowe98

guiz, i have a 6850 double dissapation from xfx, i want to do some overclocking but i dont know that much about gpu overclocking, stable temps/volts etc. pleeez help.
<3


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Is 1.4v safe on Barts GPU's?


AFAIK is 1.3v


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Crowe98*
> 
> guiz, i have a 6850 double dissapation from xfx, i want to do some overclocking but i dont know that much about gpu overclocking, stable temps/volts etc. pleeez help.
> <3


As you can see in the reply to my earlier question 1.3v seems to be the safe area for voltage. Use afterburner to help with the overclocking. A 6850 should be able to reach 950-1000Mhz without too much difficulty!


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Guovssohas*
> 
> Hi. Recently i tried out Afterburner for the first time for some oc'ing.
> I have a XFX 6870 Dual fan, it's now running at 1000core / 1125mem, i increased the voltage slightly to 1.195v. It's rock stable, gamed for hours with BF3, temps are very good.
> But i can't increase the core past 1000mhz, is this the max on these cards?
> 
> 
> 
> You'll have to unlock the unofficial overclocking mode in MSI Afterburner, after doing that you should have a max limit of 1200Mhz on core
Click to expand...

ive even tried overclocking my msi 6870 past 1000mhz + i up'd the voltage and it just wants to crash when it enters 3D Mode


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> ive even tried overclocking my msi 6870 past 1000mhz + i up'd the voltage and it just wants to crash when it enters 3D Mode


I got mine stable @ 1000/1200 1.185/87v or so (can't quite remember) with TriXx.

AFAIK, higher then 1000MHz core requires A LOT of extra volts.


----------



## Crowe98

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> As you can see in the reply to my earlier question 1.3v seems to be the safe area for voltage. Use afterburner to help with the overclocking. A 6850 should be able to reach 950-1000Mhz without too much difficulty!


my 6850 wont let me go past 875 on the core, and wont adjust the core volt with afterburner, and forgot how to change it to unofficial overclocking.


----------



## Alastair

Just go into the .cfg. In there will be the unofficial overclocking thing. Set it to 1 not 0. Also set the EULA to 1 as well. Afterburner will not let you change the voltage on non-MSI boards!


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Just go into the .cfg. In there will be the unofficial overclocking thing. Set it to 1 not 0. Also set the EULA to 1 as well. Afterburner will not let you change the voltage on non-MSI boards!


I can change the voltage on a XFX 6850 that a friend lend, but not on my Sapphire 6870. I don't get it.


----------



## sinnedone

some of the newer ones dont have adjusttable voltage.

I have 2 xfx HD 6870's. One is an older dual fan black edition (has voltage control) the other is a newer DD one ( has no voltage control)

They have different pcb's even though they look exactly the same.


----------



## crazyponytail

Hey guys I need your opinion here.

This is my spec:

Corsair 600W PSU.
Amd x6 1100T @ 4GHz (only 4 cores though)
XFX HD6870 BE.

I am thinking of getting a second card. And my first question is.

*Do you think* my 600w PSU will be able to handle one more card?

*Secondly*, what 6870 card do you recommend? Im pretty happy with my xfx as it has 2 fans, so the cooling is nice and performance as well.

But I just wanted to know if there is any card that anyone would say is THE 6870...

*Third*, do you think its worth it getting a second card, will my CPU bottleneck it?

EDIT: This is the card I have and that im thinking of getting another one: http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521

SECOND EDIT: I see that there are factory overclocked 6870. Like the MSI HAWK. Is that worth getting? Its actually in the same price range.


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *crazyponytail*
> 
> Hey guys I need your opinion here.
> This is my spec:
> Corsair 600W PSU.
> Amd x6 1100T @ 4GHz (only 4 cores though)
> XFX HD6870 BE.
> I am thinking of getting a second card. And my first question is.
> *Do you think* my 600w PSU will be able to handle one more card?
> *Secondly*, what 6870 card do you recommend? Im pretty happy with my xfx as it has 2 fans, so the cooling is nice and performance as well.
> But I just wanted to know if there is any card that anyone would say is THE 6870...
> *Third*, do you think its worth it getting a second card, will my CPU bottleneck it?
> EDIT: This is the card I have and that im thinking of getting another one: http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521
> SECOND EDIT: I see that there are factory overclocked 6870. Like the MSI HAWK. Is that worth getting? Its actually in the same price range.


I am not sure if this matters at all or not, but two of the same cards in a system look beautiful together. Having 2 different cards isn't as pretty.


----------



## sinnedone

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> I am not sure if this matters at all or not, but two of the same cards in a system look beautiful together. Having 2 different cards isn't as pretty.


yup


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> yup


Can't tell which cards those are, but


----------



## JRuxGaming

Has anyone realized that the 6800 series cards are slowly disappearing from Newegg? the Sapphire 6850s are gone.


----------



## Alastair

Hmm... I have only been able to change voltage on MSI boards. Although some non-MSI reference boards may allow voltage settings to be changed in afterburner, which might explain how the XFX was able to change. Seeming although you have a Sapphire card have you tried Sapphire Trixx yet? When I had 6790's they let me push voltage to 1.275V


----------



## Crowe98

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Just go into the .cfg. In there will be the unofficial overclocking thing. Set it to 1 not 0. Also set the EULA to 1 as well. Afterburner will not let you change the voltage on non-MSI boards!


i did that, now the sliders wont move to adjust anything..







i have a gd65 btw.


----------



## Crowe98

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> Can't tell which cards those are, but


XFX radeon 6850 Double Dissapation. i own one


----------



## sinnedone

Theyre XFX 6870's









One is a black edidion and has voltage control via afterburner.

The other is a DD version and does not have any type of voltage control.


----------



## blackeyedcheese

Hi all,

I have a couple questions i was hoping you guys could answer. I have an XFX 6870 already and it's been great to me. My plan was to just use that until I got my tax return and then go out and get a top tier 7000 or, when it releases 8000 series card. Well, I ended up getting a good deal on another XFX 6870 and I've decided to try out crossfire. While I wait for my new card to get here, I wanted to know how these cards are performing on games in crossfire these days? When searching I found conflicting info on the topic. Some said that they had great experiences, many others said they were headaches to work with (driver issues, poor performance in some games)and not really worth it, but a lot of that was coming from months old threads. Are things better with newer drivers? How are your crossfire rigs performing in games like Skyrim, Metro 2033, Battlefield, etc?

I'm only running through a single 1080p TV, so I think I should get a nice boost in performance but I'm weary of having to put up with a bunch of driver issues because I do have a good number of games that I will end up playing with this setup.

Also, anybody have any issues running 2 cards that are overclocked? I'll be looking to run matching overclocks on my cards if I can.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks in advanced.


----------



## sinnedone

I play BF3 mostly and the second card brought a nice added performance boost.

I left it on auto but everything is either high or ultra and i get triple digit average fps and dips into the high 60's on big 64 player maps with lots of explosions (metro rush 64, man is that a grenade fest)

I also read about issues other people had, but so far for me a crossfire setup has gotten me awesome performance.

im using the latest drivers and the only issue ive had is the game window goes out of full screen if another windows opens in the background. (this didnt happen with like 12.4 or so .


----------



## OldMX

I installed a new Visiontek 6870 1GB on my wife's computer, out of curiosity i removed the heatpipe to see the thermal paste application and it was the crappiest application I've ever seen on a videocard, once i cleaned and reapplied AS5, installed it and its been rocking very solid at very low temps with games like Arkham City, COD:BO2 and MOH









Sorry about crappy picture, camera is on its way out...


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *blackeyedcheese*
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have a couple questions i was hoping you guys could answer. I have an XFX 6870 already and it's been great to me. My plan was to just use that until I got my tax return and then go out and get a top tier 7000 or, when it releases 8000 series card. Well, I ended up getting a good deal on another XFX 6870 and I've decided to try out crossfire. While I wait for my new card to get here, I wanted to know how these cards are performing on games in crossfire these days? When searching I found conflicting info on the topic. Some said that they had great experiences, many others said they were headaches to work with (driver issues, poor performance in some games)and not really worth it, but a lot of that was coming from months old threads. Are things better with newer drivers? How are your crossfire rigs performing in games like Skyrim, Metro 2033, Battlefield, etc?
> 
> I'm only running through a single 1080p TV, so I think I should get a nice boost in performance but I'm weary of having to put up with a bunch of driver issues because I do have a good number of games that I will end up playing with this setup.
> 
> Also, anybody have any issues running 2 cards that are overclocked? I'll be looking to run matching overclocks on my cards if I can.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think.
> 
> Thanks in advanced.


I have had dual crossfire 5770's 6790's and now my current set up is dual 6850's All set ups have been overclocked and my current set up currently does 1000MHz on core and 1220MHz memory for both cards @ 1.325V. I have only EVER had one problem and that was I got flickering objects on Crisis1 back on my 5770's using 10.x drivers. The driver updates fixed the problems and I haven't had a problem since! Expect a good 70%-90% improvement in frame rates in most titles! Have fun!


----------



## Crowe98

Guys, im not trying to spam AT ALL, (i hate spam) but there is a club out there for people with XFX's Double Dissapation and Black Edition cards looking for members. Thanks guys.
http://www.overclock.net/forum/newestpost/1331663


----------



## blackeyedcheese

Awesome stuff, thanks for the input guys, can't wait to get my second card in and start playing around.


----------



## Noctizzle

Powercolor HD6870x2 2 GB

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/6px2g/


----------



## amdzack




----------



## NeoReaper

is it possible to replace this msi 6870's 1 fan with the twin frozr II?


----------



## CGabry

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> is it possible to replace this msi 6870's 1 fan with the twin frozr II?


Maybe... i ordered a Twinfrozr II from a 6870 Hawk in ebay, and this MSI 6870 have similar PCB with MSI 6870 Hawk..


----------



## Techn0

my'n


----------



## gwa2100

Add me please.
Sapphire 6870 & XFX 6870 Crossfired.


----------



## Melcar

Sapphire HD6850



Got it used from some Canadian Bro. Cool guy with some cool rigs of his own. I think something is wrong with the card though, as I can't seem to change the voltage on the core no matter what. Does 960MHz on stock volts, so I'm happy.


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> Sapphire HD6850
> 
> Got it used from some Canadian Bro. Cool guy with some cool rigs of his own. I think something is wrong with the card though, as I can't seem to change the voltage on the core no matter what. Does 960MHz on stock volts, so I'm happy.


It's a very reliable card and looks good. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


----------



## Centerline

mine... .. .


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Centerline*
> 
> mine... .. .


looks cool with so much stuff crammed in there


----------



## hotwheels1997

Add me:
Sapphire HD 6850 Vapor-X(can't overclock,12.10 catalyst flickering problems)


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hotwheels1997*
> 
> Add me:
> Sapphire HD 6850 Vapor-X(can't overclock,12.10 catalyst flickering problems)


After you apply an overclock, change your desktop's color depth back and forth and the flickering goes away. Of course, once you apply another overclock the flickering comes back (at which point just do the fix again).


----------



## hotwheels1997

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> After you apply an overclock, change your desktop's color depth back and forth and the flickering goes away. Of course, once you apply another overclock the flickering comes back (at which point just do the fix again).


Man,thx for the help!!! You can't imagine how much I appreciate your output.If i set to apply overclock at startup,would i need to do the fix every time?
P.S. New Pic @ Stock Volts:

What should i do for testing my stability? I've ran MSI Kombustor,Furmark and Heaven Bechmark,played a lot of BF3 too.Is that enought to say it's stable?


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hotwheels1997*
> 
> Man,thx for the help!!! You can't imagine how much I appreciate your output.If i set to apply overclock at startup,would i need to do the fix every time?
> P.S. New Pic @ Stock Volts:
> 
> What should i do for testing my stability? I've ran MSI Kombustor,Furmark and Heaven Bechmark,played a lot of BF3 too.Is that enought to say it's stable?


You would still need to do it. It's a Trixx + Catalyst issue, since at least in my case it does not happen with Afterburner or regular Overdrive (for some it does). I always use OCCT's GPU stress test and it has worked for me. Furmark to test out max load temps.


----------



## hotwheels1997

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> You would still need to do it. It's a Trixx + Catalyst issue, since at least in my case it does not happen with Afterburner or regular Overdrive (for some it does). I always use OCCT's GPU stress test and it has worked for me. Furmark to test out max load temps.


I overclocked with MSI Afterburner.Im just going to restart and see what'll happen.


----------



## anothergeek

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> After you apply an overclock, change your desktop's color depth back and forth and the flickering goes away. Of course, once you apply another overclock the flickering comes back (at which point just do the fix again).


Yo, thanks for that tip! I was able to take 850 to 950 core and finally beat 8k GPU









http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5201712


----------



## Melcar

Nice. It sucks that RBE still does not support editing HD6850/70 bios files. Don't really like depending on software for my overclocks. Thinking of flashing the card to either a HD6870 or a HD6850 Toxic bios.


----------



## astrovasilis

Wha's the best driver for benches now; 12.8 or 12.10 or 12.6;


----------



## hotwheels1997

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anothergeek*
> 
> Yo, thanks for that tip! I was able to take 850 to 950 core and finally beat 8k GPU
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5201712


Why the FX-4100 gets so low psysics score? With my i5 at stock i get 7300


----------



## Delicious

I have been having this frustrating problem with the 6870. Across, all games, my GPU usage would be from 5%-40%, on average it is about ~25%. Playing BF3, DOTA2, AC3 and etc, my GPU usage would drop in highly active or common areas, leading to terrible FPS. However in areas where there isn't much, the GPU usage would fire up to 40%. I would receive ~25FPS on BF3 high, with a lot of stuttering, which drops my FPS below 5. It becomes unbearable. My CPU is the AMD Phenom II x4 840, which I'm pretty sure isn't the bottleneck, since this setup was working perfectly fine a year ago (60+fps BF3 high).

I changed the default 300MHz core clock in Powerplay to 775MHz, and 920MHz. The problem still persist, even when I did a complete driver uninstall, and reinstalled the 12.11 beta drivers.

Would love to get this issue solved.

EDIT

I just cleaned my CPU fan and GPU fan. It did bring in a performance boost. GPU would go up 40-50% usage with the CPU usage at 50-80%. Was wondering how if I can increase GPU usage to 70-80%?


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Delicious*
> 
> I have been having this frustrating problem with the 6870. Across, all games, my GPU usage would be from 5%-40%, on average it is about ~25%. Playing BF3, DOTA2, AC3 and etc, my GPU usage would drop in highly active or common areas, leading to terrible FPS. However in areas where there isn't much, the GPU usage would fire up to 40%. I would receive ~25FPS on BF3 high, with a lot of stuttering, which drops my FPS below 5. It becomes unbearable. My CPU is the AMD Phenom II x4 840, which I'm pretty sure isn't the bottleneck, since this setup was working perfectly fine a year ago (60+fps BF3 high).
> 
> I changed the default 300MHz core clock in Powerplay to 775MHz, and 920MHz. The problem still persist, even when I did a complete driver uninstall, and reinstalled the 12.11 beta drivers.
> 
> Would love to get this issue solved.
> 
> EDIT
> 
> I just cleaned my CPU fan and GPU fan. It did bring in a performance boost. GPU would go up 40-50% usage with the CPU usage at 50-80%. Was wondering how if I can increase GPU usage to 70-80%?


if your core clock default is 300Mhz than theres somthing wrong there...


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> if your core clock default is 300Mhz than theres somthing wrong there...


Theres nothing wrong in it.
It depends on the bios amongst other things... My 6850's idle at different clocks, my slave card idles at 100/300 while my active/main card idles at 150/300.


----------



## anothergeek

Ran a couple Unigine Benches, still keeps up!

Stock Clocks



930/1150 OC


----------



## astrovasilis

Can you run with all max;

i get 17.9 fps .


----------



## anothergeek

Yeah, I get 42 FPS. Still a heavy hit to performance (65 to 42?)

8x and Extreme ain't worth 40% IMO


----------



## anothergeek

Whoah man, my browser goes insane here, second time that happened. It was gonna repost 3 or 4 or more times I had to close!


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anothergeek*
> 
> Whoah man, my browser goes insane here, second time that happened. It was gonna repost 3 or 4 or more times I had to close!


I honestly don't know why, but that made me laugh.
Since you play at 1080p with a 32" screen AA might be needed for you to keep the edges smooth. But I don't really need it that often 22" screen at 1080p, I can't see the difference most of the time but I notice the performance impact.


----------



## anothergeek

I'm pretty reasonable with AA. I usually just use FXAA, MLAA, or some form of edge detect. I like motion blur and DoF, so I always leave those settings on.

This 32" is on my desk, it's a decent one though. Paid a good bit for it three years ago.


----------



## Joel18

Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1gb


----------



## NeoReaper

i would use benchmarking tools if my computer didnt get soo dam hot. (85+oC kombustor)


----------



## MA573R0FWAR

My 6870 Crossfire setup. The cards aren't overclocked anymore, I was having problems so I just put them back to their default frequencies. Performance is still really great.


----------



## Delicious

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> i would use benchmarking tools if my computer didnt get soo dam hot. (85+oC kombustor)


Are those temps hot?

On load my 6870 would be ~65C.
When I stress test it on Kombustor it would go high as up to 90C.

Wondering if these temps are fine?


----------



## Joel18

On my Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1GB Card with the Accelero Extreme Plus 2 on i have broken the stock 775mhz core clock, memory clock 960Mmhz. Now im getting 1000mhz on the core and 1150mhz on the memory with Trix overclock utility, completely stable running 3D Mark 11, got a 3DMark Score of P4303


----------



## Joel18

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Delicious*
> 
> Are those temps hot?
> On load my 6870 would be ~65C.
> When I stress test it on Kombustor it would go high as up to 90C.
> Wondering if these temps are fine?


i had the same problem with the 6850 but i put the Accelero Extreme plus on and now it runs 35 degrees on idle and 45 - 50 degrees under full load, the aftermarket cooler was only $81 but worth it


----------



## Delicious

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Joel18*
> 
> i had the same problem with the 6850 but i put the Accelero Extreme plus on and now it runs 35 degrees on idle and 45 - 50 degrees under full load, the aftermarket cooler was only $81 but worth it


Any other cheaper aftermarket coolers? I just blew ~$100 cooling my CPU.


----------



## Melcar

The Twin Turbo Pro. Some even use the old Accelero S1's and strap a couple of fans to it.


----------



## NeoReaper

one problem ive got is my idle temps... cpu's is 41oC and graphics is 43oC


----------



## sinnedone

on air?

those temps arent bad? my ambient is about 26c and my cards idle anywhere from 38-45c. cpu is a little cooler


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sinnedone*
> 
> on air?
> those temps arent bad? my ambient is about 26c and my cards idle anywhere from 38-45c. cpu is a little cooler


You don't need a expensive after-market cooler for the cards if you have a non-reference. I got the cheapest 6870 from Sapphire and the cooling solution is more then sufficient, even with a slight overclock and ambient temps of 36-40C.
All you need to do is make a custom-fan curve/profile with Trixx or Afterburner.


----------



## MA573R0FWAR

I replaced the TIM on both my cards with Arctic Cooling MX-2. It was surprising how much difference it made. I think it dropped the load temps on both cards by 15C.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MA573R0FWAR*
> 
> I replaced the TIM on both my cards with Arctic Cooling MX-2. It was surprising how much difference it made. I think it dropped the load temps on both cards by 15C.


I did exactly the same, made almost no difference in idle, but at load it did, quite a bit.


----------



## Tokkan

My idle temps are of 26 degrees on CPU and 33~35 GPU's.
The stock cooler on my sapphires hold a 1ghz oc with a temp of 68 at load(gaming) gets hotter with furmark...


----------



## Alastair

I wish brands like gigabyte, Asus, and MSI and other such brands would sell there cooler designs seperatly . I would be willing to pay for a twin frozr or Windforce or direct cu. Cause some of those are actually really good!!!


----------



## Catscratch

Darn, i can't overclock my card.

950 / 1125 with 1.225v, 20 seconds furmark driver recovery
925 / 1100 with 1.225v, same
900 / 1100 with 1.180v, same

Granted I have the stock heatsink with a 12cm on it but it's not about the heat. At stock settings, after 5 mins of furmark, gpu tops out at 83c with %85 fan speed. All other temp readings are within 3c difference, vrm, etc.

Either it's the worst 6850 or my PSU is dead, funny thou i can overclock my cpu.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Catscratch*
> 
> Darn, i can't overclock my card.
> 950 / 1125 with 1.225v, 20 seconds furmark driver recovery
> 925 / 1100 with 1.225v, same
> 900 / 1100 with 1.180v, same
> Granted I have the stock heatsink with a 12cm on it but it's not about the heat. At stock settings, after 5 mins of furmark, gpu tops out at 83c with %85 fan speed. All other temp readings are within 3c difference, vrm, etc.
> Either it's the worst 6850 or my PSU is dead, funny thou i can overclock my cpu.


Funny that you have 83 on the core... The Barts core doesn't like to go over 70~...
You can ask arround, lots of people with these cards have come to that conclusion, as long as you stay away from 75 you are safe.
So yea your temperature is most likely the issue









Edit: btw, they don't mind being hot on stock settings... for some reason.
But they hate being hot when they are overclocked. Weird but that's what happens with me and some others.


----------



## Catscratch

Well, i'll have to get the Accelero Twin Turbo II after all. It seems, the default heatsink can't absorb heat quickly enough for 12cm fan to cool. I tried 900 / 1000 @ 1.180v for a last attempt thinking maybe the rams didn't like the speed and %100 fan, it did hold below 80c for a min, then i stopped before it could go higher. For some reason the custom fan table does not work properly.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Catscratch*
> 
> Well, i'll have to get the Accelero Twin Turbo II after all. It seems, the default heatsink can't absorb heat quickly enough for 12cm fan to cool. I tried 900 / 1000 @ 1.180v for a last attempt thinking maybe the rams didn't like the speed and %100 fan, it did hold below 80c for a min, then i stopped before it could go higher. For some reason the custom fan table does not work properly.


Well your ambient temp must really be hot...
I hope the accelero does help


----------



## Joel18

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Catscratch*
> 
> Well, i'll have to get the Accelero Twin Turbo II after all. It seems, the default heatsink can't absorb heat quickly enough for 12cm fan to cool. I tried 900 / 1000 @ 1.180v for a last attempt thinking maybe the rams didn't like the speed and %100 fan, it did hold below 80c for a min, then i stopped before it could go higher. For some reason the custom fan table does not work properly.


I would recommend the Accelero Extreme Plus 2, its a little bit on the expensive side $85 but its worth it. The cooler cools the card like a beast and stay's under 50c, very rare now that the GPU will exceed 50c. its worth spending a little more for a better cooler


----------



## Catscratch

You got the extreme on a 6850 ? Wow. Any pics ?

I'm stalling because I'll try Thermalright HR03-GT first, it's on a 4850 in a different computer. Plus, 8800 series are closing and I don't wanna spend too much just yet, i might get 8850







I was always skeptical on gpu overclocking. I used overdrive only on this 6850 for 835/1100. I never overclocked my 4850 or 1950xt









If I get the glimpse of 8850 also being 53mm mounting holes, I'd get an Accelero in advance









Btw, the room temp is around 22c.


----------



## Melcar

Well crap. I guess I will be running stock for the moment. RBE simply does not work. Spent all morning bricking/unbricking my card







.


----------



## vonss

Is the OP gone or something? Because no one is being added to the club, for what I see.


----------



## ihatelolcats

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Is the OP gone or something? Because no one is being added to the club, for what I see.


over a year now if im not mistaken lol


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Is the OP gone or something? Because no one is being added to the club, for what I see.


I have been here for 2 months and still haven't been added to the list.


----------



## nz3777

I have a his 6870 ill post a pic and gpu info ...... Anyone know which overclocking tool i can use to unlock voltege? So far i noticed the his i turbows me to tweek voltege but asus site does not,o program all


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nz3777*
> 
> I have a his 6870 ill post a pic and gpu info ...... Anyone know which overclocking tool i can use to unlock voltege? So far i noticed the his i turbows me to tweek voltege but asus site does not,o program all


If MSI Afterburner does not work, try Sapphire Trixx.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nz3777*
> 
> I have a his 6870 ill post a pic and gpu info ...... Anyone know which overclocking tool i can use to unlock voltege? So far i noticed the his i turbows me to tweek voltege but asus site does not,o program all


I only understood half of what you said.
Anyway MSI Afterburner is the favorite... But if you wish you can try Asus and Sapphire OC utilities.


----------



## Aizou

Hey guys, what driver version are you using? The latest drivers, which are great for the 7xxx owners, actually scored my 6870 in 3DMark Vantage with a lower result in comparison with older driver versions.


----------



## Catscratch

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Aizou*
> 
> Hey guys, what driver version are you using? The latest drivers, which are great for the 7xxx owners, actually scored my 6870 in 3DMark Vantage with a lower result in comparison with older driver versions.


That happens from time to time. If you have no problems with older drivers, use them instead.


----------



## vonss

The 12.10 actually forced to downclock my OC from 965 on the core to 950.


----------



## Catscratch

I installed Thermalright HR-03 GT with a 12cm fan on my reference sapphire 6850.

835 / 1075 Idle, side cover off, with side cover, it's 38c


835 / 1075 MSI Kombustor GPU Burn-in, these temps settle after 2 min. mark, 12cm fan @ %100


Damn that temp2, it doesn't stay steady







In WoW, it's between 60-69c which isn't great vs original heatsink + 12cm.


----------



## Gavush

Can I get an add?
xfx Radeon HD 6870 dd


----------



## Catscratch

Btw, whoever wants to be added, the club owner isn't around, so just copy/paste text for signature and consider yourself in


----------



## JRuxGaming

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Catscratch*
> 
> Btw, whoever wants to be added, the club owner isn't around, so just copy/paste text for signature and consider yourself in


Yeah, I looked and he hasn't been on for about a year. Is there anyway we can get the club transferred over to someone more active?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JRuxGaming*
> 
> Yeah, I looked and he hasn't been on for about a year. Is there anyway we can get the club transferred over to someone more active?


I tried PM'ing a mod once, got no reply back...
So Idk if that's possible...


----------



## tipo33

Hi guys, I recently decided to use my 6870 in my HTPC. It currently has a Koolance waterblock on it. I would like to replace it with the stock (reference) cooler. Does anybody know what thickness thermal pads I need to use on the memory, MOSFETs, etc? Help would be really appreciated. Thank you.


----------



## ihatelolcats

doesnt need it


----------



## tipo33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> doesnt need it


Just TIM on the ram?


----------



## Alastair

just grab hold of some arctic thermal glue. You will be able to remove it like a thermal pad if you ever need to put a better cooler on again!


----------



## tipo33

I'm not familiar with arctic thermal glue. Link please?


----------



## Alastair

sure here it is!

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/discontinued-products/thermal-compound/381/g-1.html?L=1
EDIT. It says it is discontinued but you may still be able to get it.


----------



## tipo33

Sounds good. I will try to track some down..


----------



## MA573R0FWAR

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> just grab hold of some arctic thermal glue. You will be able to remove it like a thermal pad if you ever need to put a better cooler on again!


I thought there was a gap between the memory and the cooling plate on the 6870. Hence why it needs the thicker thermal pads to fill in the gap, rather than thermal paste which wont allow the memory to make contact? Correct me if I am wrong.

Edit: Just checked out that link. It looks like that glue would be a good replacement for the thermal tape. Might look into getting some myself


----------



## Gavush

I just re-did the thermal paste on my 6870 last night and all it had was on the GPU but has a 3 heat pipe double dissipation cooler. Was surprised by how much extra they had applied (large globs surrounding chip) and that it was pretty much dried out/flaked off having been used (not OC'd) in 12 months.


----------



## Alastair

The funny thing is... I bought the thermal glue with some heatsinks for my GPU RAM because my local e-tailers still have the glue in stock! But then I took out my cards and... FAIL!!! The MSI 6850 Cyclone cards don't have enough of a gap between the RAM and the sinks heatpipes so I cant glue the sinks on. What a FAIL! Might as well keep it all for when I get a new pair of graphics cards.


----------



## NeoReaper

I just brought a new SSD and now i have everything set up, apart from catalyst calling my MSI 6870 a 0x1002 - 0x6738 PCIE and none of the overdrive, performance or video setting will appear in catalyst and thats killing my windows rating because the catalyst cant detect the card but every other program can like msi afterburner, asus update, windows, directX and java. Ive uninstalled the drivers and catalyst millions of times and the automatic driver downloader off of amds site even says its the 6800 series until i install the drivers then it calls it the 0x1002 - 0x6738 PCIE again. Ive tried msi's site but they dont work... the disc for the card works but the drivers are WAYYYYY out of date (catalyst 9)


----------



## Alastair

try slotting the card into a different PCI-E slot. Check if its detected. and then try switching back.


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> try slotting the card into a different PCI-E slot. Check if its detected. and then try switching back.


The problem is that the M5A78l-M/USB3 has only 1 PCI-E because its a M-ATX + I installed the 12.11 Beta Drivers and they detect my card fine now... Very Weird...


----------



## SortOfGrim

Hi all,
I recently reinstalled the stock heatsink + fans on a XFX HD6870 and I'm wondering what the idle temp would be.
Currently it shows 38 degree Celsius, seems a bit high on idle.
What you think?


----------



## ihatelolcats

about right. what speed do the fans run


----------



## SortOfGrim

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> about right. what speed do the fans run


30%


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SortOfGrim*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> about right. what speed do the fans run
> 
> 
> 
> 30%
Click to expand...

Seems good!


----------



## SortOfGrim

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ihatelolcats*
> 
> about right. what speed do the fans run


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Seems good!


thx 4 replies!


----------



## ihatelolcats

decided to sell my 6870s (on ocn marketplace if anyone is interested). my 7870 should be coming in today. thank you to all contributors that made this a great thread


----------



## Uksoldierboy

Hiya all,
Just joined the forums and noticed you have this club, as a proud owner of crossfire 6870s i thought i'd pop in and say hello








Currently have one msi 6870 and one xfx 6870, not the best for looks i agree, but a powerful combination never the less.








Did upgrade to a HiS 7970 a few weeks ago, but found the performance to be not worthwhile, lost fps in most games.
Decided to DSR it and treat myself to three new 24in monitors instead, should be with me friday








Anyway, here's a few pics of my setup, case and scores on a few benchmarks.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5436302
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4498475


----------



## Gavush

are they on 8x and 8x or 16x and 4x? I didn't understand the whole deal when I bought my MB which is 16x and 4x... when I bought my MB I thought crossfire was crossfire and I planned (and possibly still plan?) to get another 6870. I've read a bunch of sites with a bunch of different information and from what I gather it isn't as good as it could be, but it would be better than just one, though not quite as good as a single card that's twice as much $.


----------



## SortOfGrim

And there are some games (like Far Cry 3) that dislike crossfire. I had stuttering and ripping that I didn't had with a single card, very weird.


----------



## Uksoldierboy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gavush*
> 
> are they on 8x and 8x or 16x and 4x? I didn't understand the whole deal when I bought my MB which is 16x and 4x... when I bought my MB I thought crossfire was crossfire and I planned (and possibly still plan?) to get another 6870. I've read a bunch of sites with a bunch of different information and from what I gather it isn't as good as it could be, but it would be better than just one, though not quite as good as a single card that's twice as much $.


Mine are 8x and 8x, Tbh i've had no problems with crossfire in regards to scaling etc, the performance different between 16x and 16x tiny.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SortOfGrim*
> 
> And there are some games (like Far Cry 3) that dislike crossfire. I had stuttering and ripping that I didn't had with a single card, very weird.


I was lucky and didn't have any stuttering problems, but a friend who runs crossfire 7950 did, very weird indeed.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Uksoldierboy*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Gavush*
> 
> are they on 8x and 8x or 16x and 4x? I didn't understand the whole deal when I bought my MB which is 16x and 4x... when I bought my MB I thought crossfire was crossfire and I planned (and possibly still plan?) to get another 6870. I've read a bunch of sites with a bunch of different information and from what I gather it isn't as good as it could be, but it would be better than just one, though not quite as good as a single card that's twice as much $.
> 
> 
> 
> Mine are 8x and 8x, Tbh i've had no problems with crossfire in regards to scaling etc, the performance different between 16x and 16x tiny.
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *SortOfGrim*
> 
> And there are some games (like Far Cry 3) that dislike crossfire. I had stuttering and ripping that I didn't had with a single card, very weird.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was lucky and didn't have any stuttering problems, but a friend who runs crossfire 7950 did, very weird indeed.
Click to expand...

The stuttering is probably driver related. I remember when I was playing Crysis 1 on my dual 5770 system and I had flickering textures and stuttering. But the problem went away after I did a driver update. I dunno about Far Cry 3 though. Haven't got it yet.


----------



## Uksoldierboy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> The stuttering is probably driver related. I remember when I was playing Crysis 1 on my dual 5770 system and I had flickering textures and stuttering. But the problem went away after I did a driver update. I dunno about Far Cry 3 though. Haven't got it yet.


Ah right, I'm using latest betas so maybe they help.


----------



## NeoReaper

SortOfGrim When you said about 38oC being high my MSI 6870's idle temps are 45oC unless i have my window open all day so my room is about 4oC then the card and cpu are at 35oC


----------



## SortOfGrim

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> SortOfGrim When you said about 38oC being high my MSI 6870's idle temps are 45oC unless i have my window open all day so my room is about 4oC then the card and cpu are at 35oC


Damn, that's high. And what under load? it must feel like















It's gets on my nerves, such 'high' temps. It's been so long since I had an air cooled gpu. When my new gpu comes I'll







it as soon as possible!


----------



## NeoReaper

bounces around 60-80oC below 85oC being safe


----------



## Gavush

I'm seeing around 70 under load and the fans are on 70%... this is playing bf3 1920x1080 on high. I'm very happy with the performance... I have the gpu turned up to 920mhz. and memory to 1060...


----------



## SortOfGrim

Guys, it has been a real pleasure but my new gpu has arrived. Lets not be strangers


----------



## anothergeek

Dang!

My Powercolor AX6850 kicked the dust (purchased march 2011). Even the arctic TT 2 couldn't stop it from blacking out.

My second card from summer 2012 is running fine, and I noticed it was a revision. Anyway, I swapped the stock cooling and cleaned it up, packaged in original box...It'd be nice to get this card again with RMA, but do you suppose they have any 6850 for RMA still?

Not sure what I'd do if they give me a 7850, for instance.

On the brightside, this single 6850 is running very cool. 54C 850/1100 playing Deus Ex for hours


----------



## Tokkan

I doubt you will get a 7850...
I can see you getting a 69x0 or a 7770. But a 7870 would be too good.


----------



## anothergeek

I'd ask for the 7850 if they offered a 7770... that choice is clear. Not sure why they'd offer a 6900 if they don't have 6800s!

Hopefully they just send a 6850, it's been working well for me, be it single or crossfire. I'm playing Deus Ex HR at 1080p 60Hz, not a quip. The second card is overkill, but some games (mind I've beaten them) would require it to get the highest settings.

And if they do send a 7850... I would probably settle for one and sell the 6850. But I'd be in no hurry to grab another. The 7000s are better at AA and Tesselation, but not much else. 7770 could be slower than the 6850 at 1080p in a number of DX9 games.


----------



## yawa

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anothergeek*
> 
> I'd ask for the 7850 if they offered a 7770... that choice is clear. Not sure why they'd offer a 6900 if they don't have 6800s!
> 
> Hopefully they just send a 6850, it's been working well for me, be it single or crossfire. I'm playing Deus Ex HR at 1080p 60Hz, not a quip. The second card is overkill, but some games (mind I've beaten them) would require it to get the highest settings.
> 
> And if they do send a 7850... I would probably settle for one and sell the 6850. But I'd be in no hurry to grab another. The 7000s are better at AA and Tesselation, but not much else. 7770 could be slower than the 6850 at 1080p in a number of DX9 games.


Actually I must say otherwise. The 7850 is a beast man with the newer drivers. I'm running an RMA replacement myself and am getting a 7409 graphics score at 1150/1227 with a moderate voltage bump. Get one if you can, they are quite cheap.

Not just me BTW, everyone in the oc threads are getting these results as well. Check it out.


----------



## nz3777

Can I join the club? Just got my Hawx edition Msi 6870 the other day,this these things in crossfire are crazy OMG!


----------



## nz3777

Triple voltege adjustment via Afterburner! I didnt even know you can do all these things-WOW! Iam sticking with MSI from now on!


----------



## nz3777

This is by FAR the best made 6870 in the market in my opinion! Its very heavy as well-You can tell they use nothing but the best materials i give it a 10! Need to find 1 more now so i can get rid of this HIS version


----------



## nz3777




----------



## NeoReaper

Hey guys? i need a aftermarket cooler or a msi frozr fan cause i have the MSI R6870-2PM2D1GD5/OC and the fan that comes with it, even with the copper pipes, cant keep the card cool at stock clocks when benchmarking with kombustor, instead i watch it rise above 80oC


----------



## gammite

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *von rottes*
> 
> Isi t just me or does that thing look really small compared to a 6870?


not my 6850.....................................


----------



## gammite

I am actually considering getting a 7950 soon.

or should I just get another 6850? thoughts???


----------



## raghu78

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gammite*
> 
> I am actually considering getting a 7950 soon.
> 
> or should I just get another 6850? thoughts???


go for the HD 7950 boost. faster than HD 6870 CF. an average overclock to 1100 - 1150 mhz will give you HD 7970 Ghz performance.









http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/28.html

1920 x 1200

HD 6870 - 55
HD 7950 iceq boost - 100
HD 7970 Ghz - 115

CF scaling in best cases is 1.8x. but on average across many games is 1.6x. also with a single GPU you can avoid CF headaches and get the most consistent performance.


----------



## gammite

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *raghu78*
> 
> go for the HD 7950 boost. faster than HD 6870 CF. an average overclock to 1100 - 1150 mhz will give you HD 7970 Ghz performance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/28.html
> 
> 1920 x 1200
> 
> HD 6870 - 55
> HD 7950 iceq boost - 100
> HD 7970 Ghz - 115
> 
> CF scaling in best cases is 1.8x. but on average across many games is 1.6x. also with a single GPU you can avoid CF headaches and get the most consistent performance.


thanks.


----------



## DUpgrade

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *raghu78*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *gammite*
> 
> I am actually considering getting a 7950 soon.
> 
> or should I just get another 6850? thoughts???
> 
> 
> 
> go for the HD 7950 boost. faster than HD 6870 CF. an average overclock to 1100 - 1150 mhz will give you HD 7970 Ghz performance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/28.html
> 
> 1920 x 1200
> 
> HD 6870 - 55
> HD 7950 iceq boost - 100
> HD 7970 Ghz - 115
> 
> CF scaling in best cases is 1.8x. but on average across many games is 1.6x. also with a single GPU you can avoid CF headaches and get the most consistent performance.
Click to expand...

I was going to crossfire my 6870 with a second one but ended up getting a rock solid 7950. The 7950 boost overclocks great without having to spend the additional $30-70+ for the 7970. I still have to sell my former GPU, the 6870.


----------



## hambone96

I'd like to join please


----------



## Alastair

I want to get Twin Frozr coolers for my two cyclone 6850's. They get toasty at 1000/1200. And there isn't enough space between them to fit an arctic twin turbo...


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I want to get Twin Frozr coolers for my two cyclone 6850's. They get toasty at 1000/1200. And there isn't enough space between them to fit an arctic twin turbo...


me too bro, for my 6870


----------



## SortOfGrim

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I want to get Twin Frozr coolers for my two cyclone 6850's. They get toasty at 1000/1200. And there isn't enough space between them to fit an arctic twin turbo...


how much is toasty?


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SortOfGrim*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I want to get Twin Frozr coolers for my two cyclone 6850's. They get toasty at 1000/1200. And there isn't enough space between them to fit an arctic twin turbo...
> 
> 
> 
> how much is toasty?
Click to expand...

Toasty for a 6850 or 6870 is 75oC/80oC+


----------



## sinnedone

mine always ran at about 68-72 max during gaming. That was both of them too. The top card never really got much hotter than the bottom.


----------



## jamor

Has anyone crossfired the 6850 with great success?


----------



## famous1994

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jamor*
> 
> Has anyone crossfired the 6850 with great success?


I have mine in crossfire and have had 0 issues, highest my temps hit are slightly over 50c and that's on full load.


----------



## a pet rock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jamor*
> 
> Has anyone crossfired the 6850 with great success?


I ran CF 6850s a long time ago. The stock coolers I had would get up to 80C on the top card and were really loud, so I bought some aftermarket coolers. They were dead quiet and typically dropped load temps to 50C on my top card, but then I found out I had bad case airflow. The temps on the cards and my CPU would slowly rise the entire time at load until they got up to 80C and I bailed. So I rearranged some case fans and everything worked out swell. The only time I ever had issues was when Brink launched, and that wasn't just drivers.


----------



## Techn0

do you know with what program can i increase voltage on my xfx 6870 xxx dual fan??
on msi afterburner it's locked, even if i set to unlock it..
ty


----------



## sinnedone

It's probably voltage locked.

There's a post where I asked the same question and someone responded with a picture of 2 different pcb boards. One had adjustable voltage the other did not.


----------



## Techn0

so this means i can't increase the voltage on my 6870?


----------



## Alastair

Toasty by definition of during a Metro 2033 run or BF3 run temps get to mid to low 80's.


----------



## Guovssohas

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Techn0*
> 
> do you know with what program can i increase voltage on my xfx 6870 xxx dual fan??
> on msi afterburner it's locked, even if i set to unlock it..
> ty


That's weird, i have a XFX 6870 dual-fan, non xxx one and i could increase voltages.

It's now at 1000core, 1125mem, voltage is slightly higher at 1195mv.

So you should be able to adjust voltage. Maybe it's some setting in AB that you need to change?


----------



## Techn0

maybe some other oc program?


----------



## Guovssohas

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Techn0*
> 
> maybe some other oc program?


No i use AB.


----------



## Techn0

ok i tried with trix and gigabyte oc program, and it says the voltage is on max(1.175)


----------



## Krusher33

Did you get a popup with a disclaimer and ok/cancel button? If not go into the config file, put '1' for unlock voltage, disclaimer, and overclock unlocks. Restart AB and you should be getting a popup asking that you understand the disclaimer.


----------



## 8ax

Hi, can I somehow reduce the fan speed below 20% on an XFX HD6850?

It's annoying as I have a bench case and every other component is much quieter.


----------



## ForNever

Yes, you can. Install Sapphire Trixx and choose custom fan profile. The only thing that annoys me about it is that you have to change it to custom every dang time you boot, but at least it does save the custom profile.


----------



## a pet rock

I'm pretty sure that MSI Afterburner has an option to apply changes on startup and it allows for fan speed control.


----------



## WiL11o6

Edit: oops, wrong thread.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *8ax*
> 
> Hi, can I somehow reduce the fan speed below 20% on an XFX HD6850?
> 
> It's annoying as I have a bench case and every other component is much quieter.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> I'm pretty sure that MSI Afterburner has an option to apply changes on startup and it allows for fan speed control.


I used to use Afterburner myself.


----------



## 8ax

I tried Afterburner, Trixx and Overdrive, but none lets me drop it below 20%.

If I set it at, for example, 0%, the card produces the same noise as if it were on 20%.


----------



## KaRLiToS

Hey Guys, no matter what setup you have, post your score here

http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0/270_30#post_19302948


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KaRLiToS*
> 
> Hey Guys, no matter what setup you have, post your score here
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0/270_30#post_19302948


Done my part.
My post


----------



## Cores

XFX Radeon HD 6850 @ 850 / 1200


----------



## Gavush

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KaRLiToS*
> 
> Hey Guys, no matter what setup you have, post your score here
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1360884/top-30-unigine-valley-benchmark-1-0/270_30#post_19302948


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Done my part.
> My post


I actually ran that quite a bit and I found something interesting. While trying to inch up the performance on my card I found that the minimum frame rate actually got lower with certain settings despite the GPU/memory frequency being higher. This allowed me to "fine tune" the settings to my best potential performance. I'm confused as to how you guys run these cards at max settings though. My display really freaked out with lots of artifacts and static and horizontal lines, even after I set the clock settings back down to stock. I actually had to reboot to get it to go back to normal. This was after about 10 back to back benchmarks, but the temps never got over 80c. I was really freaked out for a minute thinking I was going to have to tell my Wife I killed my video card and needed to get another. I have it set to 920 gpu and 1080 memory and it's stable and earns a couple of more points or a couple more frames than stock.


----------



## Tokkan

One of my 6850's is what you can call 1st gen. It can actually pull more than 1Ghz core clock if I changed the cooler. Sometimes I regret going crossfire cause that one card alone is capable of impressive performance numbers... Runs BF3 Ultra, Crysis 3 at High and Farcry 3 at the highest settings too.
Everything is playable with minimum rates of high 30's. But I avoid taxing my performance with high levels of AA...


----------



## anothergeek

I received my RMA from Powercolor a few days ago. If you work with them, make sure you register online your file or they will just send it back to you...

Anyway, the model is the same as my 2011/12 version. The 2010/11 had an older PCB (it went to black screen)

Just waiting for some G1 from arctic to get back to OC (8K GPU 3DM11!)I have a Samsung 840 on the way and I want to replay Far Cry 3









Also in the Realm Reborn beta (FFXIV), which is pretty wicked


----------



## NeoReaper

This thread is too quiet DX


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

hey what sup! i was playing NFS SHIFT 2 this morning when this happened ''ITS A COMMON PROBLEM!"
HAS ANY ONE TRIED THIS HOT FIX? http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:eA_lKJk2RX0J:support.microsoft.com/kb/983615+0x7E+dxgmms1.sys&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com

Crash dump directory: C:\Windows\Minidump

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.

On Sun 3/17/2013 12:20:17 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\031713-12012-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: dxgmms1.sys (dxgmms1+0x31D0F)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF880059E4D0F, 0xFFFFF88007BE9728, 0xFFFFF88007BE8F80)
Error: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgmms1.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: DirectX Graphics MMS
Bug check description: This indicates that a system thread generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.


----------



## dr.evil

question how much psu eat this crossfire i am thinking on grab another 6870 soon i have a certificated crossfire 575w thermaltake tougpower xt


----------



## unnAMD

i've bought this little demon almost a year ago, can't complain!

i wish i had a better psu so i can see if i can overclock it a little bit..


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *unnAMD*
> 
> i've bought this little demon almost a year ago, can't complain!
> 
> i wish i had a better psu so i can see if i can overclock it a little bit..


Your PSU is 600W, that will be more than enough to O/C a 6870, let alone a 6850.


----------



## Krusher33

Agreed. I had mine OC'd to 1.3v and CPU to 1.5v with a 500w PSU and it was sufficient.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dr.evil*
> 
> question how much psu eat this crossfire i am thinking on grab another 6870 soon i have a certificated crossfire 575w thermaltake tougpower xt


I don't see the point in CF'ing that card, since is already faster then your entire system.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *unnAMD*
> 
> i've bought this little demon almost a year ago, can't complain!
> 
> i wish i had a better psu so i can see if i can overclock it a little bit..


I don't know that model on your PSU, but watts-wise should be enough for you to OC it and you have, pretty much the best new version of the 6850, great for overclock.


----------



## unnAMD

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> I don't know that model on your PSU, but watts-wise should be enough for you to OC it and you have, pretty much the best new version of the 6850, great for overclock.


it's a weird brand that's pretty much extinct here in argentina (the brand is supposed to be from USA...but... i couldn't find it either on ebay or any e-shop)

it's -80plus nothing (it's a cheap-o psu).. so i don't know if to overclock the gpu.. the f--- thing gets pretty hot when gaming... even after i turned the cpu's speed back to default ._.

i'm planning to change it (if i can get the money) for a Corsair or an EVGA one (i'll have to get it from the states via mail)....80+ psu's are non existent at the moment... we have pretty much no pc components left...last year you were able to get a decen 80+ psu.. but now a days... the only thing you have is a "topower" (a brand that i've never hurd of) thats like 1800AR$ (the corsair i found on your country's 1500AR$ ._.) i'm not tweaking anything untill i get a decent psu ....


----------



## dr.evil

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> I don't see the point in CF'ing that card, since is already faster then your entire system.


dont get your answer, i will be changing to a fx-8320 and i want to know is my psu could take another hd 6870/50


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *unnAMD*
> 
> it's a weird brand that's pretty much extinct here in argentina (the brand is supposed to be from USA...but... i couldn't find it either on ebay or any e-shop)
> 
> it's -80plus nothing (it's a cheap-o psu).. so i don't know if to overclock the gpu.. the f--- thing gets pretty hot when gaming... even after i turned the cpu's speed back to default ._.
> 
> i'm planning to change it (if i can get the money) for a Corsair or an EVGA one (i'll have to get it from the states via mail)....80+ psu's are non existent at the moment... we have pretty much no pc components left...last year you were able to get a decen 80+ psu.. but now a days... the only thing you have is a "topower" (a brand that i've never hurd of) thats like 1800AR$ (the corsair i found on your country's 1500AR$ ._.) i'm not tweaking anything untill i get a decent psu ....


If it stays below 70C with or without an OC is fine (with the fan/s on auto) if you want lower temps at the expense of noise (which is what I like) get MSI Afterburner and make a custom fan profile curve.

If you are in Bs As you can definitely get a proper PSU. Though Corsair is truly extinct from Arg, you can maybe find the few good PSU that Cooler Master had or the few good ones that NZXT did.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dr.evil*
> 
> dont get your answer, i will be changing to a fx-8320 and i want to know is my psu could take another hd 6870/50


I reckon is going to be tight if you OC either component, specially that FX. So no.
IMHO, you should be putting money into a new MoBo, not a second GPU.


----------



## Alastair

Guys I have a quick question. I have 2 6850's in two PCI-E 2.0 slots both running at a full 16x. On a cool day OC to 1000/1200 and a warm day 975/1200. Crysis3 at 1920x1080 with all the settings maxed out and no AA gets about 75% on both cards but the frame rate isnt actually too good. Frame rates drop in combat heavy scenes or when I turn around rapidly. Is my CPU bottlenecking my cards at all? Its a Deneb Phenom 2 quad and it runs at 4.25GHz.


----------



## dr.evil

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> I reckon is going to be tight if you OC either component, specially that FX. So no.
> IMHO, you should be putting money into a new MoBo, not a second GPU.


no dude i will have a new mobo with that fx as you can see my current one is only am3 socket i will get a 990fx, and i only ask if my psu could take a crossfire hd 6870 or cross hd 6870 plus 6850


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Guys I have a quick question. I have 2 6850's in two PCI-E 2.0 slots both running at a full 16x. On a cool day OC to 1000/1200 and a warm day 975/1200. Crysis3 at 1920x1080 with all the settings maxed out and no AA gets about 75% on both cards but the frame rate isnt actually too good. Frame rates drop in combat heavy scenes or when I turn around rapidly. Is my CPU bottlenecking my cards at all? Its a Deneb Phenom 2 quad and it runs at 4.25GHz.


Well, Crysis3 is not suppose to run good on "old hardware" AFAIK and IMHO, you are running out of GPU RAM.


----------



## Melcar

I really want that 1GHz core clock. I know I can get there with a slight voltage increase, but this card won't let me. As soon as I pump the voltage even one tiny notch with any method (software, BIOS mods, etc) BAM, black screen of death. Sucks.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Guys I have a quick question. I have 2 6850's in two PCI-E 2.0 slots both running at a full 16x. On a cool day OC to 1000/1200 and a warm day 975/1200. Crysis3 at 1920x1080 with all the settings maxed out and no AA gets about 75% on both cards but the frame rate isnt actually too good. Frame rates drop in combat heavy scenes or when I turn around rapidly. Is my CPU bottlenecking my cards at all? Its a Deneb Phenom 2 quad and it runs at 4.25GHz.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, Crysis3 is not suppose to run good on "old hardware" AFAIK and IMHO, you are running out of GPU RAM.
Click to expand...

So Afterburner only measures GPU 1 memory usage for some reason. I find that odd but any way. It says GPU 1 maxed out memory use at ? How does that work if the card only has 1 GB vram:headscrat? Also my CPU was clocking 100% during my Crysis 3 online session... Does playing online use more CPU power at all?


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dr.evil*
> 
> no dude i will have a new mobo with that fx as you can see my current one is only am3 socket i will get a 990fx, and i only ask if my psu could take a crossfire hd 6870 or cross hd 6870 plus 6850


You didn't mentioned that before.
I would still say no, it can't take it.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> I really want that 1GHz core clock. I know I can get there with a slight voltage increase, but this card won't let me. As soon as I pump the voltage even one tiny notch with any method (software, BIOS mods, etc) BAM, black screen of death. Sucks.


I share your pain, I get all kind of weird things when I force a voltage increase with Trixx on my card. (I wish I knew before buying this it was this crappy for OC







)


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> So Afterburner only measures GPU 1 memory usage for some reason. I find that odd but any way. It says GPU 1 maxed out memory use at ? How does that work if the card only has 1 GB vram:headscrat? Also my CPU was clocking 100% during my Crysis 3 online session... Does playing online use more CPU power at all?


Hmm, is strange that Aft. does that... are you sure you properly configured them in the "monitor" tab?
And Crysis 3 eats up 2GB+ of VRAM, AFAIK.
It can use more CPU power, since there is more players running around and so forth.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> So Afterburner only measures GPU 1 memory usage for some reason. I find that odd but any way. It says GPU 1 maxed out memory use at ? How does that work if the card only has 1 GB vram:headscrat? Also my CPU was clocking 100% during my Crysis 3 online session... Does playing online use more CPU power at all?
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm, is strange that Aft. does that... are you sure you properly configured them in the "monitor" tab?
> And Crysis 3 eats up 2GB+ of VRAM, AFAIK.
> It can use more CPU power, since there is more players running around and so forth.
Click to expand...

I just checked again after my online Crysis match and my cpu wae getting a work out of between 70%-80%. So I think my processor is ok... for now... but once again. GPU vram was maxed out.


----------



## WeRNothiNg

I have a friend with a Asus P5Q Pro Turbo mobo, Q8300 cpu and 2 Sapphire HD6850s. He lives in another state but I walked him through the setup and all went very smooth. We played around for almost 2 days and mid-game his pc froze(he is at 100% stock settings). He said black and green horizontal lines flashed right before the pc powered itself down. When he tried to boot the system up again all fans and lights kicked on, but no video output. Anyone have any ideas?


----------



## WeRNothiNg

I had him remove the newly added video card and reboot with only one, but same results.


----------



## WeRNothiNg

Solved. Power surge+failed surge protector reset bios to default & freaked the system out, but nothing seems to be damaged.


----------



## smoke420

Just got done with some new mods let me know what you think. I am using 2x h60's to cool my graphics cards and an h50 on my cpu. That in itself is a mod but im just getting started.I ended up with all three systems daisy chained..
Before you ask why.....
1.Why not
2.cost me $20
3. Im not putting huge amounts of load on both my cpu and gpu's at the same time so this ends up helping both.
4.Last but not least looks and I wanted something different.
First I just attached the coolers and put the rads any way they would fit.

Then I got great temps on one card but horrible temps on the other the problem was too much tension on the block from the stiff tubes.To fix this I needed to move the rads and change the tubes on one of the coolers.

This ended bad and ugly.Where to start one of the hoses was too short so I had stuff something under the fan to keep it from rattling. Still had horrible temps on one card because the hose being too short this time pulling down on the block...But two good things came from this attempt.1.I knew could cut into the hose without fluid getting every where.2.Gave me an chance to fix my horrible cable management...

Before

After....keep in mind I have 13 fans and my psu is not modular at all..

At first

second

Now





Let me know what you think......


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Just got done with some new mods let me know what you think. I am using 2x h60's to cool my graphics cards and an h50 on my cpu. That in itself is a mod but im just getting started.I ended up with all three systems daisy chained..
> Before you ask why.....
> 1.Why not
> 2.cost me $20
> 3. Im not putting huge amounts of load on both my cpu and gpu's at the same time so this ends up helping both.
> 4.Last but not least looks and I wanted something different.
> First I just attached the coolers and put the rads any way they would fit.
> 
> Then I got great temps on one card but horrible temps on the other the problem was too much tension on the block from the stiff tubes.To fix this I needed to move the rads and change the tubes on one of the coolers.
> 
> This ended bad and ugly.Where to start one of the hoses was too short so I had stuff something under the fan to keep it from rattling. Still had horrible temps on one card because the hose being too short this time pulling down on the block...But two good things came from this attempt.1.I knew could cut into the hose without fluid getting every where.2.Gave me an chance to fix my horrible cable management...
> 
> Before
> 
> After....keep in mind I have 13 fans and my psu is not modular at all..
> 
> At first
> 
> second
> 
> Now
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let me know what you think......


What are your temps looking like?


----------



## smoke420

mid 40's in game bioshock infinite (only game played so far) both gpus and cpu around the same temp.If only the cpu is loaded using prime 95 it wont past 43c..

47c CPU and 53/56c for the gpu's everything overclocked running prime 95 and heaven benchmark at the same time in a warm room..


----------



## a pet rock

Fascinating. Did you actually end up with lower temps in the final setup compared to one rad each?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *a pet rock*
> 
> Fascinating. Did you actually end up with lower temps in the final setup compared to one rad each?


Yes the temps are a lot better cant tell how much because my ambient temps are higher than normal. I also had seating problems with the stiff tube. one card would be 8 to 11c hotter at load now they stay within 3c of each other.if i had to guess i would say 10c cooler on the cards and 15c on the cpu. the biggest improvement by far is when just the cpu is loaded.even with all three pumps at 100%, flow is the problem by the time the fluid gets to the last rad it seems to be cool already. if the speed the bubbles were moving is any indication flow looks good but i dont think the temp in the loop should be so different from one spot to another.from what ive read the fluid should all gradually heat up but I dont think its moving fast enough to do so.
Personally I think the temps with everything loaded 100% is not good enough but im probably asking too much of the cooling system.I personally will never be satisfied.when i get the money together for a true high dollar water cooling system that wont be enough for me.I may move one of the rads between the cpu and gpus to see if it helps or just to have something to do.I think I have more fun pulling my rig apart and putting it back together than i do playing games on it..


----------



## Destrto

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/7w6sc/

XFX Radeon HD 6850 DoubleD x2 - Destrto


----------



## CoconutHead

Well, i'm new at the forum and i dont really now if this should be the right place to post this...
but i have a asus 6870 1gb Directcu, and a Asus P5KPL AM motherboard.
the mobo supposedly supports a x16 PCI-e slot, but i'm only getting it to run at x4..
here's a screenshot:


Even if i run the render test in gpu-z, bus interface won't go to x16..
is there really anything i can do? I've already checked bios settings and there's nothing related to that...


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CoconutHead*
> 
> Well, i'm new at the forum and i dont really now if this should be the right place to post this...
> but i have a asus 6870 1gb Directcu, and a Asus P5KPL AM motherboard.
> the mobo supposedly supports a x16 PCI-e slot, but i'm only getting it to run at x4..
> here's a screenshot:
> 
> 
> Even if i run the render test in gpu-z, bus interface won't go to x16..
> is there really anything i can do? I've already checked bios settings and there's nothing related to that...


Is it plugged into the x16 slot on your board? I know its kindof a simple thing, but i ask cause i missed it on mine the first time.


----------



## CoconutHead

it is.. the mobo only have 1 pci-e x16 slot so.. theres no way to miss it hahah


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CoconutHead*
> 
> it is.. the mobo only have 1 pci-e x16 slot so.. theres no way to miss it hahah


AH, ok.

Well, from what i can read on the specs, it is a PCI-e x16 slot, not a PCI-e 2.0 x16. That may be the cause of your card only running at x4 speed.


----------



## CoconutHead

oh, why did i got a low budget card?
that is the real problem? god.


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CoconutHead*
> 
> oh, why did i got a low budget card?
> that is the real problem? god.


I'm not exactly positive, but thats the only thing i can spot as the cause.


----------



## Truedeal

Got My cyclone PE 6850 yesterday.
Now on par with a factory 6870


Yes.

Maximum Load temperature of 70 degrees Celsius with the Mono Plus cooling solution.


----------



## CoconutHead

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Destrto*
> 
> I'm not exactly positive, but thats the only thing i can spot as the cause.


well, so how can you explain @Truedeal HD6850 runing at PCI-E x16 1.1? ahhahaha


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CoconutHead*
> 
> well, so how can you explain @Truedeal HD6850 runing at PCI-E x16 1.1? ahhahaha


Granted I'm not the most knowledgeable about these things. I've done some reading, and one *possible* cause is that, even though the card/board may be physically rated to run at x16, it may only be electrically rated at x4.

Your card may be improperly seated.
The Pci slot may need a good cleaning.
It may just be a sensor glitch showing x4 when in reality it is, in fact, running at x16.
If you have a setting in BIOS for your PCIE, Auto or Manual, try selecting Manual.
May seem crazy, but check your CPU for bent pins (socket pins on Intel, chip pins on AMD)

If all else fails and you are not happy with the performance you're getting with your card, contact the Board Manufacturer and request either an explanation for why it is running at such a low speed, or an RMA.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CoconutHead*
> 
> well, so how can you explain @Truedeal HD6850 runing at PCI-E x16 1.1? ahhahaha


I will ignore your ignorance.

GPUZ displays my GPU as relying on 1.1 x16 because of the new gpu-z version.
This new gpuz version is now compatible with all cards and will generally display PCI 1.1 x16 due to power saving features.



Its not a issue with my PCIE slot, bent pins, etc.
And I personally do not find why this is so comical to you Coconuthead.


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> I will ignore your ignorance.
> 
> GPUZ displays my GPU as relying on 1.1 x16 because of the new gpu-z version.
> This new gpuz version is now compatible with all cards and will generally display PCI 1.1 x16 due to power saving features.
> 
> 
> 
> Its not a issue with my PCIE slot, bent pins, etc.
> And I personally do not find why this is so comical to you Coconuthead.


He's not referring to the *1.1* part.. He's talking about why his card shows it is running @ x4 instead of @ x16, like yours shows to be.

And I was referring those tips to coconuthead, not to you Truedeal..

And what you show in the photo is essentially what his card may in fact be doing, as you're pointing out.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Destrto*
> 
> He's not referring to the *1.1* part.. He's talking about why his card shows it is running @ x4 instead of @ x16, like yours shows to be.
> 
> And I was referring those tips to coconuthead, not to you Truedeal..
> 
> And what you show in the photo is essentially what his card may in fact be doing, as you're pointing out.


My comment wasn't really geared towards you Destro.


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> My comment wasn't really geared towards you Destro.


I figured.. Just wanted to make sure, cause there's nothing wrong with your card. It's his that seems to not be functioning the way he would like.


----------



## CoconutHead

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> I will ignore your ignorance.
> 
> GPUZ displays my GPU as relying on 1.1 x16 because of the new gpu-z version.
> This new gpuz version is now compatible with all cards and will generally display PCI 1.1 x16 due to power saving features.
> 
> 
> 
> Its not a issue with my PCIE slot, bent pins, etc.
> And I personally do not find why this is so comical to you Coconuthead.


And I will ignore yours.
I was talking about your board running it at 1.1 x6, and my running it at 1.1 x4, not joking about your system.
And I don`t think it`s comic, i was just trying to be friendly.

Destrto: thanks for all the tips, really. I`ll try to contact the manufacter after cleaning up the slot.
Thank you very much for your help.

If anyone still have any ideas of what may be happening, i`ll accept them with my heart hahaha

and I don`t want to be de new provocative guy, but seriously Truedeal, work on your humor


----------



## webhito

Hi fellas, I recently picked up a used hd 6850 and have a quick question. My card seems to be working a little too hot. 85c more or less while gaming. Ambient temps are pretty high but the card shouldn't be getting that high. Is there a way I can flash the fan profile so that it spins up faster and at a lower temperature? I know msi afterburner is the easiest option but I would rather make it permanent. Tomb raider is the only game that has got her up to 95c, no artifacts yet but I would rather not get there. If it is possible just point the way, no need to make an explanation. Thanks!

Nvm, already flashed the sucker, much better, max temps are now 87 instead of 95.


----------



## NeoReaper

Hey Guys!
Can you recommend me the "Best" GPU Air cooler for my MSI 6870 that doesn't cost much?


----------



## DUpgrade

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> Hey Guys!
> Can you recommend me the "Best" GPU Air cooler for my MSI 6870 that doesn't cost much?


Arctic Accelero is probably what you're after. Keep in mind they'll vent hot air into the case so vented pci covers and an extra fan to push that air out the back helps.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050002107%2040000576&IsNodeId=1&SubCategory=576&Manufactory=2107&SpeTabStoreType=1


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CoconutHead*
> 
> And I will ignore yours.
> I was talking about your board running it at 1.1 x6, and my running it at 1.1 x4, not joking about your system.
> And I don`t think it`s comic, i was just trying to be friendly.
> 
> Destrto: thanks for all the tips, really. I`ll try to contact the manufacter after cleaning up the slot.
> Thank you very much for your help.
> 
> If anyone still have any ideas of what may be happening, i`ll accept them with my heart hahaha
> 
> and I don`t want to be de new provocative guy, but seriously Truedeal, work on your humor


Might be an issue with the card+slot.
My mobo has 4 PCIe slots, 2 of them are rated for 2.0 x16 with crossfire enabled.
I only have 2 PCIe devices on my system, namely my graphics cards.
When GPU1 is in PCIe1 it runs at 2.0 16x.
When GPU2 is in PCIe1 it runs at 1.1 1x, also affects performance and can't enable crossfire.
When GPU1 is in PCIe3 runs at 2.0 16x.
When GPU2 is in PCIe3 runs at 2.0 16x.
I tested it out with the other slots too and GPU2 reaches the maximum speed on the slots EXCEPT in PCIe1.
Card is not faulty, motherboard is not faulty either...
I've had my share of headaches with these two cards, this was just one of them.
I did several tests running them on crossfire/single plus changing the slave/master card to see what caused it. Nothing pointing out to hardware.


----------



## Razzeedesu




----------



## CoconutHead

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Might be an issue with the card+slot.
> My mobo has 4 PCIe slots, 2 of them are rated for 2.0 x16 with crossfire enabled.
> I only have 2 PCIe devices on my system, namely my graphics cards.
> When GPU1 is in PCIe1 it runs at 2.0 16x.
> When GPU2 is in PCIe1 it runs at 1.1 1x, also affects performance and can't enable crossfire.
> When GPU1 is in PCIe3 runs at 2.0 16x.
> When GPU2 is in PCIe3 runs at 2.0 16x.
> I tested it out with the other slots too and GPU2 reaches the maximum speed on the slots EXCEPT in PCIe1.
> Card is not faulty, motherboard is not faulty either...
> I've had my share of headaches with these two cards, this was just one of them.
> I did several tests running them on crossfire/single plus changing the slave/master card to see what caused it. Nothing pointing out to hardware.


so there's nothing i can do?
great :\


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CoconutHead*
> 
> so there's nothing i can do?
> great :\


You could buy a better board?
RMA the one you have?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CoconutHead*
> 
> so there's nothing i can do?
> great :\


Like the above poster said you can RMA the parts and explain what is happening. If both of them were purchased at the same time in the same store even better.
I doubt it is the exact same thing I'm having with mine so you should RMA it, hopefully they'll find the issue with solve it, theres no better way for us to help you without having your computer, hope everything ends up okay.


----------



## CoconutHead

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Like the above poster said you can RMA the parts and explain what is happening. If both of them were purchased at the same time in the same store even better.
> I doubt it is the exact same thing I'm having with mine so you should RMA it, hopefully they'll find the issue with solve it, theres no better way for us to help you without having your computer, hope everything ends up okay.


well great...
i saw a screenshot of when i had a hd5770 and it worked at x16..
and guess what? my motherboard just died. video problem. not even the onboard video works.
oh, the irony.

i just hope my 6870 still good to go,..


----------



## Razzeedesu

Sapphire and XFX!


----------



## spikezone2004

Have any of you guys run heaven on your system with your 6850? I just ran it on mine to compare the results with a friend who has two 5770s crossfire and his results were a lot better than mine and he was saying they should be about the same if not mine should be better.

I can post my results and the settings I ran it with.

EDIT: I just ran it again and I had completely different results, I ran afterburner to make sure it was running full speed this time and it did but I don't know why it wouldn't pf last time. I am still curious to what results other people get.


----------



## Cores

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> Have any of you guys run heaven on your system with your 6850? I just ran it on mine to compare the results with a friend who has two 5770s crossfire and his results were a lot better than mine and he was saying they should be about the same if not mine should be better.
> 
> I can post my results and the settings I ran it with.
> 
> EDIT: I just ran it again and I had completely different results, I ran afterburner to make sure it was running full speed this time and it did but I don't know why it wouldn't pf last time. I am still curious to what results other people get.


I could make a safe guess that two 5770s would be better performing than one 6850.


----------



## spikezone2004

well after running my second test my score was much higher than my friends two 5770s i think im going to run it a third time to see if its any different because my two scores are so different from each other i dont know why


----------



## GeneralKrispy

In! Visiontek Radeon HD 6850, and thinking of crossfiring it soon as its in the new build.


----------



## spikezone2004

Anyone play borderlands 2 with there 6850? I was just playing and my fps was droping low, never noticed it before. I was gettting about 15fps at some points and making it a little choppy, I dont know if its my cpu holding me back or my 6850 i feel like i should be getting better fps with it though


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> Anyone play borderlands 2 with there 6850? I was just playing and my fps was droping low, never noticed it before. I was gettting about 15fps at some points and making it a little choppy, I dont know if its my cpu holding me back or my 6850 i feel like i should be getting better fps with it though


I played all the way through Borderlands 2 without much more than a couple hiccups in FPS. Lowest I personally saw was 27-30 FPS during scenes with large mobs. This was also before I realized that the game was not initializing crossfire with my 2 6850's. Once I pressed ALT+ENTER, I was hitting no lower than 50's on average.


----------



## spikezone2004

what do you think is causing my fps drop to be so low? I am not sure if its my cpu or gpu. I think ima try overclocking my gpu to 875 1200 see if i get any better


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> what do you think is causing my fps drop to be so low? I am not sure if its my cpu or gpu. I think ima try overclocking my gpu to 875 1200 see if i get any better


What RAM are you running? How much and at what speed?


----------



## spikezone2004

I am running mushkin ddr3 ram, this is my speed and timings. I have it lowered in my bios settings because when its to high it seems to give me BSODs with my cpu overclocked, I dont think my cpu can handle the ram


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> I am running mushkin ddr3 ram, this is my speed and timings. I have it lowered in my bios settings because when its to high it seems to give me BSODs with my cpu overclocked, I dont think my cpu can handle the ram


Ok, that seems awful low, and could be the cause of such low bottom end FPS. Might be best to start a new thread though on the issue. Seems more like a RAM problem and not an issue with your 6850.

I personally don't know enough about the relationship between RAM and FPS, just that its speed is related to your bottom end FPS. But starting a new thread will give you better help, and wont fill up this thread, which is mainly for people to post what they have, and not troubleshooting. Although I;m sure there are people in here who would be more than happy to help, it looks like your issue is stemming more from a RAM issue, and might not have anything to do with your 6850, especially since you say upping the RAM speed causes BSOD's. It shouldnt do that, even at stock speeds.


----------



## spikezone2004

Thats why I started on this thread to compare my 6850 with other peoples 6850. I will start another thread on it, when i was overclocking my cpu to 3.6ghz from 2.6 only way to get it to run was with the ram set so low but my friend told me my ram shouldnt becausing it to do that, so maybe i need to change another setting, i even changed the voltage on the ram to see if that was why and still no luck. hopefully I can figure it out so I dont have to have my ram so low, and can put my timings back to a good spot I had to change those back to default as well. Thanks Destrto


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> Thats why I started on this thread to compare my 6850 with other peoples 6850. I will start another thread on it, when i was overclocking my cpu to 3.6ghz from 2.6 only way to get it to run was with the ram set so low but my friend told me my ram shouldnt becausing it to do that, so maybe i need to change another setting, i even changed the voltage on the ram to see if that was why and still no luck. hopefully I can figure it out so I dont have to have my ram so low, and can put my timings back to a good spot I had to change those back to default as well. Thanks Destrto


No worries. changing the RAM voltage shouldnt be necessary. So I'm betting there is another setting causing these issues. Good luck with the new thread, and if I run by it, I'll check on your progress.


----------



## spikezone2004

Quote:


> No worries. changing the RAM voltage shouldnt be necessary. So I'm betting there is another setting causing these issues. Good luck with the new thread, and if I run by it, I'll check on your progress.


I will keep you posted on here, I hope I get it figured it out so I can get better performance out of my ram.


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> I will keep you posted on here, I hope I get it figured it out so I can get better performance out of my ram.


I'll definitely be watching.


----------



## jdsdk

Sapphire HD6850


----------



## spikezone2004

I got my ram runnning as close to stock as I can but now im working on my 6850 overclock highest amd overdrive or msi afterburner can take me is 875/1200 which isnt making much of a difference


----------



## NeoReaper

970Mhz/1220Mhz on my 6870 right now.


----------



## spikezone2004

How come amd overdriver or msi afterburner doesnt let me go past 875 and 1200? i want to get to 970 and 1200 thats what a lot of people seem to be able to run theres at stable.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> How come amd overdriver or msi afterburner doesnt let me go past 875 and 1200? i want to get to 970 and 1200 thats what a lot of people seem to be able to run theres at stable.


Use the unofficial Overclocking feature, it is provided with MSI Afterburner

Open the MSIAfterburner.CFG with notepad and scrolldown to where it says
"
[ATIADLHAL]
UnofficialOverclockingEULA =
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 0
UnofficialOverclockingDrvReset = 1
AccessibilityCheckingPeriod = 0
UnifiedMemoryUsageMonitoring = 1

"
Change Unofficial Overclocking Mode to 1.
or change it from 1 to 2 if you have screen tearing issues.

And Supply the EULA which is " *I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it* " without quotations.

My successful overclock with Afterburner is 1020/1250 .
You should be able to achieve your goal.


----------



## Obakemono

Is it worth to keep my two XFX 6870 blacks or is it time to upgrade? I run a single monitor (27" 1920x1080p) and been thinking about it, but not sure. Right now I am running my back-up GTS450s in SLI since I have to RMA both of my 6870s (both fans are failing and one card always reports 99% use) so with any luck I should have two new cards with this RMA. Thoughts?


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Obakemono*
> 
> Is it worth to keep my two XFX 6870 blacks or is it time to upgrade? I run a single monitor (27" 1920x1080p) and been thinking about it, but not sure. Right now I am running my back-up GTS450s in SLI since I have to RMA both of my 6870s (both fans are failing and one card always reports 99% use) so with any luck I should have two new cards with this RMA. Thoughts?


I personally would say yes, it is worth it to keep the 6870's. But it is ultimately up to you. Were you happy with their performance? Do you or did you plan to overclock them any?

I have a pair of the XFX Double D 6850's and I've been very happy with them.


----------



## Obakemono

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Destrto*
> 
> I personally would say yes, it is worth it to keep the 6870's. But it is ultimately up to you. Were you happy with their performance? Do you or did you plan to overclock them any?
> 
> I have a pair of the XFX Double D 6850's and I've been very happy with them.


Well, TBH I am happy with them and the performance they give me, and also the fact that I have a lifetime warranty too. Also they are already overclocked so I'm not worried about that aspect. I'll keep them for a while more and see how the new 8xxx cards turn out or the GTX7xx cards do. I'll just get my home server in order then and get all my stuff organized.


----------



## anothergeek

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anothergeek*
> 
> I received my RMA from Powercolor a few days ago. If you work with them, make sure you register online your file or they will just send it back to you...
> 
> Anyway, the model is the same as my 2011/12 version. The 2010/11 had an older PCB (it went to black screen)
> 
> Just waiting for some G1 from arctic to get back to OC (8K GPU 3DM11!)I have a Samsung 840 on the way and I want to replay Far Cry 3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also in the Realm Reborn beta (FFXIV), which is pretty wicked


Everything's been cool since then. Switched some things around.


----------



## spikezone2004

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> Use the unofficial Overclocking feature, it is provided with MSI Afterburner
> 
> Open the MSIAfterburner.CFG with notepad and scrolldown to where it says
> "
> [ATIADLHAL]
> UnofficialOverclockingEULA =
> UnofficialOverclockingMode = 0
> UnofficialOverclockingDrvReset = 1
> AccessibilityCheckingPeriod = 0
> UnifiedMemoryUsageMonitoring = 1
> 
> "
> Change Unofficial Overclocking Mode to 1.
> or change it from 1 to 2 if you have screen tearing issues.
> 
> And Supply the EULA which is " *I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it* " without quotations.
> 
> My successful overclock with Afterburner is 1020/1250 .
> You should be able to achieve your goal.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> 970Mhz/1220Mhz on my 6870 right now.


thank you that worked! however i cant get to 970/1220 doesnt run, do you guys raise your voltage?

is that on stock voltage? what temperatures do you get?


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> thank you that worked! however i cant get to 970/1220 doesnt run, do you guys raise your voltage?
> 
> is that on stock voltage? what temperatures do you get?


I can guarantee that you will have to increase from default voltage to get a more desirable overclock.

As for temperatures, I cant really answer because that varies greatly.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Obakemono*
> 
> Is it worth to keep my two XFX 6870 blacks or is it time to upgrade? I run a single monitor (27" 1920x1080p) and been thinking about it, but not sure. Right now I am running my back-up GTS450s in SLI since I have to RMA both of my 6870s (both fans are failing and one card always reports 99% use) so with any luck I should have two new cards with this RMA. Thoughts?


Sell them xfx has always had problems with there fans.The RMA fans are going to fail just like the first ones. Unless you are getting aftermarket cooling sell them.


----------



## anothergeek

Anyone find anything for voltage, 6850 in xfire?

I can clock high but never v


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Sell them xfx has always had problems with there fans.The RMA fans are going to fail just like the first ones. Unless you are getting aftermarket cooling sell them.


I've had my XFX DoubleD 6850's since last october, not a single issue from either one of them, fans or otherwise.


----------



## WeRNothiNg

My nephew is running 2 Sapphire HD 6850s. here is a link to the rig builder for his machine. http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4831209 I am unfamiliar with what a 3dmark score should be on his cards given the cpu he is using. Could anyone tell me if this seems low? It is a bit lower than I expected after installing his 2nd card, but I'm not sure. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6421825

And I am not sure why it says the CPU clock speed is 0MHz, I can assure you it is not. That is very strange. I said my memory was running at 667MHz a couple days ago. Again, it is not.


----------



## spikezone2004

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WeRNothiNg*
> 
> My nephew is running 2 Sapphire HD 6850s. here is a link to the rig builder for his machine. http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4831209 I am unfamiliar with what a 3dmark score should be on his cards given the cpu he is using. Could anyone tell me if this seems low? It is a bit lower than I expected after installing his 2nd card, but I'm not sure. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6421825
> 
> And I am not sure why it says the CPU clock speed is 0MHz, I can assure you it is not. That is very strange. I said my memory was running at 667MHz a couple days ago. Again, it is not.


on your 3dmark score it says your core clock and memory clock for your graphics cards are 100/150 mhz?


----------



## WeRNothiNg

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> on your 3dmark score it says your core clock and memory clock for your graphics cards are 100/150 mhz?


I know. and that the cpu is at 0MHz and O mb of installed memory. Everything is at factory settings. My nephew lives in another state so going to take a look is not an option. Have any ideas?


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WeRNothiNg*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> on your 3dmark score it says your core clock and memory clock for your graphics cards are 100/150 mhz?
> 
> 
> 
> I know. and that the cpu is at 0MHz and O mb of installed memory. Everything is at factory settings. My nephew lives in another state so going to take a look is not an option. Have any ideas?
Click to expand...

UAC Disabled? (that was just a random suggestion)
Somthing may be blocking 3DMark from accessing the hardware's information. Can this be something to do with Plug & Play?


----------



## WeRNothiNg

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> UAC Disabled? (that was just a random suggestion)
> Somthing may be blocking 3DMark from accessing the hardware's information. Can this be something to do with Plug & Play?


I am 99.99% sure UAC is disabled. I have 3 result of runs I had done before this one and the info shows up fine. It has been doing some strange things on my pc too(in my signature). It said my memory was running at 667 MHz. Something strange is happening and since it is doing it on multiple computers, it leads me to think it is 3dmark. IDK.


----------



## spikezone2004

I would possibly try running a different program then like cinebench or heaven


----------



## GeneralKrispy

Visiontek Radeon HD 6850


...although I wish the fan was blue.


----------



## Ssfiril

self-deleted


----------



## Ssfiril

sorry, images got shrunk, im're-posting

2x Sapphire hd 6850 toxic both clocked @970/1100
http://postimg.org/image/g7yoidypz/full/

some benchs(heaven 4.0):

1) single gpu extreme preset
http://postimg.org/image/da1poor2f/full/

2)Crossfire extreme preset(just changed to fullscreen, to enable crossfire):
http://postimg.org/image/4qibqxipz/full/

3)Crossfire 1920x1080, all maxed
http://postimg.org/image/kapphgsuf/full/


----------



## Destrto

I have a slight issue with my twin 6850s. As of yesterday, one card shows it is running in x8 mode instead of x16. My board supports dual GPUs at x16, and up until yesterday were running fine at x16.

It does not have power saving features enabled, and it does not change when gaming.

Anyone have any thoughts as to why one card would suddenly fall to x8?


----------



## corre

hey guys i have some problems regarding my xfx hd6870 be.

1 - neither the gpu-z and msi afterburner are detecting 0 rpm in the two fans of the gpu. what is causing this reading?
2 - in default fan mode in ccc, playing for 10 minutes the gpu goes to 80~83 degrees celcius and the fan only goes to 34 % speed, and i think its weard because in my cousin pc with the same graphics, it only goes to the 70-72 degrees celsius but it goes to 45 % of fan speed. does my fans are not working correctly?
3 - same test i made for 10 minutes but now with fixed fan speed in ccc (80 %), the temperatures goes to the 70 degrees. do you think its normal to go that way?

i need some answers to this questions, so i can resolt it with the store i bought the whole pc.


----------



## Destrto

Figured I would ask in here as well. According to this picture


Does anyone happen to know where I might find heatsinks that would fit that mounting section?

The cards are XFX DoubleD 6850's.


----------



## propheticus

You could try taking a ironsaw and cut up one of these to fit: ebay link

Or look for kits like this.


----------



## Hangger

I Use MSI R6850 Cyclone PE Oc Can i join the club hehe


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *propheticus*
> 
> You could try taking a ironsaw and cut up one of these to fit: ebay link
> 
> Or look for kits like this.


Those would do the job. Thanks.

I have been trying to find the link someone had posted for a little upgrade kit for a certain model GPU that had the perfect sized heatsink to fit there, with screw holes and everything, but I havent been able to find it yet.

I have an old CPU heatsink Ive been slowly working on here at home with my dremel tool, I just dont know if it would be practical to use.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hangger*
> 
> I Use MSI R6850 Cyclone PE Oc Can i join the club hehe


You don't have to ask to join the club.

You only have your PE at 900 mhz?!


----------



## Destrto

Here are my updated clocks after installing the Antec 620's


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Hangger*
> 
> I Use MSI R6850 Cyclone PE Oc Can i join the club hehe
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You don't have to ask to join the club.
> 
> You only have your PE at 900 mhz?!
Click to expand...

He should be able to get 1000Mhz + on the Cyclone. I can get around 975 - 1000MHz in duel crossfire depending on my ambients. Unfortunately the Cyclone cooler looses the plot a bit in a multi-card setup. I wanna see what I can do to that when I get both cards under water. 1100MHz anyone?


----------



## Alastair

Sorry double post


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Sorry double post


I'm at 1020/1240 with the included heat sink.

1.267 V, and +15 Aux and Memory voltage in Afterburner.


----------



## Hangger

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> He should be able to get 1000Mhz + on the Cyclone. I can get around 975 - 1000MHz in duel crossfire depending on my ambients. Unfortunately the Cyclone cooler looses the plot a bit in a multi-card setup. I wanna see what I can do to that when I get both cards under water. 1100MHz anyone?


i try in 1,000mhz but my Country (Thailand) Weather is so hot so i worry about my card is dead







but i know i can control fan up to 100% but is to fk loud







so i think 900mhz is well be ok


----------



## Truedeal

Oh, I just realized that I never followed the OP instructions...








Workings of MSI PE 6850


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Hangger*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> He should be able to get 1000Mhz + on the Cyclone. I can get around 975 - 1000MHz in duel crossfire depending on my ambients. Unfortunately the Cyclone cooler looses the plot a bit in a multi-card setup. I wanna see what I can do to that when I get both cards under water. 1100MHz anyone?
> 
> 
> 
> i try in 1,000mhz but my Country (Thailand) Weather is so hot so i worry about my card is dead
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> but i know i can control fan up to 100% but is to fk loud
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so i think 900mhz is well be ok
Click to expand...

In a single card setup I can push both cards in excess of 1000MHz core and 1200MHz memory. But because the cyclone cooler is an axial rather than a blower fan, the top card is sucking in all of the hot air from the other. So my Crossfire overclock is lower. But I hope to get both cards to run around 1100MHz on the core when I have both of them included in my loop. Maybe also a lil more memory clock too as I will be able to add RAM sinks on. The cyclone cooler sits too close to the RAM to put sinks on them. Also... Should I replace the VRM heatsink? It looks tiny! I have a Phantom 820 case with CM Storm Force 200mm fans, and 200mm the side panel fan is blowing on on my cards. will that be enough to keep the RAM (with sinks) and the VRM's (stock sink) cool when I put the cores under water?


----------



## Hangger

This is Max that i can do fan75% 73c


----------



## Ssfiril

new clocks after installing accelero twin turbo II on both gpus

http://postimg.org/image/mxyjfb57f/full/


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ssfiril*
> 
> new clocks after installing accelero twin turbo II on both gpus
> 
> http://postimg.org/image/mxyjfb57f/full/


Man, you need to get those memory clocks up!


----------



## anothergeek

Broke my 3DM11 record 975/1175 with 1.2v on VRMs, P8075!









http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6910406


----------



## anothergeek

KILLED IT! Not literally lool

finally! 1000 core clock 1200 memory

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6910458

Over 8500 in graphics!

P8211

I saw a tiny bit of artifacting so I don't expect to ever beat that


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *anothergeek*
> 
> KILLED IT! Not literally lool
> 
> finally! 1000 core clock 1200 memory
> 
> http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6910458
> 
> Over 8500 in graphics!
> 
> P8211
> 
> I saw a tiny bit of artifacting so I don't expect to ever beat that


Nice! Congratz, I only ever reached 1000/1150 on my Sapphire but that was stock volts on mem, can't adjust mem with Afterburner


----------



## anothergeek

Hmm I was using Trixx 4.0.1 can be found here

https://www.sapphireselectclub.com/ssc/TriXX/

I noticed I have to leave the fan on auto, weird glitch but the second card doesn't manually elect. but on auto I was at 93% or higher anyway, the second card 60 or 70%. I think my exhaust being near the top card is just pulling the fans more, and the heat from the bottom card warms up the top one.

My second core is like 60-70C at that speed, top core might get in the 80's, VRAM is the main factor, both can hit 90C at that rate

Voltage can be taken all the way to 1.3V but I'm scared of the heat.

Arctic Twin Turbo 2s really work









I bet you could get over 9000 graphics if you bust some tail or got blocks, voltage would just be the wall


----------



## Vodkacooling

Is there a resale market for these cards? I'm wanting to sell one and noone wants it on craigslist. Am I selling a 6850 for too much at 65 bucks shipped for the card?


----------



## famous1994

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Vodkacooling*
> 
> Is there a resale market for these cards? I'm wanting to sell one and noone wants it on craigslist. Am I selling a 6850 for too much at 65 bucks shipped for the card?


I sold an HIS HD6850 about two months ago for $100 on eBay. Maybe try selling it there or even on here in the marketplace.


----------



## remnant

I own the gigabyte 6870 oc, pretty sure its voltage locked, any idea how high I can overclock on stock voltages?


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *remnant*
> 
> I own the gigabyte 6870 oc, pretty sure its voltage locked, any idea how high I can overclock on stock voltages?


AFAIK there is no way to unlock 'em.


----------



## remnant

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> AFAIK there is no way to unlock 'em.


thank you, any idea why it can't? Is it hardware or software?

sorry but was does "AFAIK"


----------



## Tyhuynh85

I have crossfire xfx 2gb 6870s with antec 620s water cooler using sigma cool bracket.
Stock speed:
900 MHz core
1050 memory


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *remnant*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> AFAIK there is no way to unlock 'em.
> 
> 
> 
> thank you, any idea why it can't? Is it hardware or software?
> 
> sorry but was does "AFAIK"
Click to expand...

AFIK = As Far As I Know.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *remnant*
> 
> thank you, any idea why it can't? Is it hardware or software?
> 
> sorry but was does "AFAIK"


To my knowledge; is a hardware thing, because is using the stock PCB.
You can try forcing more voltage with TrixXx, but that usually ends on some strange behaviour for the GPU.

AFAIK = As far as I know


----------



## shirow

hi

i have a shappire hd 6870 and 2 days ago the video card showme black screen when windows finish to charge, only can enter in safe mode

y format mi pc, delete all drivers and try whit new and old drivers and the problem still there, how can i fix this?


----------



## mstf007

First of all hi everyone,My system specs:

-PowerColor AMD HD 6850 (My videocard has'nt overclocked)

-460w PSU.

-AMD Phenom x4 B50 3.2 GHZ.

-4 GB Ram.

-Windows 7 x64.

My card temp is:

-idle 40-41 °C

-10 min Furmark 75°C

-45 min Metro Last Light around 60-73 °C

Are these temps ok ? What is the top stable temp for HD 6850 ?


----------



## Tokkan

Those temps are fine


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mstf007*
> 
> First of all hi everyone,My system specs:
> 
> -PowerColor AMD HD 6850 (My videocard has'nt overclocked)
> 
> -460w PSU.
> 
> -AMD Phenom x4 B50 3.2 GHZ.
> 
> -4 GB Ram.
> 
> -Windows 7 x64.
> 
> My card temp is:
> 
> -idle 40-41 °C
> 
> -10 min Furmark 75°C
> 
> -45 min Metro Last Light around 60-73 °C
> 
> Are these temps ok ? What is the top stable temp for HD 6850 ?


I think try keep them below 80c for long term and an absolute max of 100c. Just guessing here.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I think try keep them below 80c for long term and an absolute max of 100c. Just guessing here.


If he plans on overclocking keeping the card below 75 is crucial for stability, it was already experienced by several users that over 75 they start to be unstable and artifact.


----------



## mstf007

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> If he plans on overclocking keeping the card below 75 is crucial for stability, it was already experienced by several users that over 75 they start to be unstable and artifact.


Some users says after 90 the card will loose stability ?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mstf007*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> If he plans on overclocking keeping the card below 75 is crucial for stability, it was already experienced by several users that over 75 they start to be unstable and artifact.
> 
> 
> 
> Some users says after 90 the card will loose stability ?
Click to expand...

In my personal experience on my MSI's above 80c and things just go downhill.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mstf007*
> 
> Some users says after 90 the card will loose stability ?


Because those users speak of the cards in general, you have to work with the specific of each card to see what they like/want.
As long as you keep them below 75 they overclock just fine.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> In my personal experience on my MSI's above 80c and things just go downhill.


Yap, Thats why I rather stay below 75 cause some games/tasks are more demanding than others plus the ambient temperature can increase the card temperature making it be unstable.


----------



## Alastair

Hence why I am putting these under water soon. I think my 6850's and the 68xx series still have a little life left in them. So I look forward to overclocking these even further.









On a side note. I just started using HWinfo recently. They have a temp sensor coming from one of my 6850's called tmem or something like that. I am guessing that is an indication of memory die temperatures. Well those get to around 90c after about 3 mins of MSI Kombustor burn in. So my guessing if I put a RAM sinks on the temps will get better and O/C better. Question if these DRAM chips already get so hot why do companies put some sort of cooling on them? Especially companies like MSI who make non-reference designs like my Cyclones.

I will most likely be using EK VGA Supremacy water blocks on both my cards (I can re-use them on newer cards in the future) So I will need the RAM sinks. I will have air blowing over the RAM sinks as I have a CM Storm Force 200 on the side panel. And that moves a lot of. Air will that be enough to keep these really hot RAM chips cool?


----------



## spikezone2004

I am about to install my Antec Kulher 620 on my HD6850 once my sigmacool MK.II bracket arrives, I was curious about the vrm and board.

I have read some cards when you put AIO on just the core the rest of the card can overheat without any air blowing on it but it depends on the card, will I be fine with just my Kuhler 620 on it? I have fans on the bottom off my case blowing up but they arent directly under it, to the right of it overlap about 1 inch


----------



## TopicClocker

Is Micro-stuttering still apparent on crossfire 6850s and do they benefit from the new drivers including the crossfire microstuttering fix?

Was thinking about grabbing a second one for £100ish.

Not sure though since my current one has 1GBVram and next gen games seem ram thirsty, may be better to just hold out for a newer architecture.


----------



## remnant

£100ish seems pretty expensive to me.


----------



## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *remnant*
> 
> £100ish seems pretty expensive to me.


What would you suppose I could get then, there's the 7850 but 6850 CF can outperform it apparently and is upto 580 level of performance from the reading I've been doing.

My GPU was a gift and I don't intend to sell it, any card tbh because I can use them in another build.

I know of the CF problems that can occur but a lot of new games seem to support crossfire, my main concern is if it's a good idea to get a second one when next gen games are using a lot of ram, I have a 1GB card and there's single gpus I could get with more ram.

Also do the 13.8 drivers benefit older cards?

Kind of stuck, these new consoles have made things harder for me lol


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> What would you suppose I could get then, there's the 7850 but 6850 CF can outperform it apparently and is upto 580 level of performance from the reading I've been doing.
> 
> My GPU was a gift and I don't intend to sell it, any card tbh because I can use them in another build.
> 
> I know of the CF problems that can occur but a lot of new games seem to support crossfire, my main concern is if it's a good idea to get a second one when next gen games are using a lot of ram, I have a 1GB card and there's single gpus I could get with more ram.
> 
> Also do the 13.8 drivers benefit older cards?
> 
> Kind of stuck, these new consoles have made things harder for me lol


Lol, if I were next to you I'd sell one of mine for 80 pounds but I'm in Portugal so yea... And 80 pounds is still really good for me.
Anyway, if you can get rid of the 6850 and get the 7850, it will be a better upgrade. Even if the 7850 is beaten by 6850 CF in terms of smoothness and VRAM it will be well worth.
But if you plan on keeping with the 6850 and going crossfire don't worry too much, mine are behaving very well considering the progress that has been made in the GPU department since I bought them, still play with smoothness, just start seeing FPS drop when I hit the 1Gb VRAM.
Main reason why I can't go on higher settings most of the time in some games, VRAM.


----------



## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Lol, if I were next to you I'd sell one of mine for 80 pounds but I'm in Portugal so yea... And 80 pounds is still really good for me.
> Anyway, if you can get rid of the 6850 and get the 7850, it will be a better upgrade. Even if the 7850 is beaten by 6850 CF in terms of smoothness and VRAM it will be well worth.
> But if you plan on keeping with the 6850 and going crossfire don't worry too much, mine are behaving very well considering the progress that has been made in the GPU department since I bought them, still play with smoothness, just start seeing FPS drop when I hit the 1Gb VRAM.
> Main reason why I can't go on higher settings most of the time in some games, VRAM.


I have no idea how within a year of me buying a 6850 it becomes a problem because of the Vram, I love this card and I don't want to part with it, It's the vRam that's holding me back lol.

Do you run games at 1080p? and also is micro stuttering apparent, did you try out the new micro stuttering fix on those 6000series?

lmao I've come a long way from having a 4670 back in 2009-2010


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> I have no idea how within a year of me buying a 6850 it becomes a problem because of the Vram, I love this card and I don't want to part with it, It's the vRam that's holding me back lol.
> 
> Do you run games at 1080p? and also is micro stuttering apparent, did you try out the new micro stuttering fix on those 6000series?
> 
> lmao I've come a long way from having a 4670 back in 2009-2010


Your card is 1 year old but one of mine is almost 3 years old and the other is closing in on 2 years old.
Just because you bought it brand new it doesn't mean it was brand new technology to the market and it seems you bought it when they were starting to disappear.
I also love these cards, the price I paid for them was well worth the performance they have been given, I don't see any apparent stuttering if my frames are high 60~, but a single graphics card at 30FPS is smoother than crossfire at 45FPS, just an example.
I haven't tried the new driver but supposedly it works on both crossfire and single GPU, will be installing it right now and I'll get back to you on it afterwards.
I plan on upgrade them next year probably, they still have enough breath on them to play with decent quality.


----------



## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Your card is 1 year old but one of mine is almost 3 years old and the other is closing in on 2 years old.
> Just because you bought it brand new it doesn't mean it was brand new technology to the market and it seems you bought it when they were starting to disappear.
> I also love these cards, the price I paid for them was well worth the performance they have been given, I don't see any apparent stuttering if my frames are high 60~, but a single graphics card at 30FPS is smoother than crossfire at 45FPS, just an example.
> I haven't tried the new driver but supposedly it works on both crossfire and single GPU, will be installing it right now and I'll get back to you on it afterwards.
> I plan on upgrade them next year probably, they still have enough breath on them to play with decent quality.


Yeah I know about the age of the cards, just didn't a single thing like ram to be the problem.
Also don't remember 7000 series being out at the time, cant remember exactly, its served me well and I want to get more life out of it instead of retiring it in one year of my usage.


----------



## remnant

I like my CF 6870s each only has 1Gb vram I game beautifully on a single 1080 monitor. with the 8000( or even possibly the 9000 series if they decide to skip gens) by the end of this year. I picked up my second 6870 for 75 USD 2 weeks ago (thats why I thought the price you gave for the 6850 was high).

we don't know what games you play but IMO if your on a single monitor a 6850 crossfire setup would be better. However if your going to an eyefinity setup getting a 7000 or waiting for the next gen would be better. again IMO.


----------



## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *remnant*
> 
> I like my CF 6870s each only has 1Gb vram I game beautifully on a single 1080 monitor. with the 8000( or even possibly the 9000 series if they decide to skip gens) by the end of this year. I picked up my second 6870 for 75 USD 2 weeks ago (thats why I thought the price you gave for the 6850 was high).
> 
> we don't know what games you play but IMO if your on a single monitor a 6850 crossfire setup would be better. However if your going to an eyefinity setup getting a 7000 or waiting for the next gen would be better. again IMO.


Wow do you mind telling me where you got your card? and was it brand new?

I game at 1080p and don't plan to go eyefinity anytime soon, I also max out most if not all of my games at a steady 30+fps, if the gpus scale well maybe I can hope to get 45-50fps


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> Wow do you mind telling me where you got your card? and was it brand new?
> 
> I game at 1080p and don't plan to go eyefinity anytime soon, I also max out most if not all of my games at a steady 30+fps, if the gpus scale well maybe I can hope to get 45-50fps


Oh they scale rather good, but in some cases you might feel that the 30fps is smoother than the 50fps.
But most of the time my performance was doubled or pretty close to double.


----------



## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Oh they scale rather good, but in some cases you might feel that the 30fps is smoother than the 50fps.
> But most of the time my performance was doubled or pretty close to double.


Defo tempted to get crossfire, if I can find it under £100, I would, I just dont know where to find one








Most new games support crossfire decently and if something goes wrong I can run a single gpu temporarily, its more than capable of doing so in most games.

Also why would I think it's smoother?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> Defo tempted to get crossfire, if I can find it under £100, I would, I just dont know where to find one
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Most new games support crossfire decently and if something goes wrong I can run a single gpu temporarily, its more than capable of doing so in most games.
> 
> Also why would I think it's smoother?


Less jerkiness, having two graphics card processing images tends to make the latency on the said image to be higher making it a bit unstable.
I'm pretty sure you can find one under that price:
Ebay XFX HD6850


----------



## remnant

sorry i didnt specify that I got mine used


----------



## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Less jerkiness, having two graphics card processing images tends to make the latency on the said image to be higher making it a bit unstable.
> I'm pretty sure you can find one under that price:
> Ebay XFX HD6850


Nice thanks I saw that looking today and saw a few of them, and one below that price.
I don't mind a used one along as its in good condition and overclocks decently.


----------



## p5ych00n5

Hey All.
Asus EAH6850 Direct CU - 1000/1113


----------



## Ssfiril

nice! you almost got me ( 6850 toxic in cf, both at 1000/1125 )


----------



## Alastair

I LOVE my 6850's! Just put in my 8320 and cranked it to 4.8GHz. My 6850's clocked at 980 core and 1200 memory and I am getting 60FPS in Crysis 3 with V. High and 2x MSAA MGPU 16x AF and High blur. That is online with lots of action.

When overclocking is it usually the memory that tops out first or the core?


----------



## p5ych00n5

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ssfiril*
> 
> nice! you almost got me ( 6850 toxic in cf, both at 1000/1125 )


Cheers, got them under water and 20 minutes of Furmark they barely broke a sweat at 51C, very nice cards


----------



## lordhinton

count me in please









xfx hd 6870 looking at home in here after a few problems with the previous one









*cough rad needs a clean



also


----------



## anothergeek

13.8 B2 works great been binging skyrim and it is suddenly very very smooth, ultra settings high res textures (official)


----------



## Alastair

Guys can I flash my MSI 6850 BIOS in the hope of unlocking the cards to 6870's?


----------



## p5ych00n5

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Guys can I flash my MSI 6850 BIOS in the hope of unlocking the cards to 6870's?


This I'm quite interested in if true


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *p5ych00n5*
> 
> This I'm quite interested in if true


You can flash them, but it won't unlock any extra sharders. Will run at 6870 stock voltage core clock and mem clock thats all


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Guys can I flash my MSI 6850 BIOS in the hope of unlocking the cards to 6870's?


The 6850 would still be a 6850.


----------



## Destrto

I had tried this in the past with my XFX 6850's. every BIOS i tried bricked the card.

May have been specific to my brand and model.


----------



## Alastair

Well then if that is the case guess who WON'T be trying that anytime soon... I was hoping for a few extra shaders... Like 69xx


----------



## Truedeal

I've poked around, and it seems like the 6950 almost cost about the same now. Silly as it sounds.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> I've poked around, and it seems like the 6950 almost cost about the same now. Silly as it sounds.


As 68XX?


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> As 68XX?


Ye, for the most part.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> As 68XX?
> 
> 
> 
> Ye, for the most part.
Click to expand...

MUST WAIT FOR 9XXX!!! Must resist temptation to buy!


----------



## lordhinton

hey guys







theres money coming soon and i need monitors.. question is, does anyone run a single 6870 with 3 screens today? not worried about 1080p or anything (not sure how this works) but just maybe 3 19" dvi monitors?

what sort of fps do you guys get in games on triple screens say on battlefield 3 etc









thanks









lord


----------



## spikezone2004

After having my 6850 die on me couple weeks ago, I contacted Gigabyte for RMA and I got approved.

spent 16$ to ship it to them, waited 2 weeks for there to repair it and ship it. Received it today and its still broken! I can't believe that they would ship me back my card still broken saying they repaired it and replaced a component on it (in a very poorly worded email that had words thrown together and had to decipher it to make sense of it)

I am very frustrated.

EDIT: Thought I would throw in some pictures of what its doing now that it is "repaired"




It pretty much constaly scrolls through these screens, splitting image in middle like first picture then more to the right more to the left then the purpleish line screen then its blue and green, blank etc over and over


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> After having my 6850 die on me couple weeks ago, I contacted Gigabyte for RMA and I got approved.
> 
> spent 16$ to ship it to them, waited 2 weeks for there to repair it and ship it. Received it today and its still broken! I can't believe that they would ship me back my card still broken saying they repaired it and replaced a component on it (in a very poorly worded email that had words thrown together and had to decipher it to make sense of it)
> 
> I am very frustrated.
> 
> EDIT: Thought I would throw in some pictures of what its doing now that it is "repaired"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It pretty much constaly scrolls through these screens, splitting image in middle like first picture then more to the right more to the left then the purpleish line screen then its blue and green, blank etc over and over


More Severe than my 6850, but mines is also mostly unusable, I have tried to re flow 3 or more times to no avail.


----------



## Destrto

Send those pictures in a new ticket and request a replacement instead of repair.


----------



## spikezone2004

How do I request a replacement? On there RMA site only has Request Repair option.

I emailed the person that emailed me what its doing now and sent him pictures of my screen, hopefully I will get a response tomorrow.


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> How do I request a replacement? On there RMA site only has Request Repair option.
> 
> I emailed the person that emailed me what its doing now and sent him pictures of my screen, hopefully I will get a response tomorrow.


You actually did what I was going to suggest. Email the support team, or the person who contacted you for the repair. If that doesnt work, contact other departments with a copy/paste message of this information until you get a response.


----------



## spikezone2004

I found there customer service number I will probably call them tomorrow if I dont get a response by the time I am off work.


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> I found there customer service number I will probably call them tomorrow if I dont get a response by the time I am off work.


Hope that works. I know some companies try to get stingy with their support.


----------



## spikezone2004

I just cant believe they sent me back my card broken still, I expect more from gigabyte!


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> I just cant believe they sent me back my card broken still, I expect more from gigabyte!


Could have just been an oversight when testing before shipping it back to you, slight travel damage during shipment, or (if you havent tested this yet) a seperate issue with your system.

Have you tried the normal troubleshooting? Testing the card in another system to replicate the problem?


----------



## spikezone2004

Yes I mentioned that in the email too, tried different pc, didnt pci slots, different drivers


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> Yes I mentioned that in the email too, tried different pc, didnt pci slots, different drivers


Gotcha. Sounds like you've taken care of all the necessary hubbub they try to get you to do before they decide on anything. I usually mail them with the impression that the part is for a time sensitive project. It may be jinxing myself to admit that, but it has worked a few times in the past.


----------



## lordhinton

noone here with the 6870 and 3 screens then?


----------



## edalbkrad

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> noone here with the 6870 and 3 screens then?


Im running 3 monitors with my 6850 which is a tad bit slower than your 6870.
You can max any game from 2008 and older. Newer games will have to be at medium.

here is a screenshot of some games I ran
www.overclock.net/t/1421137/6850-7970-eyefinity-adapters#post_20716541


----------



## lordhinton

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *edalbkrad*
> 
> Im running 3 monitors with my 6850 which is a tad bit slower than your 6870.
> You can max any game from 2008 and older. Newer games will have to be at medium.
> 
> here is a screenshot of some games I ran
> www.overclock.net/t/1421137/6850-7970-eyefinity-adapters#post_20716541


i see thanks for showing







, so theoretically i should get 4 or 5 fps more than you, what if i got another 6870 would that literaturly double it, ive never done crossfire before, all i know is theres 2


----------



## edalbkrad

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> i see thanks for showing
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> , so theoretically i should get 4 or 5 fps more than you, what if i got another 6870 would that literaturly double it, ive never done crossfire before, all i know is theres 2


What resolution will you be using?
Im only at 4098x768 so if you will be playing at 5760x1080, you can expect the same fps, maybe even lower.
If your board supports xfire, its certainly a good choice to look for a cheap used HD6870 for xfire


----------



## lordhinton

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *edalbkrad*
> 
> What resolution will you be using?
> Im only at 4098x768 so if you will be playing at 5760x1080, you can expect the same fps, maybe even lower.
> If your board supports xfire, its certainly a good choice to look for a cheap used HD6870 for xfire


yeah 4098x768 was the plan







my board supports crossfire but i only got a second x4 slot so will be limited to x4 but ive heard that dont matter to much anyway or something but with little money and whatever i can always try to get hold of somthing with x8 or x16 in the future


----------



## spikezone2004

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Destrto*
> 
> Gotcha. Sounds like you've taken care of all the necessary hubbub they try to get you to do before they decide on anything. I usually mail them with the impression that the part is for a time sensitive project. It may be jinxing myself to admit that, but it has worked a few times in the past.


Never got a response from my email so I called them and after being transferred a couple times I got a replacement and a prepaid label so I dont have to pay for shipping again. took a day to receive the email with the label though after I called.

No instructions though just a label and in small print on bottom it has a new RMA number so i assume thats all I put on the box.


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> Never got a response from my email so I called them and after being transferred a couple times I got a replacement and a prepaid label so I dont have to pay for shipping again. took a day to receive the email with the label though after I called.
> 
> No instructions though just a label and in small print on bottom it has a new RMA number so i assume thats all I put on the box.


For safe measure, write the RMA number, in black marker, on every side of the box you plan to ship it in.


----------



## spikezone2004

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Destrto*
> 
> For safe measure, write the RMA number, in black marker, on every side of the box you plan to ship it in.


Thats what i was thinking because they normally ask you to write it on 3 sides of the box, but when i first shipped it to them it only had it on the front of the box on a paper they told me to tape to it.


----------



## Destrto

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> Thats what i was thinking because they normally ask you to write it on 3 sides of the box, but when i first shipped it to them it only had it on the front of the box on a paper they told me to tape to it.


Yea I always write the RMA number on every side so they can't say that I didnt follow directions and return it to me.

Other than that, you should be good to go.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> noone here with the 6870 and 3 screens then?


You can run them, but don't expect to play Battlefield 3 on all three monitors.


----------



## MFLucky

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> i see thanks for showing
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> , so theoretically i should get 4 or 5 fps more than you, what if i got another 6870 would that literaturly double it, ive never done crossfire before, all i know is theres 2


If you were just running a single screen at 1080p, you could expect almost (not quite) double fps in many games (the results vary).
The problem with running 3 screens is that you will very quickly run out of Vram.
Crossfire only uses Vram from 1 of the cards and 1GB of Vram is not really enough for a great 3 screen experience.
It will run and depending what you want to play it may work ok, just don't expect too much.

I've got 2 x 6950's (2GB Vram) running 3840 x 1024 eyefinity and on many of the newer games with max settings I'm still around 30 -45 fps average (not my sig rig)


----------



## lordhinton

thanks for the help guys







what if i was to get hold of maybe something around 24" 1080p then have the 2 vga monitors i have now connected, but not in eyefinity, then just run games on the single 24"ish monitor? not sure if that would work, i just like to leave a screen open for watching ebay etc

so the arrangment would be

1366x768 19" vga + 24"(ish) 1080p + 1440x900 19" vga

or would that still give me problems?

sorry for all the questions lol


----------



## edalbkrad

yep that would work fine.
But you might want something like UltraMon to stretch the windows taskbar across all screens.


----------



## lordhinton

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *edalbkrad*
> 
> yep that would work fine.
> But you might want something like UltraMon to stretch the windows taskbar across all screens.


sweet now on a search for a big monitor


----------



## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *p5ych00n5*
> 
> Hey All.
> Asus EAH6850 Direct CU - 1000/1113


I've always struggled to hit 1000mhz core, might lower the memory a bit more.


----------



## p5ych00n5

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> I've always struggled to hit 1000mhz core, might lower the memory a bit more.


1000 is the ceiling for my cards, any higher and the cards crack it, it did take a lot of trial and error (and voltage) to get them stable at 1000/1199. In afterburner the highest stable clock I could get was 940/1150 anything over drivers/games would crash, artifacts and grey screens


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

Help plz!
I have a XFX HD 6870 2GB , THIS morning i installed a game but played it for like 4 mins.After exiting to desk top MY GPU was still running at 100% WTH!!!... I did a restart and the GPU fan still runs at 100% and my temps are rising at idle . what can be the problem..? ASAP!


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> Help plz!
> I have a XFX HD 6870 2GB , THIS morning i installed a game but played it for like 4 mins.After exiting to desk top MY GPU was still running at 100% WTH!!!... I did a restart and the GPU fan still runs at 100% and my temps are rising at idle . what can be the problem..? ASAP!


Are your temps rising to the same temperature at idle as they would in a game?


----------



## lordhinton

My temps rise at idle after booting, I believe the 6870 is a hot card, well mine is anyway, idles at about 58*C.. this thing needs water so bad


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> Are your temps rising to the same temperature at idle as they would in a game?


hey I FOUND THE CULPRIT!! ''ADOBE READER SPEED UPDATER.EXE'' it launches on my start up as if its going to update but it just hangs there. When i kill the process every thing is back to normal!!! *** ADOBE!! trying to KILL OUT CARDS!!


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> My temps rise at idle after booting, I believe the 6870 is a hot card, well mine is anyway, idles at about 58*C.. this thing needs water so bad


HEY see if ADOBE UPDATER IS CAUSING THAT!!! today ADOBE UPDATER made my video card HIT 73C!!!!!!! on idle the fan made the video card TORQUE ROCK!! lol


----------



## Alastair

Well at least you fixed the problem?


----------



## lordhinton

Lol what really? I'll give it a go


----------



## lordhinton

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> HEY see if ADOBE UPDATER IS CAUSING THAT!!! today ADOBE UPDATER made my video card HIT 73C!!!!!!! on idle the fan made the video card TORQUE ROCK!! lol


nope wasnt that, it idles at 58*C as it is now all the time, it doesnt bother me alot as ive never seen it above 85*C under full load


----------



## Erper

hi guys

how safe is 6950 flashed with bios from 6970??


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Erper*
> 
> hi guys
> 
> how safe is 6950 flashed with bios from 6970??


Wrong thread...
Anyway a 6950 with a 6970 vbios should be safe as long as everything matches, but you should be sure you have a backup card in case it gets bricked just so you can reflash the old vbios and unbrick it.


----------



## Erper

sorry.. was looking at both threads.... lol...

thx for info


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *p5ych00n5*
> 
> Hey All.
> Asus EAH6850 Direct CU - 1000/1113


nice clocks what are u cooling it with? And what are your ambient temps?And is your card a v2? The v2's have dual 6 pins

I have just upgraded all my cooling. 3 rads and all new blocks.for the cpu a ek supremacy clean csq and more importantly full cover blocks for my cards. Heatkiller GPU-X³ 6850 i could not find any info on the blocks so i just had to give it a shot. On the site it said they are for reference pcb's but no one ever sold reference 6850's to began with.Regardless they fit great with no modding and they perform out standing.cpu(3.8 1.52v dont ask it sucks) never breaks 40c highest ive seen in prime 95 is 36c.and the gpu's (950 1.25v) 42c top card and 44c bottom. The cards idle at 36c and 38c with three monitors running. thats only a 6c difference from idle to load.









sorry about the bad cell phone pics trust me they look great all copper and stainless steel the green spots you see are stars reflecting off my ceiling.

also got a remote control rgb led lighting kit

who said you cant run eyefinity with 6850's


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> nice clocks what are u cooling it with? And what are your ambient temps?And is your card a v2? The v2's have dual 6 pins
> 
> I have just upgraded all my cooling. 3 rads and all new blocks.for the cpu a ek supremacy clean csq and more importantly full cover blocks for my cards. Heatkiller GPU-X³ 6850 i could not find any info on the blocks so i just had to give it a shot. On the site it said they are for reference pcb's but no one ever sold reference 6850's to began with.Regardless they fit great with no modding and they perform out standing.cpu(3.8 1.52v dont ask it sucks) never breaks 40c highest ive seen in prime 95 is 36c.and the gpu's (950 1.25v) 42c top card and 44c bottom. The cards idle at 36c and 38c with three monitors running. thats only a 6c difference from idle to load.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sorry about the bad cell phone pics trust me they look great all copper and stainless steel the green spots you see are stars reflecting off my ceiling.
> 
> also got a remote control rgb led lighting kit
> 
> who said you cant run eyefinity with 6850's


what the name of that software bud ?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> what the name of that software bud ?


asus gpu tweak
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=gpu%20tweak&os=30


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> asus gpu tweak
> http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=gpu%20tweak&os=30


THANKS


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

GUYS will this cooler install BOLT FOR BOLT on this VIDEO CARD ? ANY ONE?? SERIOUSLY I DONT WANT TO WASTE $450.00 just to find out it's not fitting!! can any one share pictures PLEASE !!!!!


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> GUYS will this cooler install BOLT FOR BOLT on this VIDEO CARD ?


yes it should fit. check out this thread that cooler should be in the list.
http://www.overclock.net/t/850451/6800-series-aftermarket-cooling-thread


----------



## spikezone2004

Finally got my 6850 replacement from gigabyte! can play games once again. Now I need to put my 620 Kuhler on it and OC it lol

EDIT: Just got it in and im getting over 20c better so far! now ima test with rad fans only full, had them at middle or so for first tests


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> yes it should fit. check out this thread that cooler should be in the list.
> http://www.overclock.net/t/850451/6800-series-aftermarket-cooling-thread


does any one have pictures ??? with the cooler mounted on that video card i seriously dont want to spend $450.00 to find out that the cooler cannot fit :/


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> does any one have pictures ??? with the cooler mounted on that video card i seriously dont want to spend $450.00 to find out that the cooler cannot fit :/


In that link scroll down and you will see that cooler on a 6870 and it is also confirmed in the list to fit both the 6850 and 6870. The screws will definitely fit but compare your PCB to the one in the pic to be 100% sure.


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> In that link scroll down and you will see that cooler on a 6870 and it is also confirmed in the list to fit both the 6850 and 6870. The screws will definitely fit but compare your PCB to the one in the pic to be 100% sure.


the mounting points looks the same but take a look at these photos ..!! Thats why i am asking for pictures :/


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> the mounting points looks the same but take a look at these photos ..!! Thats why i am asking for pictures :/


new egg reviews aren't usually that reliable. That said if they mentioned your card by model number i wouldn't even try it. If the model number does not match your card you will have to compare PCB's with the one in the pic. If you don't want to take your stock cooler off check EK's cooling config site it should have a pic of your PCB


----------



## spikezone2004

What do you guys have your 6850s OCd too? Since I have mine water cooled now I want to OC it but the voltage is locked not to sure what to set it to being stable and such


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> What do you guys have your 6850s OCd too? Since I have mine water cooled now I want to OC it but the voltage is locked not to sure what to set it to being stable and such


Voltage locked and you still WC it?
Damn... You won't get much from a voltage locked one, max I can get on stock volts is arround 900Mhz/1100Mhz.
With stock cooler and voltage adjustment I can get 1Ghz/1100Mhz.


----------



## spikezone2004

Yea doesnt hurt to water cool it keeps less hot air in case and such. I will try 900/1100. hopefully ill get a little improvement


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> What do you guys have your 6850s OCd too? Since I have mine water cooled now I want to OC it but the voltage is locked not to sure what to set it to being stable and such


1235mV on core gives me 970MHz on both cards, (Temp limited currently. Hope for GHz or more under water.) and +30mV on Memory gives me 1170MHz. With some VRAM heatsinks along with the universal water block I hope to try achieve 1GHz+ on core and 1200MHz+ on memory


----------



## lordhinton

i have no idea what im doing so ill post here









i have a 6870 and want to overclock it, just wandering what's the maximum voltage they will take? dont want it to catch fire you see


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> i have no idea what im doing so ill post here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i have a 6870 and want to overclock it, just wandering what's the maximum voltage they will take? dont want it to catch fire you see


Lets just say that... I have pushed 13.5v into it. (I reverted after my suicide run was over) And it survives still.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> i have no idea what im doing so ill post here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i have a 6870 and want to overclock it, just wandering what's the maximum voltage they will take? dont want it to catch fire you see


I have had both my cards at 1.3v for extended periods of time, usually when winter allows it, which is as high as MSI afterburner allows me to go and they are going on almost two years old now at least. I am yet to see signs of wear. I have pushed in up to 1.35v using an unofficial voltage unlocked afterburner. Unfortunately temps were out of control so they were only good for a few benchmarks. If you can keep temps under control I think 1.35 is a safe bet. POSSIBLY 1.4v but I think that's a little risky even under extreme cooling.


----------



## lordhinton

so whats that in mV? would that be 1300 for 1.3v? (i should know this)







thanks for helping out


----------



## NeoReaper

1V = 1000mV


----------



## lordhinton

awesome thanks for that







ill hopefully report back tomorrow or something with some form of overclock


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> awesome thanks for that
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ill hopefully report back tomorrow or something with some form of overclock


Awesome. Currently I am running 1235mv for a 970MHz core clock and she is rock solid stable. I also overvolted the ram with a +30mv offset and that gives me 1170mhz on the RAM. Point I am trying to get to is simple. I have a crossfire set up. On a single card these settings I have tested good for 1GHz+. So if you are running a single chip then I don't see why you won't have even slightly higher overclocks!


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

RECOMMEND me a GOOD THERMAL PASTE FOR MY XFX HD 6870 ?? i WANT TO CHANGE IT IT'S bin a year so far max temps in saints row 4 71'c SO FAR


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> RECOMMEND me a GOOD THERMAL PASTE FOR MY XFX HD 6870 ?? i WANT TO CHANGE IT IT'S bin a year so far max temps in saints row 4 71'c SO FAR


MX-4


----------



## lordhinton

That it? I get a bit higher than that







gonna strip it down again change all the thermal pase then OC


----------



## Alastair

I have only ever used MX-4 on my GPU's and let me tell you it was a huge improvement on the stock paste. Also you will be hard pressed to find something that is MUCH better than MX-2 or MX-4. Things like Indigo Extreme might be better by a small margin but as with all things at what price point do you get reducing returns?


----------



## Amhro

How to unlock voltage on my 6870? Last time i tried to overclock it in MSI afterburner, voltage was locked down.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Amhro*
> 
> How to unlock voltage on my 6870? Last time i tried to overclock it in MSI afterburner, voltage was locked down.


Who makes it?


----------



## Amhro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Who makes it?


Powercolor


----------



## lordhinton

go to settings and click unclock voltage control and control







i had the same problem at first


----------



## Amhro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> go to settings and click unclock voltage control and control
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i had the same problem at first


Yes, I've tried that several times, did not work, voltage still stays gray


----------



## lordhinton

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Amhro*
> 
> Yes, I've tried that several times, did not work, voltage still stays gray


 hmm, probably locked voltages then, the only way i can think of is flashing the bios to maybe one from xfx or similar







but that can lead to a dead card i think


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Amhro*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Who makes it?
> 
> 
> 
> Powercolor
Click to expand...

Ok well generally MSI Afterburner is only voltage unlocked for MSI cards only. You can go into the settings and tick the "unlock voltage settings" tab.Maybe look on Powercolor's website for their own GPU tweaking tool? If not you can try everything from Asus AI Tweaker and Sapphire Trix.


----------



## lordhinton

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Ok well generally MSI Afterburner is only voltage unlocked for MSI cards only. You can go into the settings and tick the "unlock voltage settings" tab.Maybe look on Powercolor's website for their own GPU tweaking tool? If not you can try everything from Asus AI Tweaker and Sapphire Trix.


mines not msi







and neither was my last card but they both still worked







my last 2 were xfx and the one before was zotac but they all worked, sure it isnt one of those locked cards?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Ok well generally MSI Afterburner is only voltage unlocked for MSI cards only. You can go into the settings and tick the "unlock voltage settings" tab.Maybe look on Powercolor's website for their own GPU tweaking tool? If not you can try everything from Asus AI Tweaker and Sapphire Trix.
> 
> 
> 
> mines not msi
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and neither was my last card but they both still worked
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> my last 2 were xfx and the one before was zotac but they all worked, sure it isnt one of those locked cards?
Click to expand...

Seems it is a locked card. Like the poster above me you could try flashing it to a different BIOS version. But that could brick your card. You can give it a try as long as you have a back up card to help you flash back the original BIOS if things go wrong.


----------



## Amhro

Will probably leave it as it is now, well, maybe time for an upgrade


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

I guess i will go for the MX -4 i might even post some picts to show how the factory paste got after a year use


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> I guess i will go for the MX -4 i might even post some picts to show how the factory paste got after a year use


My factory paste was like powder and things were getting out of hand at 920MHz. Changed the paste to MX-4 and I saw a considerable improvement!


----------



## KRAY-SLiCK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> My factory paste was like powder and things were getting out of hand at 920MHz. Changed the paste to MX-4 and I saw a considerable improvement!


ohhh you you make me DRUEL







NOW I have to get some MX 4 right away.. i live in the Caribbean n wooo IT GETS WARM ..


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KRAY-SLiCK*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> My factory paste was like powder and things were getting out of hand at 920MHz. Changed the paste to MX-4 and I saw a considerable improvement!
> 
> 
> 
> ohhh you you make me DRUEL
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NOW I have to get some MX 4 right away.. i live in the Caribbean n wooo IT GETS WARM ..
Click to expand...

South Africa gets pretty toasty as well.


----------



## Alastair

Oh also they say MX-4 has like 8 year durability so I don't think you need to worry about re-applying for a while.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Amhro*
> 
> Yes, I've tried that several times, did not work, voltage still stays gray


Try flashing to a different bios, if it fails just revert..


----------



## lordhinton

hey guys as its a 6870 with the problem ill link this here in case any of you have had this problem and know the answer

http://www.overclock.net/t/1434339/what-is-this-cant-find-info-anywhere-on-why-its-happening-6870

-cheers


----------



## Deadboy90

Hey guys, didn't even know this club existed! I have a xfire 6850 setup with an MSI R6850 and a Sapphire 6850. My max OC with both is 935/1100 @ 1.2v. Is this about average?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> Hey guys, didn't even know this club existed! I have a xfire 6850 setup with an MSI R6850 and a Sapphire 6850. My max OC with both is 935/1100 @ 1.2v. Is this about average?


I am doing 970 core @ 1220mv and 1170 mem at +20 mv. (MSI R6850 Cyclone PE's) However this was done in a hurry and I think if I take the time I can get better. Temps on core are a problem though. (Cyclone coolers are great at stock. But leave a lot to be desired at OC's. Possibly because other card sucks in the heat dump from the other.) I cant go MUCH higher to be honest. Unless I can find a stability tester that does not put out as much heat as Furmark/Kombustor.

On a side note. I am really starting to doubt all the marketing hype around BF4. I have been putting off putting my GPU's under water because I have been wondering if I should save the money for new GPU's. (Dual 7950's) You know the whole 3gb VRAM RECOMMENDED thing. Now Corsair says that you will see MASSIVE 20% boost in frame rates using 2400MHz over 1600MHz. So this has created a little doubt about my need for a new GPU. The 3gb recommended just another marketing scam? Has anybody tried BF4 beta on 6800 cards? What is the performance like @ 1920x1080? I really wanna go full water and see what my GPU's can clock to under REAL cooling POWA! But if I can't run max textures at 1920x1080 (No AA) then I will make the jump to 7950's. Please can you guys post some BF4 benches on 6850's!


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I am doing 970 core @ 1220mv and 1170 mem at +20 mv. (MSI R6850 Cyclone PE's) However this was done in a hurry and I think if I take the time I can get better. Temps on core are a problem though. (Cyclone coolers are great at stock. But leave a lot to be desired at OC's. Possibly because other card sucks in the heat dump from the other.) I cant go MUCH higher to be honest. Unless I can find a stability tester that does not put out as much heat as Furmark/Kombustor.
> 
> On a side note. I am really starting to doubt all the marketing hype around BF4. I have been putting off putting my GPU's under water because I have been wondering if I should save the money for new GPU's. (Dual 7950's) You know the whole 3gb VRAM RECOMMENDED thing. Now Corsair says that you will see MASSIVE 20% boost in frame rates using 2400MHz over 1600MHz. So this has created a little doubt about my need for a new GPU. The 3gb recommended just another marketing scam? Has anybody tried BF4 beta on 6800 cards? What is the performance like @ 1920x1080? I really wanna go full water and see what my GPU's can clock to under REAL cooling POWA! But if I can't run max textures at 1920x1080 (No AA) then I will make the jump to 7950's. Please can you guys post some BF4 benches on 6850's!


Ugh, now i feel so inferior lol. I hit a voltage wall around 940 on the core, I have to push almost 1.23v to hit 950 on either card so its really not worth it. Also because my case sucks I have to mount my H80i cooler to blow directly on my gpu's, I was seeing temps in the mid 70's while playing the BF4 beta. As to BF4 I really had no problems running it with my 6850's @ 1080p. With my OC I was getting 40-50's fps on medium/high settings and 30-40's on the "auto" settings.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I am doing 970 core @ 1220mv and 1170 mem at +20 mv. (MSI R6850 Cyclone PE's) However this was done in a hurry and I think if I take the time I can get better. Temps on core are a problem though. (Cyclone coolers are great at stock. But leave a lot to be desired at OC's. Possibly because other card sucks in the heat dump from the other.) I cant go MUCH higher to be honest. Unless I can find a stability tester that does not put out as much heat as Furmark/Kombustor.
> 
> On a side note. I am really starting to doubt all the marketing hype around BF4. I have been putting off putting my GPU's under water because I have been wondering if I should save the money for new GPU's. (Dual 7950's) You know the whole 3gb VRAM RECOMMENDED thing. Now Corsair says that you will see MASSIVE 20% boost in frame rates using 2400MHz over 1600MHz. So this has created a little doubt about my need for a new GPU. The 3gb recommended just another marketing scam? Has anybody tried BF4 beta on 6800 cards? What is the performance like @ 1920x1080? I really wanna go full water and see what my GPU's can clock to under REAL cooling POWA! But if I can't run max textures at 1920x1080 (No AA) then I will make the jump to 7950's. Please can you guys post some BF4 benches on 6850's!
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, now i feel so inferior lol. I hit a voltage wall around 940 on the core, I have to push almost 1.23v to hit 950 on either card so its really not worth it. Also because my case sucks I have to mount my H80i cooler to blow directly on my gpu's, I was seeing temps in the mid 70's while playing the BF4 beta. As to BF4 I really had no problems running it with my 6850's @ 1080p. With my OC I was getting 40-50's fps on medium/high settings and 30-40's on the "auto" settings.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... To be honest those frames don't sound too bad! I'll wait for my pre-order premium to arrive on the first of next month before I make up my mind. But it seems that if I can get 1100Mhz on both cores with more, much MOAR voltage and 1250+ Mhz on the VRAM thanks to MOAR volts VRAM heatsinks and a little airflow then it might be worth my time to hold off on the upgrade for a LITTLE while longer!

Those numbers are PURELY speculation at the moment. I am basing this on my 970Mhz an air and 1170MHz on the RAM with no cooling on those.


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Hmmm... To be honest those frames don't sound too bad! I'll wait for my pre-order premium to arrive on the first of next month before I make up my mind. But it seems that if I can get 1100Mhz on both cores with more, much MOAR voltage and 1250+ Mhz on the VRAM thanks to MOAR volts VRAM heatsinks and a little airflow then it might be worth my time to hold off on the upgrade for a LITTLE while longer!
> 
> Those numbers are PURELY speculation at the moment. I am basing this on my 970Mhz an air and 1170MHz on the RAM with no cooling on those.


Sounds good. I was actually really surprised how well it ran. Just for giggles I set it to ultra and the game crashed lol. Probably cuz of that 1GB of ram.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Hmmm... To be honest those frames don't sound too bad! I'll wait for my pre-order premium to arrive on the first of next month before I make up my mind. But it seems that if I can get 1100Mhz on both cores with more, much MOAR voltage and 1250+ Mhz on the VRAM thanks to MOAR volts VRAM heatsinks and a little airflow then it might be worth my time to hold off on the upgrade for a LITTLE while longer!
> 
> Those numbers are PURELY speculation at the moment. I am basing this on my 970Mhz an air and 1170MHz on the RAM with no cooling on those.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good. I was actually really surprised how well it ran. Just for giggles I set it to ultra and the game crashed lol. Probably cuz of that 1GB of ram.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed that 1 gb vram is a problem.... AMD Y U NO MAKE 2GB 6850







! Tell me is that as far as you could run on memory? I know the Elpida chips on my 6850's are rated for 5Gb/s (1250MHz). So if we can somehow get that speed I am sure we can really improve our speeds. What are your temps like? Because you say you hit a wall around 940-950. But from what I have learned in this thread the 68XX 's hit walls due to temperature and I can confirm this. The 68XX's have two walls. 1 at arounf 70-75C and the other at 85C. I managed to break through the first one but I am now limited by that second wall. Which is what is making me think that if I put my cards on water and I get a nice TDelta gap between my cards and the first wall, Who knows what I could do for clocks....


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I am doing 970 core @ 1220mv and 1170 mem at +20 mv. (MSI R6850 Cyclone PE's) However this was done in a hurry and I think if I take the time I can get better. Temps on core are a problem though. (Cyclone coolers are great at stock. But leave a lot to be desired at OC's. Possibly because other card sucks in the heat dump from the other.) I cant go MUCH higher to be honest. Unless I can find a stability tester that does not put out as much heat as Furmark/Kombustor.
> 
> On a side note. I am really starting to doubt all the marketing hype around BF4. I have been putting off putting my GPU's under water because I have been wondering if I should save the money for new GPU's. (Dual 7950's) You know the whole 3gb VRAM RECOMMENDED thing. Now Corsair says that you will see MASSIVE 20% boost in frame rates using 2400MHz over 1600MHz. So this has created a little doubt about my need for a new GPU. The 3gb recommended just another marketing scam? Has anybody tried BF4 beta on 6800 cards? What is the performance like @ 1920x1080? I really wanna go full water and see what my GPU's can clock to under REAL cooling POWA! But if I can't run max textures at 1920x1080 (No AA) then I will make the jump to 7950's. Please can you guys post some BF4 benches on 6850's!


those clocks are great what are your temps like? I didnt get so lucky in the lottery. one of my cards will do over 1000 on the core with 1.23v and the other hits a wall at 980 1.25v. as my cooling got better the bad card got a little better but not much havent tried any higher voltage than that in a while though. I can raise the voltage as high as i want because cooling is not an issue anymore but I dont think it will help. my cooling is well beyond overkill at this point. A friend gave me a deal on rads I couldn't refuse. I found fullcover blocks for my 6850's my cooling loop consists of res, dual pump, gpu, gpu,120 rad, 360 rad, cpu, 360 rad, 240 rad and back to the res. max temps cpu 38c gpu 1,2 max 44c,41c..Furmark and prime95 temps


----------



## amd655

Anyone know what the performance difference is between the 5850/6850/6870?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I am doing 970 core @ 1220mv and 1170 mem at +20 mv. (MSI R6850 Cyclone PE's) However this was done in a hurry and I think if I take the time I can get better. Temps on core are a problem though. (Cyclone coolers are great at stock. But leave a lot to be desired at OC's. Possibly because other card sucks in the heat dump from the other.) I cant go MUCH higher to be honest. Unless I can find a stability tester that does not put out as much heat as Furmark/Kombustor.
> 
> On a side note. I am really starting to doubt all the marketing hype around BF4. I have been putting off putting my GPU's under water because I have been wondering if I should save the money for new GPU's. (Dual 7950's) You know the whole 3gb VRAM RECOMMENDED thing. Now Corsair says that you will see MASSIVE 20% boost in frame rates using 2400MHz over 1600MHz. So this has created a little doubt about my need for a new GPU. The 3gb recommended just another marketing scam? Has anybody tried BF4 beta on 6800 cards? What is the performance like @ 1920x1080? I really wanna go full water and see what my GPU's can clock to under REAL cooling POWA! But if I can't run max textures at 1920x1080 (No AA) then I will make the jump to 7950's. Please can you guys post some BF4 benches on 6850's!
> 
> 
> 
> those clocks are great what are your temps like? I didnt get so lucky in the lottery. one of my cards will do over 1000 on the core with 1.23v and the other hits a wall at 980 1.25v. as my cooling got better the bad card got a little better but not much havent tried any higher voltage than that in a while though. I can raise the voltage as high as i want because cooling is not an issue anymore but I dont think it will help. my cooling is well beyond overkill at this point. A friend gave me a deal on rads I couldn't refuse. I found fullcover blocks for my 6850's my cooling loop consists of res, dual pump, gpu, gpu,120 rad, 360 rad, cpu, 360 rad, 240 rad and back to the res. max temps cpu 38c gpu 1,2 max 44c,41c..Furmark and prime95 temps
Click to expand...

I also have 1 card that can basically go crazy and 1 stubborn card. From what I know these cards are safe up to 1.35v and you sure as hell have the cooling potential so why don't you see how far you can go on core AND memory so I can maybe get a ballpark estimate on my OC's when I start watercooling.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amd655*
> 
> Anyone know what the performance difference is between the 5850/6850/6870?


Yeah 58xx>68xx. The 58XX series were the high end single GPU cards (think 69xx-79xx series) and the 5970 was the high end dual GPU card (6990-7990). In terms of where the HD68xx stand. The 6850 and 6870 were designed to replace the 5770's.

So to sum it up:

HD5XXX: Budget/Entry Level: HD5670 Budget Gaming: 5750-5770 High-end Gaming: 5850-5870 Enthusiast: 5970
HD6XXX: Budget/Entry Level: HD6770 Budget Gaming: 6850-6870 High-end Gaming: 6950-6970 Enthusiast: 6990
(6770 is actually rebranded 5770)


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I also have 1 card that can basically go crazy and 1 stubborn card. From what I know these cards are safe up to 1.35v and you sure as hell have the cooling potential so why don't you see how far you can go on core AND memory so I can maybe get a ballpark estimate on my OC's when I start watercooling.


If your in the same boat im in then there is no point. The highest clocks i tried on the good card was 1000 core and 1100 memory 1.22v and that would be fine for me because unofficial overclocking gives me instability with or without upls. The problem is i cant get the stubborn card to do 1000 core and 1100 memory even with 1.3v. The card doesn't seem to respond to voltage at all its weird. every program says the voltage is going up afterburner, trixx, gpu-z but still the stubborn card runs 2-4c cooler at 1.3v versus the good card at 1.22v. I may try unofficial overclocking again.


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Yes indeed that 1 gb vram is a problem.... AMD Y U NO MAKE 2GB 6850
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ! Tell me is that as far as you could run on memory? I know the Elpida chips on my 6850's are rated for 5Gb/s (1250MHz). So if we can somehow get that speed I am sure we can really improve our speeds. What are your temps like? Because you say you hit a wall around 940-950. But from what I have learned in this thread the 68XX 's hit walls due to temperature and I can confirm this. The 68XX's have two walls. 1 at arounf 70-75C and the other at 85C. I managed to break through the first one but I am now limited by that second wall. Which is what is making me think that if I put my cards on water and I get a nice TDelta gap between my cards and the first wall, Who knows what I could do for clocks....


Hey my max memory clock I do is 1100. I don't try going higher because most games are bound by the core clock so thats what I boost. Temps are in the low 70's after a nice BF3 round with vsync on. And the wall I hit on both cards is voltage walls. It takes 1.90 for 920/1100 and 1.2for 935/1100. Then it takes 1.25 for 950/110. By that point temps are getting ridiculous and I drop it back down. But seriously, I wouldn't bother putting 6850's underwater at this point. All that money would be better spent on a 280x or higher.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> Hey my max memory clock I do is 1100. I don't try going higher because most games are bound by the core clock so thats what I boost. Temps are in the low 70's after a nice BF3 round with vsync on. And the wall I hit on both cards is voltage walls. It takes 1.90 for 920/1100 and 1.2for 935/1100. Then it takes 1.25 for 950/110. By that point temps are getting ridiculous and I drop it back down. But seriously, I wouldn't bother putting 6850's underwater at this point. All that money would be better spent on a 280x or higher.


I could not agree more putting 6850's underwater for some crazy performance gain is not a good idea. I spent over $500 and most of the stuff was heavily discounted. Before you think about water cooling specially if your on a budget like me to get a ballpark of the cost look at the small things first. The big dollar items are obvious, but pick out the fittings you like and add up the cost of four fittings per block, rad, res, and pump it starts to add up quick. Four fittings per may sound like a lot but its just not one 45 one 90 and two compression fittings or two 45 and two compression fittings is going to be the norm. That said If I had to do it over again the only thing I would have done differently is buy a case thats already black inside. Not all of us water cool for pure performance, benchmark scores, looks, or even temps. At first I upgraded to aftermarket air coolers because the stock ones were so loud then I just got hooked on changing things up. I went from aftermarket air to the red mod with two corsair h60's cooling my cards and a h50 cooing my cpu. Than I modded the corsair coolers again and again to the point where I had all three pumps and rads running series in the same loop with custom tubes and uv coolant. After the first air coolers I was okay with sound, temps, and performance I just keep going and will never stop. Not saying I wouldn't love a pair of 7970 Ghz edition cards but at 1080p the resolution I play most of my games its not needed. And the less demanding arcade racing games I like can be played in eyefinity without issue.

By the way I just got finished overclocking after my latest cooling upgrade and the memory bump was huge as they were only cooled by heat sinks before. Overclocking memory does not increase framerates much if at all but as long as you don't hit the point of ecc kicking in it does seem to raise minimums and smooth things out.Top card 980/[email protected] max temp 44c.. Bottom card 980/[email protected] max temp 41c


----------



## Melcar

I'm still bummed out that my card does not allow me to change voltage. As soon as I change it a bit BAM, black screen and crazy beep codes. I can do 970MHz on the core @ stock volts so imagine what a little bump can do. Mad too that RBE modified BIOS do not get recognized by the drivers







.


----------



## Horsemama1956

You're not going to notice a difference in game compared to what the limit is with a voltage bump. unless you are into competitive benchmarking(lol), I wouldn't worry about it.


----------



## Melcar

But I wanted that 1GHz.


----------



## Alastair

I can get 1GHz. But I never tried to stabilize it since the temps scared me to death. However thanks for some of the advice guys I think I will be getting me 2 7950's when I have the cash.


----------



## Alastair

I mean really what is considered the max temps for these things?


----------



## lordhinton

AMD says 105*C I never go above 90 though


----------



## Truedeal

I still hold the record at 1030 MHz









Well, held. My 6850 doesn't even display correctly anymore.

I feel that you are all being too paranoid to go ahead and touch the 1.3V.

I'm not sure about the 6850 70c wall though, I know my 6850s wall was about 82c, which It wouldn't hit unless I ran kombustor for more than 20 minutes.
The PE is without a doubt the best 6850, imo.

I think what made my 6850 bite the bullet was a tad too much pcb flex when I installed that arctic accelero cooler for the second time after changing paste because too impatient.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> I still hold the record at 1030 MHz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, held. My 6850 doesn't even display correctly anymore.
> 
> I feel that you are all being too paranoid to go ahead and touch the 1.3V.
> 
> I'm not sure about the 6850 70c wall though, I know my 6850s wall was about 82c, which It wouldn't hit unless I ran kombustor for more than 20 minutes.
> The PE is without a doubt the best 6850, imo.
> 
> I think what made my 6850 bite the bullet was a tad too much pcb flex when I installed that arctic accelero cooler for the second time after changing paste because too impatient.


I dont think I understand. Are you saying that 1.3v is bad, or are you saying that we should not be scared to move up to 1.3v? These PE's are great cards. Both can do 1000Mhz + in single card set up. But I never really tried going above 970 core in dual card because my top card on Kombustor quickly starts to climb through 85C. I however am considering going further because I think like Furmark, Kombustor is just a little bit too crazy for stress testing.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I dont think I understand. Are you saying that 1.3v is bad, or are you saying that we should not be scared to move up to 1.3v? These PE's are great cards. Both can do 1000Mhz + in single card set up. But I never really tried going above 970 core in dual card because my top card on Kombustor quickly starts to climb through 85C. I however am considering going further because I think like Furmark, Kombustor is just a little bit too crazy for stress testing.


I met, you shouldn't be afraid of 1.3V at all, these cards are soldiers until you nearly split them in half.


----------



## Alastair

Then its temps that become the limiting factor. I will try using Crysis 3 as a stress tester rather than Kombustor. Maybe I can get 1000MHz on air. Also afterburner does not let me go past 1.3v. Any way past that?


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Then its temps that become the limiting factor. I will try using Crysis 3 as a stress tester rather than Kombustor. Maybe I can get 1000MHz on air. Also afterburner does not let me go past 1.3v. Any way past that?


You cant go past 1.3v afaik, but you can go to 1.3V.

Ooooooooh boy If I could go past 1.3V on my gpus, you don't even know.
Temps are never my issue.


----------



## Alastair

You under water?


----------



## lordhinton

my cards a weird.. ive got one 6870 that idles at around 38*C and the other idles at around 50*C ¬_¬ doesn't matter which is on top either they stay the same card, seems that XFX is toasty. might change the TIM again to make sure but don't think its that


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> You under water?


No, but neither do I care about the noise from Delta Fans.


----------



## Alastair

DELTA'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







Lol time for take off during BF4. Any ways @ lordhinton I think new TIM is the thing you want. Make sure to use non conductive stuff. MX-4 or some Gelid paste seem to work a treat.


----------



## Lisjak

Hey guys, can someone post some performance stats with the 6870 in BF4? I can't play until the 31. @ 12:01am and would like some numbers to see how my gpu will do


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> I think what made my 6850 bite the bullet was a tad too much pcb flex when I installed that arctic accelero cooler for the second time after changing paste because too impatient.


I hate that. Curse you AC for not including backplates with your awesome coolers







. At least I can keep the card straight with zip ties once it's in the case.


----------



## Deadboy90

Well guys sadly I have finally moved on. Picked myself up one of these babies:

7950


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> Well guys sadly I have finally moved on. Picked myself up one of these babies:
> 
> 7950


Nice I am seriously looking at one of those! But from PowerColor


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Nice I am seriously looking at one of those! But from PowerColor


Yea I was considering it but I preferred MSI because of the voltage unlock!


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Nice I am seriously looking at one of those! But from PowerColor
> 
> 
> 
> Yea I was considering it but I preferred MSI because of the voltage unlock!
Click to expand...

From what I understand the PowerColor is unlocked too? Just with their own software?


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> From what I understand the PowerColor is unlocked too? Just with their own software?


From what I heard its a bit of hit and miss. I know for a fact that this twin frozr was voltage unlocked so I went with it.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> From what I understand the PowerColor is unlocked too? Just with their own software?
> 
> 
> 
> From what I heard its a bit of hit and miss. I know for a fact that this twin frozr was voltage unlocked so I went with it.
Click to expand...

You just threw a spanner in my budget. I am after voltage overclocking so I will need an MSI card then most likely. Might have to settle for 7870 Hawk's


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> You just threw a spanner in my budget. I am after voltage overclocking so I will need an MSI card then most likely. Might have to settle for 7870 Hawk's


I got my 7950 for $212. There was a Gigabyte 7950 there too for 200 but they are always voltage locked.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> You just threw a spanner in my budget. I am after voltage overclocking so I will need an MSI card then most likely. Might have to settle for 7870 Hawk's
> 
> 
> 
> I got my 7950 for $212. There was a Gigabyte 7950 there too for 200 but they are always voltage locked.
Click to expand...

I don't even know why somebody would even consider a Giga card if it was volt locked. The Giga 5770 "Batmobile" card had a terrible cooler and was volt locked. Put me off of Giga cards for life!


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I don't even know why somebody would even consider a Giga card if it was volt locked. The Giga 5770 "Batmobile" card had a terrible cooler and was volt locked. Put me off of Giga cards for life!


It was the X3 Windforce card I was looking at. It seems a bit backward though, such a badazz cooler slapped on a voltage locked card.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I don't even know why somebody would even consider a Giga card if it was volt locked. The Giga 5770 "Batmobile" card had a terrible cooler and was volt locked. Put me off of Giga cards for life!
> 
> 
> 
> It was the X3 Windforce card I was looking at. It seems a bit backward though, such a badazz cooler slapped on a voltage locked card.
Click to expand...

I know it is complete madness! And not a good madness!


----------



## lordhinton

hey cross fire guys!

what motherboards are you using on the 1155 platform? i need me something that lets me crossfire at x8x8 or x16x16


----------



## winderic

Hi All, i own a XFX6870, planning to get a second 6870 to crossfire, just wondering if my CPU will be alright? Currently OC to 3Ghz.
Heard a lot on forum about bottleneck. Currently running 22" (1680x1050) but planning to upgrade to 27" (2560x1440) when the price come down. Thanks


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *winderic*
> 
> Hi All, i own a XFX6870, planning to get a second 6870 to crossfire, just wondering if my CPU will be alright? Currently OC to 3Ghz.
> Heard a lot on forum about bottleneck. Currently running 22" (1680x1050) but planning to upgrade to 27" (2560x1440) when the price come down. Thanks


Fill out the rigbuilder and tell us what other bits you have. Unfortunately as much as I love my cards the 68XX cards are getting a little old and I think you should probably instead of trying to go for another 6870, you should go for a 7850 or 7870. I think you will get a better boost with that, especially with upcoming games like BF4 and also Mantle if it takes off!


----------



## winderic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Fill out the rigbuilder and tell us what other bits you have. Unfortunately as much as I love my cards the 68XX cards are getting a little old and I think you should probably instead of trying to go for another 6870, you should go for a 7850 or 7870. I think you will get a better boost with that, especially with upcoming games like BF4 and also Mantle if it takes off!


I do have my rig under my profile but i dont know why is not showing under as signature. Ya, i know is quite old but i don't want to spend too much money on a new card and i can get another 6870 cheap.
I don't mind not playing at max setting or with AA.


----------



## Alastair

Yeah ok scratch going for a 78xx. I dont know if the old Agena based Phenom can feed it fast enough. I think you will have a bottle neck. Because my Phenom 2 965 @ 4.25GHz could not keep my 6850's fed during Crysis 3. Processor peaked at full usage and GPU's sat at around 70%. Out of curiosity I always wanted to know how well the older Phenoms overclocked?


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *winderic*
> 
> Hi All, i own a XFX6870, planning to get a second 6870 to crossfire, just wondering if my CPU will be alright? Currently OC to 3Ghz.
> Heard a lot on forum about bottleneck. Currently running 22" (1680x1050) but planning to upgrade to 27" (2560x1440) when the price come down. Thanks


I'm sorry to say that CPU isn't very good anymore. You will need to get a new MOBO and processor.


----------



## dracconus

Card Model: HIS H685FN1GD
Spec Information: http://www.overclock.net/t/1138781/his-h685fn1gd-radeon-hd-6850-1gb#post_16160873
Spec Validation: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/cr3w7/
Catzilla Benchmark Video: 



HWbot World Record for Catzilla: http://hwbot.org/submission/2403399_dracconus_catzilla___720p_radeon_hd_6850_6022_marks

Highest Stable Clocks: 1025 Core / 1220 Mem
Highest Used Clocks: 1000 Core / 1200 Mem
Stock Clocks: 775 Core / 1000 Mem

I have the blue fan revision and am utilizing the stock heatsink / fan in a combination with Tuniq TX-4 Thermal Paste applied in a thin "X" pattern and uncured.


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> Card Model: HIS H685FN1GD
> Spec Information: http://www.overclock.net/t/1138781/his-h685fn1gd-radeon-hd-6850-1gb#post_16160873
> Spec Validation: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/cr3w7/
> Catzilla Benchmark Video:
> 
> 
> 
> HWbot World Record for Catzilla: http://hwbot.org/submission/2403399_dracconus_catzilla___720p_radeon_hd_6850_6022_marks
> 
> Highest Stable Clocks: 1025 Core / 1220 Mem
> Highest Used Clocks: 1000 Core / 1200 Mem
> Stock Clocks: 775 Core / 1000 Mem
> 
> I have the blue fan revision and am utilizing the stock heatsink / fan in a combination with Tuniq TX-4 Thermal Paste applied in a thin "X" pattern and uncured.


Nice, the best I could ever do was 940/1100.


----------



## dracconus

I put an extreme amount of hours into those clocks (Literally hundreds of hours of testing different pastes, application methods, thicknesses, pressure levels on the heatsink, etc.), and actually have someone sending me a check tomorrow for $250 to buy that HD 6850 off of me.
Being a world record holder definitely has it's perks. I only spent 140 on the card to begin with in April of '11 and it's only technically been "in use" for about three months (the rest of the time was either spent in a box, or occasionally firing it up to keep the chips "warm" or overclocking / Testing it.

It's nice to see that there are people that still understand that there are one in a million cards like these and when pushed to their respectable limit in a time patient manner you can achieve amazing results with them.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> I put an extreme amount of hours into those clocks (Literally hundreds of hours of testing different pastes, application methods, thicknesses, pressure levels on the heatsink, etc.), and actually have someone sending me a check tomorrow for $250 to buy that HD 6850 off of me.
> Being a world record holder definitely has it's perks. I only spent 140 on the card to begin with in April of '11 and it's only technically been "in use" for about three months (the rest of the time was either spent in a box, or occasionally firing it up to keep the chips "warm" or overclocking / Testing it.
> 
> It's nice to see that there are people that still understand that there are one in a million cards like these and when pushed to their respectable limit in a time patient manner you can achieve amazing results with them.


WHAT!!!!!!!!! That is so much for a 6850!!!! Even if it is a record holder! A 7950 should be that much?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> I put an extreme amount of hours into those clocks (Literally hundreds of hours of testing different pastes, application methods, thicknesses, pressure levels on the heatsink, etc.), and actually have someone sending me a check tomorrow for $250 to buy that HD 6850 off of me.
> Being a world record holder definitely has it's perks. I only spent 140 on the card to begin with in April of '11 and it's only technically been "in use" for about three months (the rest of the time was either spent in a box, or occasionally firing it up to keep the chips "warm" or overclocking / Testing it.
> 
> It's nice to see that there are people that still understand that there are one in a million cards like these and when pushed to their respectable limit in a time patient manner you can achieve amazing results with them.


WHAT!!!!!!!!! That is so much for a 6850!!!! Even if it is a record holder! A 7950 should be that much?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> I put an extreme amount of hours into those clocks (Literally hundreds of hours of testing different pastes, application methods, thicknesses, pressure levels on the heatsink, etc.), and actually have someone sending me a check tomorrow for $250 to buy that HD 6850 off of me.
> Being a world record holder definitely has it's perks. I only spent 140 on the card to begin with in April of '11 and it's only technically been "in use" for about three months (the rest of the time was either spent in a box, or occasionally firing it up to keep the chips "warm" or overclocking / Testing it.
> 
> It's nice to see that there are people that still understand that there are one in a million cards like these and when pushed to their respectable limit in a time patient manner you can achieve amazing results with them.


WHAT!!!!!!!!! That is so much for a 6850!!!! Even if it is a record holder! A 7950 should be that much?


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> WHAT!!!!!!!!! That is so much for a 6850!!!! Even if it is a record holder! A 7950 should be that much?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> WHAT!!!!!!!!! That is so much for a 6850!!!! Even if it is a record holder! A 7950 should be that much?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> WHAT!!!!!!!!! That is so much for a 6850!!!! Even if it is a record holder! A 7950 should be that much?


HAHAHA...made you do a triple take, huh. While it's a lot, some of it isn't "technically" for the card. The card's original price was 125, but the customer is giving me 25 for gas to send it to them, plus money to cover the overnight shipping cost to them, and another 100 for the delay they've had in purchasing it from me (two weeks) so technically 50 for a holding fee, and 50 for the trouble of having to hold it versus selling it to another individual that was going to give me 125 for it as well.

It's a steep price for the 6850, no doubt but when you take into account that it's for his son that's a collector as a graduation gift for getting his masters from ITTTech, and that it's literally a one-of-a-kind card, I suppose it all fits into place for him.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> Being a world record holder definitely has it's perks.


Actually.... 1030/1275 is afaik


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> Actually.... 1030/1275 is afaik


Not on stock cooling though, was it?
If I recall correctly that was done using a Twin Frozr, but I may be mistaken. I've waited two years on someone to accept the challenge of proving they could do it on a stock heatsink. Somewhere floating around the archives of the internet (before youtube closed my other account) I had a video of the card running with the stock heatsink while it was benching but that's long gone now I'm sure since the account's gone.


----------



## Deadboy90

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> Not on stock cooling though, was it?
> If I recall correctly that was done using a Twin Frozr, but I may be mistaken. I've waited two years on someone to accept the challenge of proving they could do it on a stock heatsink. Somewhere floating around the archives of the internet (before youtube closed my other account) I had a video of the card running with the stock heatsink while it was benching but that's long gone now I'm sure since the account's gone.


You did that with a stock heatsink?







Wow, my 920/1100 was my everyday speed but I could do 950 on the core before Temps became an issue cuz of overvolting.


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Deadboy90*
> 
> You did that with a stock heatsink?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, my 920/1100 was my everyday speed but I could do 950 on the core before Temps became an issue cuz of overvolting.


Yep, that was done with a stock heatsink, and fans.
The only changes I made to the card were thermal paste (kind've had to since it was initially applied wrong) and a re-written bios to decrease stock voltage.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> Not on stock cooling though, was it?
> If I recall correctly that was done using a Twin Frozr, but I may be mistaken. I've waited two years on someone to accept the challenge of proving they could do it on a stock heatsink. Somewhere floating around the archives of the internet (before youtube closed my other account) I had a video of the card running with the stock heatsink while it was benching but that's long gone now I'm sure since the account's gone.


No I achieved it on my 6850 using the Mono plus, not the stock cooler.
However, that card is no longer with us.


----------



## Alastair

Damn... I am gonna take out my good card and I am going to see how far I can push it.


----------



## dracconus

Go for it, and if you get stuck, come hit me up and we'll see what we can figure out together. I love helping people max out their equipment.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> Go for it, and if you get stuck, come hit me up and we'll see what we can figure out together. I love helping people max out their equipment.


I want to squeeze everything out of these cards on the Cyclone coolers... I'll try both cards individually and then together again for crossfire goodness! The longer I can keep these babies without having to upgrade the better!!!!!!!


----------



## Alastair

So I am at 1005MHz @ 1.29v and 1250MHz (5000MHz) @ +40mv on my two 6850's. Still need to do stability tests and benches. Looking to see what sort of numbers I can throw around now.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> So I am at 1005MHz @ 1.29v and 1250MHz (5000MHz) @ +40mv on my two 6850's. Still need to do stability tests and benches. Looking to see what sort of numbers I can throw around now.


Thats more like it.


----------



## Alastair

So final overclock on my 2 6850's. 1010MHz core @ 1.3V. 1225MHz (4900MHz) Memory +0mV.

I find it strange. My memory does not respond well to overvolting. In my last post I said I was running 1250MHz with +40mV. But I just could not get that stable. So I started from scratch. Got to 1230 on memory and it started falling over. So I focused just on trying to get that stable. But the more volts I added the worse it got. So I settled for 1225 with out any extra voltage. I actually tried reducing the voltage below stock but Afterburner wont apply it for some odd reason. Another thing that struck me is why I cant get 1250 (5000) stable since these Elpida chips are rated at 5000MHz.. In the end it is still a good improvement over my last overclock. Its summer here and the ambients in my room get to around 28C-30C and with those ambients with Heaven benchmark running loops the hottest card gets to 90C on the core, 92C on the Memory IO, and the shaders get to around 92C as well.

So HERE IT IS!


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> So final overclock on my 2 6850's. 1010MHz core @ 1.3V. 1225MHz (4900MHz) Memory +0mV.
> 
> I find it strange. My memory does not respond well to overvolting. In my last post I said I was running 1250MHz with +40mV. But I just could not get that stable. So I started from scratch. Got to 1230 on memory and it started falling over. So I focused just on trying to get that stable. But the more volts I added the worse it got. So I settled for 1225 with out any extra voltage. I actually tried reducing the voltage below stock but Afterburner wont apply it for some odd reason. Another thing that struck me is why I cant get 1250 (5000) stable since these Elpida chips are rated at 5000MHz.. In the end it is still a good improvement over my last overclock. Its summer here and the ambients in my room get to around 28C-30C and with those ambients with Heaven benchmark running loops the hottest card gets to 90C on the core, 92C on the Memory IO, and the shaders get to around 92C as well.
> 
> So HERE IT IS!


Use sapphire trixx then run heaven on maxxed settings for about 30 minutes for a good burn in test. Have to know its layers but wireframe adds stress and also makes artifacts easier to see. Afterburner has voltage issues with numerous brans that trixx unlocks.


----------



## dracconus

Also worth noting is that for whatever reason the 6850s generally respond better to core overall. I went for more memory than core since it affects performance better in most applications. Once you find your max memory dropping it by about 10-25 will unlock more core headroom for some reason. I think its something to do with the regulator but I am honestly not sure.


----------



## Alastair

I will give trixx a try thanks man!


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I will give trixx a try thanks man!


I used +15 mv for 1275 on memory, and also +10 Aux Voltage
But generally 1250 is more stable.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I will give trixx a try thanks man!
> 
> 
> 
> I used +15 mv for 1275 on memory, and also +10 Aux Voltage
> But generally 1250 is more stable.
Click to expand...

Trixx does not seem to want to let me do anything. Does not show how to change memory voltage and core voltage can only go up to 1150mv. Any suggestions?


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Trixx does not seem to want to let me do anything. Does not show how to change memory voltage and core voltage can only go up to 1150mv. Any suggestions?


That seems pretty odd. I did everything in trixx as it was the only way i could circumvent the voltage lock on my his card. Maybe try an older version?


----------



## Alastair

Maybe its because of my cards? MSI Cyclone PE's. Could it be that they dont work with Trixx?


----------



## Alastair

Guys please help. I cant play BF 4 at all. It starts out great. FPS nice and high and then things just start to go bad. No matter what settings I run on my FPS always has huge lag spikes.

Now I have my cards at 1010/1210. I tried all the quality settings at 1920*1080 and its all the same.

Here is a pic of Afterburner showing GPU utilization and as you can see my cards are barely doing much work? Rest of the system is FX-8350 @ 4.9 2X4GB Corsair Vengeance at 2226mhz 9-10-12-31 1T.

All the dips in GPU utilization correlate to a major FPS drop in-game.
Now what could it be? I know my system should be up to spec to play this game on at least medium settings?


----------



## smoke420

Try the new beta driver.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Guys please help. I cant play BF 4 at all. It starts out great. FPS nice and high and then things just start to go bad. No matter what settings I run on my FPS always has huge lag spikes.
> 
> Now I have my cards at 1010/1210. I tried all the quality settings at 1920*1080 and its all the same.
> 
> Here is a pic of Afterburner showing GPU utilization and as you can see my cards are barely doing much work? Rest of the system is FX-8350 @ 4.9 2X4GB Corsair Vengeance at 2226mhz 9-10-12-31 1T.
> 
> All the dips in GPU utilization correlate to a major FPS drop in-game.
> Now what could it be? I know my system should be up to spec to play this game on at least medium settings?


You say it was running fine and then it just started performing badly at random?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Guys please help. I cant play BF 4 at all. It starts out great. FPS nice and high and then things just start to go bad. No matter what settings I run on my FPS always has huge lag spikes.
> 
> Now I have my cards at 1010/1210. I tried all the quality settings at 1920*1080 and its all the same.
> 
> Here is a pic of Afterburner showing GPU utilization and as you can see my cards are barely doing much work? Rest of the system is FX-8350 @ 4.9 2X4GB Corsair Vengeance at 2226mhz 9-10-12-31 1T.
> 
> All the dips in GPU utilization correlate to a major FPS drop in-game.
> Now what could it be? I know my system should be up to spec to play this game on at least medium settings?
> 
> 
> 
> You say it was running fine and then it just started performing badly at random?
Click to expand...

I spoke to the guys down at the BF 4 information thread. Told me to check task manager. I am using 7 of my 8 gigs of RAM. It seems BF4 has a memory leak. EA has confirmed this. So I start to run out of RAM, windows starts to write stuff into the page files on my HDD and then performance seems to go south from there.


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I spoke to the guys down at the BF 4 information thread. Told me to check task manager. I am using 7 of my 8 gigs of RAM. It seems BF4 has a memory leak. EA has confirmed this. So I start to run out of RAM, windows starts to write stuff into the page files on my HDD and then performance seems to go south from there.


Hmm...odd. i never noticed it with my copy but then again i am running 16 gigs


----------



## Gavush

Big man in a red suit is leaving a new xfx 850w modular psu and an additional xfx 6870 dd under the tree. (I've insider information) Looking forward to trying out crossfire. Nearly more for the adventure/aesthetics than the extra frames I admit. We'll see how it goes.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gavush*
> 
> Big man in a red suit is leaving a new xfx 850w modular psu and an additional xfx 6870 dd under the tree. (I've insider information) Looking forward to trying out crossfire. Nearly more for the adventure/aesthetics than the extra frames I admit. We'll see how it goes.


Nice. I have always preferred having two cards versus one simply because it looks cooler. The driver issues and things dont bother me. Micro-stuttering whats that? Frame pacing does what? Like I said. Never noticed these things!


----------



## Alastair

Wow Crysis 3 online really does stress my cards some!!! Brought out the instability that Heaven couldn't. Settled for 990MHz core and 1215MHz memory. Heat is my biggest problem.


----------



## neurotix

Wondering if anyone can help me with an issue.

I have a Sapphire HD 6870 that used to be my main card in my sig rig.

I put it in another machine that my brother uses but the fan was ramping up and down on the automatic setting in Trixx so I changed the fan profile to lock the fan at 20%. Well, my dumb brother used the machine for gaming and I told him to put the fan profile back to automatic and he didn't. He was playing some game and eventually the machine went to a black screen so he turned the machine off.

Now, when Windows boots it shows video from the BIOS and shows the black "Starting Windows" screen with the colored dots. After it loads to the Windows login screen though, the screen goes completely black. It's like when the BIOS video hands off to the Desktop Window Manager and the Catalyst drivers, it goes black.

I have no idea what the temps of the card were before it shut off. I actually took the heatsink off the card and looked and I didn't see any evidence of burn marks, blown capacitors or charring around the VRMs. The card did not look physically damaged at all...

I'm pretty sure the drivers for the card were 13.4.

Is there anything I can do to salvage this card? Thanks.


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> Wondering if anyone can help me with an issue.
> 
> I have a Sapphire HD 6870 that used to be my main card in my sig rig.
> 
> I put it in another machine that my brother uses but the fan was ramping up and down on the automatic setting in Trixx so I changed the fan profile to lock the fan at 20%. Well, my dumb brother used the machine for gaming and I told him to put the fan profile back to automatic and he didn't. He was playing some game and eventually the machine went to a black screen so he turned the machine off.
> 
> Now, when Windows boots it shows video from the BIOS and shows the black "Starting Windows" screen with the colored dots. After it loads to the Windows login screen though, the screen goes completely black. It's like when the BIOS video hands off to the Desktop Window Manager and the Catalyst drivers, it goes black.
> 
> I have no idea what the temps of the card were before it shut off. I actually took the heatsink off the card and looked and I didn't see any evidence of burn marks, blown capacitors or charring around the VRMs. The card did not look physically damaged at all...
> 
> I'm pretty sure the drivers for the card were 13.4.
> 
> Is there anything I can do to salvage this card? Thanks.


Since the 5k cards they've had hardware protection enabled where if the card got too hot the driver would stop responding. My bet is that it did that, and he shut down the pc manually when that happened, forcing the computer to lose the driver information.
Try uninstalling the card, and software completely from the hardware menu in control panel, then reboot, and reinstall the manual updated driver from AMD.


----------



## laptopcentral

Heyya peeps,
Ill be purchasing a hd 6850 soon(50$ ebay). My question is , what are the best stable drivers to use, and yes ill be overclocking. Should i get the latest from amd, or get some older ones, official or betas? thx


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laptopcentral*
> 
> Heyya peeps,
> Ill be purchasing a hd 6850 soon(50$ ebay). My question is , what are the best stable drivers to use, and yes ill be overclocking. Should i get the latest from amd, or get some older ones, official or betas? thx


That will literally depend on your config, card revisio, model, and brand as well as what games or profiles you might use and whether you overclock. I tested all available bios in combination with various drivers and found the one that worked best then modified it to fit my needs. Thats how i was able to get the highest stock cooler overclock.


----------



## neurotix

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> Since the 5k cards they've had hardware protection enabled where if the card got too hot the driver would stop responding. My bet is that it did that, and he shut down the pc manually when that happened, forcing the computer to lose the driver information.
> Try uninstalling the card, and software completely from the hardware menu in control panel, then reboot, and reinstall the manual updated driver from AMD.


Thanks, but...

The problem is that we tried putting the card in more than one machine and it had the exact same problem (black Windows login screen).

It was in my sister's rig upstairs, we pulled it from that and put it in my girlfriend's rig, it did the same thing.


----------



## dracconus

I bought a 7950 from a guy on craigslist that openly admitted to trying to up the voltage on the card and failing causing horizontal refresh rates and BAD artifacting. The problem was that he wrote that bios value to the card and was unaware of the dual bios feature which fixed it by switching. Now...for your issue try switching the bios for a downloaded one and that may help. If not its hardware and time to rma.


----------



## laptopcentral

I wouldnt advise buying a card off craigslist! You cant return them. Well maybe, if you Find out where this stranger lives or something.
Anyways, im in the market for used cards, ive noticed ebay has much better deals than craigslist. Every video card ive seen on craiglist has been over priced by like 50 dollars or so compared to ebay.

Here ill check my stat sheet. HD 7950, you can get one for 180-200$ and ive got it marked here ive seen a few go for 170$ price coming down fast cause of the new r9's.

HERES some more prices for the masses:
sheeet, you can pick up a HD 7970 for 200-230$
hd 7870 130-140$
hd 7850 100-115$

If your looking for a decent budget gaming build, pick up a hd 6850 for 50$

The only way im buying a new card is if get bf4 and a couple other games with it, but i will never, ever , ever, spend over 200 bucks on any video card. Well actually would spend a lil over 200 on a hd 7970


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laptopcentral*
> 
> I wouldnt advise buying a card off craigslist! You cant return them. Well maybe, if you Find out where this stranger lives or something.
> Anyways, im in the market for used cards, ive noticed ebay has much better deals than craigslist. Every video card ive seen on craiglist has been over priced by like 50 dollars or so compared to ebay.
> 
> Here ill check my stat sheet. HD 7950, you can get one for 180-200$ and ive got it marked here ive seen a few go for 170$ price coming down fast cause of the new r9's.
> 
> HERES some more prices for the masses:
> sheeet, you can pick up a HD 7970 for 200-230$
> hd 7870 130-140$
> hd 7850 100-115$
> 
> If your looking for a decent budget gaming build, pick up a hd 6850 for 50$
> 
> The only way im buying a new card is if get bf4 and a couple other games with it, but i will never, ever , ever, spend over 200 bucks on any video card. Well actually would spend a lil over 200 on a hd 7970


1. I picked it up and tested it in my system at his house before purchasing.
2. I have worked on computers for over 20 years.
3. I am a low level coder, game, and web designer by trade and had two degrees by the age of 20.
4. Your i put is appreciated but entirely null and void because your distrust doesn't equal my ignorance xD. there is nothing wrong with purchasing third party. Just be smart. Sign a contract and have it notarized. If they honestly have nothing to hide they will have no qualms with a 1 week return. That is all you need to see if the card has or had any problems they knew about provided you have the equipment to thoroughly test the card which I do.
5. I already own one of the worlds fastest 6850s and it is no way a comparison to my 7950.


----------



## neurotix

He's right about cards on Craigslist being overpriced, you know.

Also, saying all this stuff about your experience and bragging about degrees you have isn't going to convince anyone of anything, or earn you any rep around here. Not cool.


----------



## laptopcentral

hey dracconus , how much you pay for that hd 7950, it sounds like you hit a hustle. ya craigslist fanboy, take it down a notch!

HEY i didnt mean to piss you off or anything, and the rest of those prices i listed werent directed at you,

But lets get this straight, shopping on craigslist sounds like a hassle. U packed up your computer , and brought it over to a strangers house. How much is your computer worth? Did you bring back up, a friend so you dont get jumped and robbed? Really your gonna notarize a craigslist deal lol(thats a dick move, thats like doing that at a garage sale) I know you may never have been in a fight or anything like that, but sometimes you do gotta watch your back, things happen.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> 1. I picked it up and tested it in my system at his house before purchasing.
> 2. I have worked on computers for over 20 years.
> 3. I am a low level coder, game, and web designer by trade and had two degrees by the age of 20.
> 4. Your i put is appreciated but entirely null and void because your distrust doesn't equal my ignorance xD. there is nothing wrong with purchasing third party. Just be smart. Sign a contract and have it notarized. If they honestly have nothing to hide they will have no qualms with a 1 week return. That is all you need to see if the card has or had any problems they knew about provided you have the equipment to thoroughly test the card which I do.
> 5. I already own one of the worlds fastest 6850s and it is no way a comparison to my 7950.


That sounds like a bold statement, I want to see benches.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> He's right about cards on Craigslist being overpriced, you know.
> 
> Also, saying all this stuff about your experience and bragging about degrees you have isn't going to convince anyone of anything, or earn you any rep around here. Not cool.


Agreed. Sounds like I'm at work and one of the random customers came in saying that his PC needs to be sent to warranty and doesn't want me to test the computer out cause his brother/son/boyfriend/friend is taking/took computer engineering and he should know.
Same happened with a guy that actually is taking computer engineering and complained about his HP laptop overheating. After booting it up the AMD graphics card wasn't installed... after being installed problem was fixed.
Major in derp.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> That sounds like a bold statement, I want to see benches.


I have the fastest TI 84 Plus!!!!!!11111!!11!!!11!1!!1! It can do 2+2 before you finish typing it in.

Edit: Not to mention that he went ahead and called the guy ignorant.


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> He's right about cards on Craigslist being overpriced, you know.
> 
> Also, saying all this stuff about your experience and bragging about degrees you have isn't going to convince anyone of anything, or earn you any rep around here. Not cool.


Quite frankly, I couldn't care less about whether you or anyone on here thinks highly of me. I'm not here for reputation, I'm here to help people. If that's why you're here then I suggest you grow up, and realize there are more important things in life. I stated my knowledge in computers because it was relevant to the case I was pointing out to the individual.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *laptopcentral*
> 
> hey dracconus , how much you pay for that hd 7950, it sounds like you hit a hustle. ya craigslist fanboy, take it down a notch!
> 
> HEY i didnt mean to piss you off or anything, and the rest of those prices i listed werent directed at you,
> 
> But lets get this straight, shopping on craigslist sounds like a hassle. U packed up your computer , and brought it over to a strangers house. How much is your computer worth? Did you bring back up, a friend so you dont get jumped and robbed? Really your gonna notarize a craigslist deal lol(thats a dick move, thats like doing that at a garage sale) I know you may never have been in a fight or anything like that, but sometimes you do gotta watch your back, things happen.


You didn't offend me at all, nor did I take it that you meant to. I also hope that I didn't offend you, as that was not the intention at all; I was just arguing my defense same as anyone would, and if that seemed defensive in approach I apologize, as it wasn't. Also, on the note of making them sign a contract stating that they knew of no defects, it's perfectly legal, and as stated so long as they have nothing to hide, they truly won't have a problem. I have done it a few times myself. I bought the card for 200 when they were pretty fresh on the market, and with thirty minutes of my time got it working better than that kid ever could. And yes, bringing my system was a bit of a pain in the ass, but I worked in home security at the time, used my company truck, and have a CHL so I'm not too concerned with whether someone wanted to "overpower me."
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> That sounds like a bold statement, I want to see benches.


I have benches in numerous places both on and off of this websites forums, I've no need to supply what you can't spend the time to search for if you're so interested in them, or trying to prove someoen wrong to satisfy what little epeen you think you have.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Agreed. Sounds like I'm at work and one of the random customers came in saying that his PC needs to be sent to warranty and doesn't want me to test the computer out cause his brother/son/boyfriend/friend is taking/took computer engineering and he should know.
> Same happened with a guy that actually is taking computer engineering and complained about his HP laptop overheating. After booting it up the AMD graphics card wasn't installed... after being installed problem was fixed.
> Major in derp.
> I have the fastest TI 84 Plus!!!!!!11111!!11!!!11!1!!1! It can do 2+2 before you finish typing it in.
> 
> Edit: Not to mention that he went ahead and called the guy ignorant.


I wasn't saying he himself is ignorant. I'm saying that his ignorance with whether or not people may or may not want to do something on craigslist has nothing to do with whether or not I will.
Furthermore, assuming that I'm someone just making things up because I can is utterly, and completely your right, but it doesn't really do any favors for you. A simple search of my name will list enough credentials to get you started on understand the skills that I actually do have, and have proven over the last 10+ years. Also, back to the original quote I supplied i really am not the type of person to care whether you do, or don't believe me. The proof is there if you require it, but I'm not going to supply it to you if you're too lazy to go get it yourself. (calm down, I'm not saying you are, I'm just saying that laziness is not something I enforce.)

You all have the option of taking anything that someone types online with a grain of salt. If you feel offended by someone that you've never met in person, and have no real interaction with in a social setting then I am sorry, but you need to realize that this is not that serious. I came on to these forums to both share my experiences, and knowledge, while also contributing and gaining knowledge, and nothing more. I don't need, nor want any kind of negative implications directed at or towards me, as they're unnecessary, and honestly I am, for the most part impervious to them as I've had it most of my life anyways. I get that some of you may have the need to make others feel bad to lift your own spirits, but I am not even in the slightest, tempted to have interaction with those types nor will I engage myself in that form of behavior

. My statement was, and is still in place to serve as justification that simply saying "buying something off craigslist is too risky" is wrong. There is a risk of buying anything, especially electronics. The determination of whether or not it's WORTH the risk to you is what makes you buy it, nothing more, and nothing less. Whether craigslist is overpriced in YOUR area has nothing to do with whether it is in mine, or someone else's, or whether or not people are willing ot barter, either. Criagslist, ebid, ebay, ubid, and several other places all have the potential of being overpriced when you think about it. However, if you WERE to think about it most of the things that you're saying are "overpriced" were overpriced to begin with. Look at the price comparisons of new-on-the-market versus prices after a single fiscal year. There is a huge fluctuation in the electronics market, and it's dominated by sales. Furthermore, you have something with craigslist that MAKES it worth a little extra more: The ability ot get it faster, locally, and TEST it before you buy it (if you're so willing.) To me, that's worth the price for used equipment. I'd rather pay 25-50 more for something locally, and test it before I bought it than throw a crap shoot on ebay and HOPE that the seller was honest when they said "New Other", or "Used" instead of Seller Refurbished, or total P.O.S.

My risk is mine alone, and whether or not you are willing ot personally take that chance is up to you entirely. I am just giving some peace of mind to people when I say that buying off craigslist is no more of a challenge, or indication of one than buying anywhere else. Even with reputable retailers like NewEgg, Directron, FrozenCPU, Xoxide, and others you still have the same crap shoot of receiving bad items that you would from Ebay, craigslist etc. Sure, you have the option of returning them, but if you're smart, and the seller is trustworthy, then you have that option with craigslist too.

For those that are looking for a TL;DR version...read it anyways, concise is not useful in the scenario of explanation.


----------



## smoke420

For all that typing you could have put a link,just saying. And if you dont care why waste your time. Im curious to know how fast the fastest hd6850 is but not enough to do a search. Since you like typing so much what are your Overclocks please.


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> For all that typing you could have put a link,just saying. And if you dont care why waste your time. Im curious to know how fast the fastest hd6850 is but not enough to do a search. Since you like typing so much what are your Overclocks please.


Well, since you seem to require proof that I do indeed not care I think I'll do that at this very moment. I never said that i have the fastest, as that's pretty much impossible to prove; but I do have one OF the fastest, and as far as online records go I've searched for a number of years now, and have on record and in entry to the Guinness the worlds fastest on a stock heatsink/fan combo.

Nevertheless, you're more than welcome to use the search function this website has. Since so many of you are insistent on proving your "douche-worthiness" I may as well go ahead, and do the same by being one at this moment, and any other failed troll attempt hereafter.


----------



## katates

How can I open voltage control in msi afterburner?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *katates*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> How can I open voltage control in msi afterburner?


Settings>Unlock voltage control
If it doesn't unlock you should try your GPU branded software. Sapphire=Sapphire TRIXX etc etc etc.
You may have a locked card also.

Edit:
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Quite frankly, I couldn't care less about whether you or anyone on here thinks highly of me. I'm not here for reputation, I'm here to help people. If that's why you're here then I suggest you grow up, and realize there are more important things in life. I stated my knowledge in computers because it was relevant to the case I was pointing out to the individual.
> You didn't offend me at all, nor did I take it that you meant to. I also hope that I didn't offend you, as that was not the intention at all; I was just arguing my defense same as anyone would, and if that seemed defensive in approach I apologize, as it wasn't. Also, on the note of making them sign a contract stating that they knew of no defects, it's perfectly legal, and as stated so long as they have nothing to hide, they truly won't have a problem. I have done it a few times myself. I bought the card for 200 when they were pretty fresh on the market, and with thirty minutes of my time got it working better than that kid ever could. And yes, bringing my system was a bit of a pain in the ass, but I worked in home security at the time, used my company truck, and have a CHL so I'm not too concerned with whether someone wanted to "overpower me."
> I have benches in numerous places both on and off of this websites forums, I've no need to supply what you can't spend the time to search for if you're so interested in them, or trying to prove someoen wrong to satisfy what little epeen you think you have.
> I wasn't saying he himself is ignorant. I'm saying that his ignorance with whether or not people may or may not want to do something on craigslist has nothing to do with whether or not I will.
> Furthermore, assuming that I'm someone just making things up because I can is utterly, and completely your right, but it doesn't really do any favors for you. A simple search of my name will list enough credentials to get you started on understand the skills that I actually do have, and have proven over the last 10+ years. Also, back to the original quote I supplied i really am not the type of person to care whether you do, or don't believe me. The proof is there if you require it, but I'm not going to supply it to you if you're too lazy to go get it yourself. (calm down, I'm not saying you are, I'm just saying that laziness is not something I enforce.)
> 
> You all have the option of taking anything that someone types online with a grain of salt. If you feel offended by someone that you've never met in person, and have no real interaction with in a social setting then I am sorry, but you need to realize that this is not that serious. I came on to these forums to both share my experiences, and knowledge, while also contributing and gaining knowledge, and nothing more. I don't need, nor want any kind of negative implications directed at or towards me, as they're unnecessary, and honestly I am, for the most part impervious to them as I've had it most of my life anyways. I get that some of you may have the need to make others feel bad to lift your own spirits, but I am not even in the slightest, tempted to have interaction with those types nor will I engage myself in that form of behavior
> 
> . My statement was, and is still in place to serve as justification that simply saying "buying something off craigslist is too risky" is wrong. There is a risk of buying anything, especially electronics. The determination of whether or not it's WORTH the risk to you is what makes you buy it, nothing more, and nothing less. Whether craigslist is overpriced in YOUR area has nothing to do with whether it is in mine, or someone else's, or whether or not people are willing ot barter, either. Criagslist, ebid, ebay, ubid, and several other places all have the potential of being overpriced when you think about it. However, if you WERE to think about it most of the things that you're saying are "overpriced" were overpriced to begin with. Look at the price comparisons of new-on-the-market versus prices after a single fiscal year. There is a huge fluctuation in the electronics market, and it's dominated by sales. Furthermore, you have something with craigslist that MAKES it worth a little extra more: The ability ot get it faster, locally, and TEST it before you buy it (if you're so willing.) To me, that's worth the price for used equipment. I'd rather pay 25-50 more for something locally, and test it before I bought it than throw a crap shoot on ebay and HOPE that the seller was honest when they said "New Other", or "Used" instead of Seller Refurbished, or total P.O.S.
> 
> My risk is mine alone, and whether or not you are willing ot personally take that chance is up to you entirely. I am just giving some peace of mind to people when I say that buying off craigslist is no more of a challenge, or indication of one than buying anywhere else. Even with reputable retailers like NewEgg, Directron, FrozenCPU, Xoxide, and others you still have the same crap shoot of receiving bad items that you would from Ebay, craigslist etc. Sure, you have the option of returning them, but if you're smart, and the seller is trustworthy, then you have that option with craigslist too.
> 
> For those that are looking for a TL;DR version...read it anyways, concise is not useful in the scenario of explanation.


I have no reply to all of the things you just said, cause honestly I don't care who you are.
Regarding craigslist, I completely agree with you tho. If you are comfortable with it and know about what you are trying to buy, it can be safe purchases.
Best ones are after new hardware is coming out, like now. 79x0 are being sold still in good conditions.
Kinda logical, if you wanna buy a used car take a mechanic friend with you if you can. (just an example)
About the 6850 all I can say is congratz on it.
We all know that overclocking is more about luck than anything else.


----------



## laptopcentral

hey, ive bought and a sold on craigslist, its not like im an ebay fan boy or nothing. But i do make my living on ebay selling laptops that ive refurbished. But as far as a video cards on craigslist, ive never seen a good deal, the deals are on ebay.
And anwysays id rather sit on my azz and wait for my card to be delivered!

I already listed prices for AMD cards so heres Nvidia. I dare you guys to show me one craigslist ad that comes close to these deals.

GTX 460- 50$
GTX 650 TI Boost - 100$
GTX 660- 130-140$
GTX 660 TI- 150-160$
GTX 670- 190-200$
GTX 680- 260-270$

I skipped the rest of the gtx 4xx series and 5xx series, because, the gtx 480 and 580 both go for 130 to 150 bucks, when the gtx 660 is cheaper and better.

GTX 460 http://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-GTX-460-768-MB-Twin-Frozr-II-768MB-192-bit-GDDR5-PCI-Express-2-0-x16-/111215458753?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e4f539c1

GTX 660 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Galaxy-66NPH7DN6ZVZ-GeForce-GTX-660-GC-2GB-192-bit-GDDR5-PCI-Express-3-0-x16-HDC-/131046694407?hash=item1e82fdde07

GTX 670 FTW edition http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-GeForce-GTX670-FTW-LE-2-GB-GDDR5-256-bit-EVGA-GTX-670-Priced-to-SELL-/151172117700?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item23328f74c4

Craigslist links, or recognize.


----------



## Truedeal

Spoiler: T



Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dracconus*
> 
> Quite frankly, I couldn't care less about whether you or anyone on here thinks highly of me. I'm not here for reputation, I'm here to help people. If that's why you're here then I suggest you grow up, and realize there are more important things in life. I stated my knowledge in computers because it was relevant to the case I was pointing out to the individual.
> You didn't offend me at all, nor did I take it that you meant to. I also hope that I didn't offend you, as that was not the intention at all; I was just arguing my defense same as anyone would, and if that seemed defensive in approach I apologize, as it wasn't. Also, on the note of making them sign a contract stating that they knew of no defects, it's perfectly legal, and as stated so long as they have nothing to hide, they truly won't have a problem. I have done it a few times myself. I bought the card for 200 when they were pretty fresh on the market, and with thirty minutes of my time got it working better than that kid ever could. And yes, bringing my system was a bit of a pain in the ass, but I worked in home security at the time, used my company truck, and have a CHL so I'm not too concerned with whether someone wanted to "overpower me."
> I have benches in numerous places both on and off of this websites forums, I've no need to supply what you can't spend the time to search for if you're so interested in them, or trying to prove someoen wrong to satisfy what little epeen you think you have.
> I wasn't saying he himself is ignorant. I'm saying that his ignorance with whether or not people may or may not want to do something on craigslist has nothing to do with whether or not I will.
> Furthermore, assuming that I'm someone just making things up because I can is utterly, and completely your right, but it doesn't really do any favors for you. A simple search of my name will list enough credentials to get you started on understand the skills that I actually do have, and have proven over the last 10+ years. Also, back to the original quote I supplied i really am not the type of person to care whether you do, or don't believe me. The proof is there if you require it, but I'm not going to supply it to you if you're too lazy to go get it yourself. (calm down, I'm not saying you are, I'm just saying that laziness is not something I enforce.)
> 
> You all have the option of taking anything that someone types online with a grain of salt. If you feel offended by someone that you've never met in person, and have no real interaction with in a social setting then I am sorry, but you need to realize that this is not that serious. I came on to these forums to both share my experiences, and knowledge, while also contributing and gaining knowledge, and nothing more. I don't need, nor want any kind of negative implications directed at or towards me, as they're unnecessary, and honestly I am, for the most part impervious to them as I've had it most of my life anyways. I get that some of you may have the need to make others feel bad to lift your own spirits, but I am not even in the slightest, tempted to have interaction with those types nor will I engage myself in that form of behavior
> 
> . My statement was, and is still in place to serve as justification that simply saying "buying something off craigslist is too risky" is wrong. There is a risk of buying anything, especially electronics. The determination of whether or not it's WORTH the risk to you is what makes you buy it, nothing more, and nothing less. Whether craigslist is overpriced in YOUR area has nothing to do with whether it is in mine, or someone else's, or whether or not people are willing ot barter, either. Criagslist, ebid, ebay, ubid, and several other places all have the potential of being overpriced when you think about it. However, if you WERE to think about it most of the things that you're saying are "overpriced" were overpriced to begin with. Look at the price comparisons of new-on-the-market versus prices after a single fiscal year. There is a huge fluctuation in the electronics market, and it's dominated by sales. Furthermore, you have something with craigslist that MAKES it worth a little extra more: The ability ot get it faster, locally, and TEST it before you buy it (if you're so willing.) To me, that's worth the price for used equipment. I'd rather pay 25-50 more for something locally, and test it before I bought it than throw a crap shoot on ebay and HOPE that the seller was honest when they said "New Other", or "Used" instead of Seller Refurbished, or total P.O.S.
> 
> My risk is mine alone, and whether or not you are willing ot personally take that chance is up to you entirely. I am just giving some peace of mind to people when I say that buying off craigslist is no more of a challenge, or indication of one than buying anywhere else. Even with reputable retailers like NewEgg, Directron, FrozenCPU, Xoxide, and others you still have the same crap shoot of receiving bad items that you would from Ebay, craigslist etc. Sure, you have the option of returning them, but if you're smart, and the seller is trustworthy, then you have that option with craigslist too.
> 
> For those that are looking for a TL;DR version...read it anyways, concise is not useful in the scenario of explanation.





If you cant supply them, then you mentioning your "benches" is unimportant.
Why would I hunt for some random individuals anything, when they know where it is? Sounds like time wasting to me.

But anyways, me asking for marks isn't about "proving you wrong", Whats wrong with just wanting to see?
If you want to rant about your superior card all day with nothing to back it up please stop making 1 page post about nothing at all and go somewhere else.


----------



## katates

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Settings>Unlock voltage control
> If it doesn't unlock you should try your GPU branded software. Sapphire=Sapphire TRIXX etc etc etc.
> You may have a locked card also.


It doesn't unlock. And Trixx is not working wisely. How can I understand if its locked?


----------



## dracconus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *katates*
> 
> It doesn't unlock. And Trixx is not working wisely. How can I understand if its locked?


Have you tried uninstalling, rebooting, and re-installing an older version of trixx? Trixx was the ONLY piece of software that would let me HIS card unlock voltage, and even then I had to write a bios to get it to stay unlocked on reboot.


----------



## katates

Hey guys, I overvolted my XFX HD6850 to 1155 and overclocked 915/1150. And I think I disabled ULPS.
I got no artifacts on ATITool nor errors on OCCT.
I played AC4 smoothly. But when gpu is idle It works at 100/150 and I am having this:






And also It is only happening when usage is 100/150. When I open AC4 and get back to desktop It works fine without problems.

What is the problem?


----------



## lordhinton

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *katates*
> 
> Hey guys, I overvolted my XFX HD6850 to 1155 and overclocked 915/1150. And I think I disabled ULPS.
> I got no artifacts on ATITool nor errors on OCCT.
> I played AC4 smoothly. But when gpu is idle It works at 100/150 and I am having this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And also It is only happening when usage is 100/150. When I open AC4 and get back to desktop It works fine without problems.
> 
> What is the problem?


private video







not sure if there is, but is there anything that stops the card idling at low clocks, i know my cards now idle at 900/1050 at 0% after messing around with msi afterburner. they used to drop too 300/400?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> private video
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> not sure if there is, but is there anything that stops the card idling at low clocks, i know my cards now idle at 900/1050 at 0% after messing around with msi afterburner. they used to drop too 300/400?


MSI Afterburner has an option to lock the cards to 3D clocks, you set that option when you change the .cfg to enable the unofficial overclocking mode.


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> MSI Afterburner has an option to lock the cards to 3D clocks, you set that option when you change the .cfg to enable the unofficial overclocking mode.


I have never noticed such an option, wish I knew of it then.


----------



## katates

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> MSI Afterburner has an option to lock the cards to 3D clocks, you set that option when you change the .cfg to enable the unofficial overclocking mode.


I am not using Afterburner, because I can't overvolt with it. So I am using Trixx v4.0.1
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> private video
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> not sure if there is, but is there anything that stops the card idling at low clocks, i know my cards now idle at 900/1050 at 0% after messing around with msi afterburner. they used to drop too 300/400?


What do you mean private video?


----------



## lordhinton

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *katates*
> 
> What do you mean private video?


the youtube link you posted is a private video


----------



## katates

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> the youtube link you posted is a private video







I fixed it


----------



## anothergeek

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> For all that typing you could have put a link,just saying. And if you dont care why waste your time. Im curious to know how fast the fastest hd6850 is but not enough to do a search. Since you like typing so much what are your Overclocks please.


I get 925/1150 without overvolting

overvolting for me only works on VRM and temps goes insane but I've gotten 3dmark11 to run 1Ghz and 4800 GDDR5


----------



## Bryst

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *katates*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I fixed it


You might want to run some benches. When I had my MSI cyclone 6850 I found that running at 925/1150 and 975/1150 yielded no difference in benchmarks. Getting to 1ghz is cool, but there gets to be a point where it makes almost no difference. Some people have even found that at a certain point it hurts performance.


----------



## underdog1425

Guys I started bitcoin mining, I have been mining litecoins, decided to switch just to experiment. I noticed BTC mining heats up my card a bit more than LTC, and in GPU-z I am seeing GPU temp #3 sitting at 103.5C for the past 10 minutes now. The weird thing is that I have an EK full cover block and am not seeing an extraordinary change in the water temp of the loop, nor are the tubes themselves getting warm, which sometimes happens during mining.

My question then is what exactly is that GPU#3 and can that part handle being that hot? I posted here because I am having a hard time finding information on this.


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *underdog1425*
> 
> Guys I started bitcoin mining, I have been mining litecoins, decided to switch just to experiment. I noticed BTC mining heats up my card a bit more than LTC, and in GPU-z I am seeing GPU temp #3 sitting at 103.5C for the past 10 minutes now. The weird thing is that I have an EK full cover block and am not seeing an extraordinary change in the water temp of the loop, nor are the tubes themselves getting warm, which sometimes happens during mining.
> 
> My question then is what exactly is that GPU#3 and can that part handle being that hot? I posted here because I am having a hard time finding information on this.


GPU #3 Is the Vram.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *underdog1425*
> 
> Guys I started bitcoin mining, I have been mining litecoins, decided to switch just to experiment. I noticed BTC mining heats up my card a bit more than LTC, and in GPU-z I am seeing GPU temp #3 sitting at 103.5C for the past 10 minutes now. The weird thing is that I have an EK full cover block and am not seeing an extraordinary change in the water temp of the loop, nor are the tubes themselves getting warm, which sometimes happens during mining.
> 
> My question then is what exactly is that GPU#3 and can that part handle being that hot? I posted here because I am having a hard time finding information on this.


There is no way you should see temps like that with a full cover block. The fact that the water in your loop is not getting hot means your card is not transferring heat properly to the block. You will most likely need to take the block off to check thermal pads and replace tim. You should try tightening the block a little first though. I am also running full cover blocks and in gpu-z #'s 1, 2, and 3 don't get more than 5-6c apart.


----------



## underdog1425

Actually upon feeling around the card, there are some items which are not covered by the block whatsoever, and they are what is getting really hot. I hung a fan near that part of the card, between the chip and slot, and gpu temp 3 is down by a lot. Not my pic, but the setup is identical. Its those 4 things in that gap on the left side. I have always wondered why EK thought those needed zero cooling.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *underdog1425*
> 
> Actually upon feeling around the card, there are some items which are not covered by the block whatsoever, and they are what is getting really hot. I hung a fan near that part of the card, between the chip and slot, and gpu temp 3 is down by a lot. Not my pic, but the setup is identical. Its those 4 things in that gap on the left side. I have always wondered why EK thought those needed zero cooling.


Those 4 things don't need cooling. the part that needs cooling is the vrm and they are under that bar just to the left of those 4 things. that is not gpu# 3 if you scroll down you should see vrm temp in gpu-z at the bottom. you should see two vrm temps one is constant and one will change. the one that changes is your vrm's or voltage regulator module temperature. even with full cover blocks my vrm hit 58c but no where else on the card will 43c.

Note- not all HD 6850's have temp sensors on there vrm so if you see only one vrm temp in gpu-z you are out of luck.

I dont have ek blocks but as you can see they are made the same.

Complete overkill for my parts. I am running 2x 360's, a 240, and a 120 rad.


----------



## underdog1425

I was not asking about the VRMs, here is a screenshot of my current GPU-Z.

http://s306.photobucket.com/user/underdog1425/media/fdas3_zps42a44228.png.html

As you can see I have 3 GPU temps and 2 VRM temps. I was asking about GPU temp #3. At this moment I am am running a different miner, that is why the temps are stable now.

EDIT: The pic viewer thing doesnt like my link, here is a direct link to the pic.

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn254/underdog1425/fdas3_zps42a44228.png


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *underdog1425*
> 
> I was not asking about the VRMs, here is a screenshot of my current GPU-Z.
> 
> http://s306.photobucket.com/user/underdog1425/media/fdas3_zps42a44228.png.html
> 
> As you can see I have 3 GPU temps and 2 VRM temps. I was asking about GPU temp #3. At this moment I am am running a different miner, that is why the temps are stable now.
> 
> EDIT: The pic viewer thing doesnt like my link, here is a direct link to the pic.
> 
> http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn254/underdog1425/fdas3_zps42a44228.png


As I said in my post before it is the VIDEO RAM (VRAM)


----------



## underdog1425

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> As I said in my post before it is the VIDEO RAM (VRAM)


I am not saying you are wrong, I am just having difficulty understanding why there are two clearly labeled VRM temps, which read differently from the GPU temp #3.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *underdog1425*
> 
> I am not saying you are wrong, I am just having difficulty understanding why there are two clearly labeled VRM temps, which read differently from the GPU temp #3.


The VRM temps are of your voltage regulator modules. VRAM is video ram. That said im not so sure gpu #3 is your VRAM. VRAM just doesnt get that hot. It could be but 100c on VRAM is very unlikely with no cooling at all let alone a full cover block.

as you can see from the screen shot temps 1-3 should stay around the same. VRAM or not whatever it is GPU# 3 should be cooled by your block and should never approach 100c. I think you should check the mount of your block.
Did you use thermal pads on your VRAM?


----------



## underdog1425

Ok I understand. I kept thinking vrm was short for vram and was confusing myself. I did use thermal pads but they are old, are the same ones the stock block came with. Is there a better alternative? And I will check the mounting this weekend. I shouldn't have the inconsistent temps that I am seeing.


----------



## Melcar

Thermal tape or thermal glue.


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *underdog1425*
> 
> I am not saying you are wrong, I am just having difficulty understanding why there are two clearly labeled VRM temps, which read differently from the GPU temp #3.
> 
> 
> 
> The VRM temps are of your voltage regulator modules. VRAM is video ram. That said im not so sure gpu #3 is your VRAM. VRAM just doesnt get that hot. It could be but 100c on VRAM is very unlikely with no cooling at all let alone a full cover block.
> 
> as you can see from the screen shot temps 1-3 should stay around the same. VRAM or not whatever it is GPU# 3 should be cooled by your block and should never approach 100c. I think you should check the mount of your block.
> Did you use thermal pads on your VRAM?
Click to expand...

It is probably the Vram, you would be surprised how hot it can get, I used a external temp. monitor and it was about 5~*C off of what GPU-Z Said it was.
EDIT: Devil FTW 6666


----------



## Alastair

So I finally got my cards 100% gaming stable at 1005MHz core and 1215MHz memory. I can also bench Heaven and 3d Mark at 1020Mhz core and 1230Mhz memory. I find it amazing how Crysis 3 online multiplayer just laughs in the face of 10 stable loops of Heaven Bench! It seems my limiting factor now is temperature. Max temps I reach on my top card are 90C on core and 93C on GPU3 which is the memory. Those will drop to about 78C during a cool evening. I wonder where this overclock will fare on the HW Bot rankings for stock cooled dual card set-ups?


----------



## Alastair

Ok guys I have a question to ask. I overclocked my screens refresh rate from 60 to 75hz. Now when running at 60hz my GPU's both idle at .95v and sit at around 35C and 38C respectively. However when running at 75hz my top card idles at the full 1.3v and at 54C. The memory is also clocked at the 3d clock speeds of 1215Mhz. Is there any way to get my cards back to idling normally?


----------



## lordhinton

well ive officially left you guys now! one of my 6870's have died and the other is up for sale following an upgrade







been good to be part of the group though


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordhinton*
> 
> well ive officially left you guys now! one of my 6870's have died and the other is up for sale following an upgrade
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> been good to be part of the group though


Hey stick around. Just cause you won't have your cards does not mean you are not part of the family anymore!


----------



## smoke420

Do you guys think $160 is a good price for two hd 6850's with fullcover blocks? Love the cards but need a block for my Gtx 780. Selling to my brother want to make sure its fair.


----------



## neurotix

$80 for each?

I'd say that's a steal considering they come with waterblocks.

The cards on ebay that are Buy It Now are $70 or more, some are $100, and those don't come with waterblocks.


----------



## Gavush

I watched for another xfx 6870 dd for about a month and the market was right around $90-$100 for one. Mine was $93 shipped iirc. Less than half of what I paid for the first.


----------



## neurotix

Yeah, 6870s are old and slow at this point. Only having 1GB RAM is a huge limitation, even with Crossfire. It's crazy how much prices come down on this stuff when they're only 2 generations old. I paid $180 for my 6870 when I had it. The price on them is only going to come down more over time. The 6xxx series isn't any good for folding or mining either. I don't know why anyone would still be running these cards if they have something newer, but I guess not everyone upgrades their system once a year.


----------



## Gavush

well it was a big deal for me to swing the $ for another 6870 never mind twice as much for something like a 7870 but then plenty of folks have more in video cards than I have in my whole rig, and more in their rig than I've in my car. neither of which I upgrade once a year.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> Yeah, 6870s are old and slow at this point. Only having 1GB RAM is a huge limitation, even with Crossfire. It's crazy how much prices come down on this stuff when they're only 2 generations old. I paid $180 for my 6870 when I had it. The price on them is only going to come down more over time. The 6xxx series isn't any good for folding or mining either. I don't know why anyone would still be running these cards if they have something newer, but I guess not everyone upgrades their system once a year.


No good for folding or mining but still great cards for 1080p gaming. Sure there are games that call for more vram but if you dont require everything maxed out they are fine. Im a little annoyed with the whole mining thing anyway. I have no problem with making money off your equipment but mining has priced AMD graphics cards out of gaming. I upgraded my monitors so I had to upgrade my cards.I went from 3072x1024 or something like that to 5760x1080. My only option was x2 HD 7870's or go Nvidia. Anything more powerful from AMD is sold out or overpriced because of mining. Check out the prices of a used 7950 its insane. I went to AMD for eyefinity and mining forced me to nvidia surround. No new cpu's, new gpu's both overheat, and are sold out if you want one anyway. Im an AMD fanboy but its getting really hard to be a fan. I refuse to get a console so I guess its Intel/nvidia for now.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Do you guys think $160 is a good price for two hd 6850's with fullcover blocks? Love the cards but need a block for my Gtx 780. Selling to my brother want to make sure its fair.


You don't wanna give me blocks? (BEGGING ON KNEES!)


----------



## Alastair

Oh to give you guys an idea on where a pair of highly OC'ed 6850's 1020MHz/1230Mhz sit in terms of performance to newer cards. I posted my heaven and 3D mark scores in the Crossfire-X club. DevilDog said that my results were very similar his single 7870 running 1200ish/1450ish. Here is the link to the post and a bit of the following discussion.

Thats running windows 7. I am going to see if my results change much under windows 8.1.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> You don't wanna give me blocks? (BEGGING ON KNEES!)


Sure even trade for a GTX 780 Block and I will throw in the cards for free.
The blocks are not worth it unless, you are like myself obsessed with cooling. My stock coolers were gone the first week in the name of noise reduction, then I did the red mod with two corsair h60's. Modded the corsair coolers a couple of times then went to full cover blocks, by the time I took them out two days ago they were being cooled by dual pumps, dual pump top, 2x 360 rads,a 240 rad, and a 120 rad all completely overkill. My temps stopped dropping after the first 360 rad but i could not stop. I blame Daniel at Singularity computers for my addiction. My Cpu never hits 40c and my cards never went over 50c with this setup.
I paid 400 with taxes and shipping for these cards years ago and just recently got a deal on a GTX 780 for around the same price. Did not want to go to nvidia but with no AMD offerings available had no choice. The 7870's would have costed me a lot more with blocks, if I could even find blocks for them. The difference in performance is amazing from xfire 6850's to one 780. Not to mention the drivers are still better at Nvidia. I thought gpu boost was a gimmick but with my 3+1 monitor setup and the card locked at 60 frames I can play some games like nba 2k14 on the big screen and the card literally stays on idle. No temp or clock rise and things I gave up getting to work with AMD just work now. (better drivers) A single 6850 can play 2k14 maxed out at 1080p but I had issues of extremely jerky performance in the cut scene's between plays. It didn't bother me too much as it had no bearing on the game and after a while I didn't notice it, but I remembered instantly after I saw the cut scenes clearly for the first time with the 780. With three screens the performance gap is remarkable I went from 3072x1024 to 5760x1080, medium to max setting and my fps went up on average and most importantly minimum. Not trying to compare red and green just saying $400 gets you a lot more nowadays.


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gavush*
> 
> well it was a big deal for me to swing the $ for another 6870 never mind twice as much for something like a 7870 but then plenty of folks have more in video cards than I have in my whole rig, and more in their rig than I've in my car. neither of which I upgrade once a year.


Pay no mind. People here tend to exaggerate on these kind of stuff. You aren't living unless you can play the latest games at the highest possible res. with everything maxed out and averaging 120fps. It's ridiculous. My old HD6850 still is more than enough for any game at 1080p at medium to high settings. It's fun to be able to max out everything, but unless you are taking still shots of your games, you won't notice much of anything when you're actually playing a game.


----------



## neurotix

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> No good for folding or mining but still great cards for 1080p gaming. Sure there are games that call for more vram but if you dont require everything maxed out they are fine. Im a little annoyed with the whole mining thing anyway. I have no problem with making money off your equipment but mining has priced AMD graphics cards out of gaming. I upgraded my monitors so I had to upgrade my cards.I went from 3072x1024 or something like that to 5760x1080. My only option was x2 HD 7870's or go Nvidia. Anything more powerful from AMD is sold out or overpriced because of mining. Check out the prices of a used 7950 its insane. I went to AMD for eyefinity and mining forced me to nvidia surround. No new cpu's, new gpu's both overheat, and are sold out if you want one anyway. Im an AMD fanboy but its getting really hard to be a fan. I refuse to get a console so I guess its Intel/nvidia for now.


I agree with this.

R9 290 launch price was $399 and now you have to pay $500 minimum for one.

I'm getting an R9 290 soon when they have ones with aftermarket coolers and I want the R9 290 Toxic if Sapphire makes one. If not I'll go with Vapor-X. I'm willing to bet I'll be spending close to $600 for the card. I need a replacement because I just moved to Eyefinity 5760x1080 and got 2 more ASUS 2ms monitors. I had a 7970 Vapor-X powering the setup but it fried and now I have to RMA it. I don't know if I'll get it back fixed or not.







A single 7970 wasn't enough for modern games in Eyefinity. A lot of games ran fine at 60fps like Just Cause 2, Torchlight II and a few others. Crysis 3 and Far Cry 3 got about 40 fps with all the post processing set to "low". Now, I don't mind turning settings down on games but I want this setup to last and I'm pretty sure a single 7970 won't be enough for new games in Eyefinity in a years time. I don't want to Crossfire and get another 7970 because I'd need an expensive power supply and I'd have to rip my whole system apart, look at my sig rig, my PSU isn't enough. I don't want an Nvidia card because I've had bad experiences with them in the past. So hopefully I can snag an R9 290 at a more decent price when the partners release them with non reference coolers.

I really hope the prices come down soon for everyone's sake.


----------



## Alastair

@ Smoke 420.

Maybe we can talk a bit about them blocks sometime... Will they fit 6850 Cyclones? I don't think these are reference PCB's...


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> @ Smoke 420.
> 
> Maybe we can talk a bit about them blocks sometime... Will they fit 6850 Cyclones? I don't think these are reference PCB's...


Going by the pic on Ek's cooling configurator the power delivery components on your board are far from reference. I doubt the blocks will fit. This is usually the problem with special edition cards and if you ask me that makes no sense. The special edition cards are usually a lot better for overclocking because of upgraded power delivery but that limits your choices when it comes to blocks. When water cooling your better off getting a reference card cheap with the best warranty you can find. If you get really high end special edition cards that are very popular like the 780 lightning editions, blocks will be available. A special edition mid range card without reference p.c.b., will almost never get full-cover blocks. The 6850's you have are some of the best models ever made; unfortunately they were not popular enough to be profitable for a waterblock company. The 6850's in general have very few options when it comes to water cooling, having a special edition only compounds the problem.


----------



## Alastair

Hmmmm.. You're breaking my heart... Are the power components just in a different place vs reference. I'm just wondering if it's all in the same place MAYBE it might still work. What exactly is the incompatibility. I'm just on my phone and on holiday so I won't be near my pic anytime soon.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Hmmmm.. You're breaking my heart... Are the power components just in a different place vs reference. I'm just wondering if it's all in the same place MAYBE it might still work. What exactly is the incompatibility. I'm just on my phone and on holiday so I won't be near my pic anytime soon.


The power components are in the same place but the cyclone has more of them. This is understandable as the cyclone has more power options then the reference 6850's like the ability to boost power to vram. The cooling configurator by Ek has pictures of both pcb's. Although the cyclone still has the vrm cooler in place, you can still see a clear difference.
This is the difference in pcb's you can judge for yourself.

This is what the block looks like on the cards.


----------



## Alastair

Yeah it doesn't look like the blocks will fit... Oh sad days!


----------



## Alastair

Anybody have secondhand low restriction universal blocks?


----------



## Alastair

Just looking at those pics. It's seems if I take the VRM sink off. That metal bar would cover all the VRM's. The only question is will all the chokes and capacitors fit in there.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Just looking at those pics. It's seems if I take the VRM sink off. That metal bar would cover all the VRM's. The only question is will all the chokes and capacitors fit in there.


Yeah the chokes and caps may fit in that gap but that bar that cools the VRM's is not smooth at the bottom. It sticks out in four places to touch the VRM's directly although my card only has three. So on top of the cap and chokes fitting the VRM's have to be in the same spot and no more than four in number.


Edit: Well my GTX 780 block will be here later today so no rush to get rid of them. My only problem is I no longer have the stock coolers so I cant use the cards in another build. Can only afford one watercooled rig at a time although I probably have enough parts in this rig to build two.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Just looking at those pics. It's seems if I take the VRM sink off. That metal bar would cover all the VRM's. The only question is will all the chokes and capacitors fit in there.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah the chokes and caps may fit in that gap but that bar that cools the VRM's is not smooth at the bottom. It sticks out in four places to touch the VRM's directly although my card only has three. So on top of the cap and chokes fitting the VRM's have to be in the same spot and no more than four in number.
> 
> 
> Edit: Well my GTX 780 block will be here later today so no rush to get rid of them. My only problem is I no longer have the stock coolers so I cant use the cards in another build. Can only afford one watercooled rig at a time although I probably have enough parts in this rig to build two.
Click to expand...

well then the next that needs to be asked. Who has some universal GPU blocks that are high flow, low restriction for cheap? Secondhand. Maybe some EKWB supremacy HF Bridge editions?


----------



## Gavush

got my new card in!



direct11x scores: P4140 x1 and P6227 x2 stock clocks.


----------



## Alastair

Snazzy Man!


----------



## Gavush

Is anyone else who is active in the 6870 club running a pair in x-fire? I was wondering how my numbers compare considering I am running one on PCI-E 2.0 16x slot and one on PCI-E 2.0 4x slot. Supposedly it's a minimal difference when dealing with PCI-E 2.0 - I was super bummed out when I bought this mobo to do crossfire and then learned about 16x, 8x and 4x slots 6 months later.

is there a different standard benchmark I can use to get some numbers for my GPU setup other than 3dmark11 which also takes into account CPU?


----------



## Alastair

OK well I am running two 6850"s but they are OC'ed to the heavens. Have a look in my sig rig for my vantage and 11 benches. Also earlier on in the club maybe a page or two earlier I posted a link to the Crossfire X club where I posted all my bench results there. I run my cards in 16x 16x. For reference I am running FX8350 at 4.8 and 8gs of RAM at 2400MHz 9-10-12-31 1T


----------



## Tokkan

My pair of 6850's might be going out.
I've found a person interested in them for 120 bucks, gonna try and squeeze 130 out of him and have my sights on a GTX770 for 200.
Sounds like a good deal so Imma see what comes out of this, still gotta see the GTX770 in person. Its the Asus DirectCU one.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> My pair of 6850's might be going out.
> I've found a person interested in them for 120 bucks, gonna try and squeeze 130 out of him and have my sights on a GTX770 for 200.
> Sounds like a good deal so Imma see what comes out of this, still gotta see the GTX770 in person. Its the Asus DirectCU one.


Sounds like a really good deal. Grab it if its in good condition they are basically gtx680's with faster ram. I just got a gtx 780 for $400 and don't regret it at all. Seems like double the performance with half the cards.Now I have to find a buyer for two HD 6850's with water blocks because I no longer have the stock coolers.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> My pair of 6850's might be going out.
> I've found a person interested in them for 120 bucks, gonna try and squeeze 130 out of him and have my sights on a GTX770 for 200.
> Sounds like a good deal so Imma see what comes out of this, still gotta see the GTX770 in person. Its the Asus DirectCU one.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a really good deal. Grab it if its in good condition they are basically gtx680's with faster ram. I just got a gtx 780 for $400 and don't regret it at all. Seems like double the performance with half the cards.Now I have to find a buyer for two HD 6850's with water blocks because I no longer have the stock coolers.
Click to expand...

what sort of water blocks? Full cover or universal?


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> what sort of water blocks? Full cover or universal?


You already know.lol
Pics are one page back in this thread.


----------



## Alastair

Oh hell. I thought it was a different person!







I ID people by profile pic not name LOL!







Oh Well!


----------



## Alastair

Guys you will probably think I am crazy. But I'm about to blow my 7970 R9-280X budget on water blocks and a new radiator for my 6850's. I know how much faster a 7970 would be. But i dunno. I am doing it just because. Besides these cards are clocked well above average air overclocks on air according to HW Bot. 1020/1230 vs 948/1150ish. So I might just go chasing some records on air and water.


----------



## Melcar

Are they going to be full cover blocks? If not then don't bother, unless you can devise some crazy cooling for the VRMs. Chances are that the VRMs and not the GPU core will hold your OC back. That OC is already rather high for that card, so anything more would be just plain lucky with conventional cooling. Would make for a good experiment/tweaking experience though.


----------



## Alastair

I can't get full covers for my Cyclones. However I do plan on replacing the stock crappy VRM sinks with much better ones and putting small fans on them. I am already maxed out on voltage. So I can not add any more. my main concern is getting temps down from my high 90's. Maybe put the Cyclone 90mm fan back on somehow without the entire heatsink to help with airflow over the new VRM and RAM sinks.


----------



## Melcar

Make it cry then. This is OCN dammit. Overclock it until it can't clock anymore. Tweak until you can tweak no more.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> Make it cry then. This is OCN dammit. Overclock it until it can't clock anymore. Tweak until you can tweak no more.


DAMN STRAIGHT! 1100/1300 HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## endruboy

Hello!

I have a simple question: on my HD6870 can I use the DVI-I (with VGA converter) and the DVI-D (with simple DVI-D to DVI-D cable) ports to connect 2 monitors simultaniously?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *endruboy*
> 
> Hello!
> 
> I have a simple question: on my HD6870 can I use the DVI-I (with VGA converter) and the DVI-D (with simple DVI-D to DVI-D cable) ports to connect 2 monitors simultaniously?


Yes don't see why not. The cards do support 3 so Yeah 2 shouldnt be an issue.


----------



## endruboy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Yes don't see why not. The cards do support 3 so Yeah 2 shouldnt be an issue.


I'm just asking, bc on my cards support page they say the DVI-D port can't be used simultaniosly with the HDMIs and it is in the second row among the ports while the DVI-I is in the first. Anyways I have this card with 2 HDMI ports and 1 DVI-I and 1 DVI-D.
Would it be better maybe if I connect a HDMI - DVI-D cable to the cards HDMI port instead of the DVI-D - DVI-D cable to the cards DVI-D port? (my monitor doesn't supports HDMI)

Here is my cards back:


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *endruboy*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Yes don't see why not. The cards do support 3 so Yeah 2 shouldnt be an issue.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm just asking, bc on my cards support page they say the DVI-D port can't be used simultaniosly with the HDMIs and it is in the second row among the ports while the DVI-I is in the first. Anyways I have this card with 2 HDMI ports and 1 DVI-I and 1 DVI-D.
> Would it be better maybe if I connect a HDMI - DVI-D cable to the cards HDMI port instead of the DVI-D - DVI-D cable to the cards DVI-D port? (my monitor doesn't supports HDMI)
> 
> Here is my cards back:
Click to expand...

Why dont you try using both the configurations you have listed and then just use the one that works?


----------



## endruboy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Why dont you try using both the configurations you have listed and then just use the one that works?


Simply bc I don't want to buy 2 cables







.
I've already bought a DVI-VGA converter which doesn't works of course with the DVI-D port (inicially tought that that is a DVI-I too). Don't want to repeate the same mistake.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *endruboy*
> 
> Simply bc I don't want to buy 2 cables
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .
> I've already bought a DVI-VGA converter which doesn't works of course with the DVI-D port (inicially tought that that is a DVI-I too). Don't want to repeate the same mistake.


First if that is a pic of your card there are no hdmi ports I can see. It looks like 2 full size display ports to me. If you have a dvi to vga adapter, a vga cable, and a dvi cable it should work. Try this.
1.Connect only the monitor with vga adapter to the dvi-d port and start the pc.
2.While running connect the other monitor with the dvi cable to the dvi-i port.

I know this is the complete opposite to the way the ports are labeled but it was the only way I could get all my monitors connected at the same time. If this works you will only have to do it once. Your PC will still see the monitors after restarts. Let me know if it works for you.


----------



## Alastair

My babies just took top spot in Catzilla for 6850's.
http://www.catzilla.com/toplist?page=1&firm=all&res=720&multi=all&ven=a&ctype=d&manual=6850&submit=Show


----------



## endruboy

Thanks, I will let you know. It will take 3-4 days till my DVI cable arrives 'tho.


----------



## NeoReaper

Hey Guys,
Does anyone know why...
1.) If I change my GPU's voltage past 1200mV it just shut off at full load.
2.) No matter what if I change the GPU clock above 950Mhz (Including 951Mhz) it artifacts in GPUtool like crazy when even changing the voltage does not work...

And the stock cooler on this card is completely terrible and MSI should be ashamed to release this card with this cooler.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> Hey Guys,
> Does anyone know why...
> 1.) If I change my GPU's voltage past 1200mV it just shut off at full load.
> 2.) No matter what if I change the GPU clock above 950Mhz (Including 951Mhz) it artifacts in GPUtool like crazy when even changing the voltage does not work...
> 
> And the stock cooler on this card is completely terrible and MSI should be ashamed to release this card with this cooler.


What card are you using bro?


----------



## NeoReaper

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> Hey Guys,
> Does anyone know why...
> 1.) If I change my GPU's voltage past 1200mV it just shut off at full load.
> 2.) No matter what if I change the GPU clock above 950Mhz (Including 951Mhz) it artifacts in GPUtool like crazy when even changing the voltage does not work...
> 
> And the stock cooler on this card is completely terrible and MSI should be ashamed to release this card with this cooler.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What card are you using bro?
Click to expand...

MSI R6870 2PM2D1GD5


----------



## Tokkan

It is one of the cheaper versions that MSI sells, so it uses one of the cheaper coolers plus it must be a late revision in which they start saving up in quality components.
I've seen many of those cards already from Sapphire which is where all the AMD(reference) cards come from. Late revisions have their boards with crap VRM's/Memory chips etc.
Nothing you can do about it, it won't overvolt past 1.2v and the board is limiting the chip. You'll be lucky if you get a decent overclock out of it.


----------



## NeoReaper

I was thinking it is my PSU limiting the power to 1200mV.


----------



## Tokkan

I assume you are using MSI Afterburner so try using other software to increase the voltage. Something of the likes of Asus GPU Tweak or Sapphire Trixx.
Regardless of that you can reach a pretty respectable overclock without overvolting your card, try to push the core clock till it starts artifacting, 6870's already have a higher base voltage than 6850's, saw on the MSI website that your card is clocked at 920Mhz so there isn't much more you can push out of that card without resorting to other cooling solutions/overvolting.
You can try to aim to 950Mhz~980Mhz if it keeps stable.


----------



## Amhro

Errmm...
1080p 60fps videos from gopro lag really bad in VLC and also in WMP (it's fine in MPC). GPU shows 0% load while watching these vids fullscreen, and tip what may be wrong?


----------



## vonss

Could you guys please recommend me a cooler for my 6870 that is cheap? The stock Sapphire HS is not that bad, but the fan is crap. Thanks.


----------



## Truedeal

*Mono plus*.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> *Mono plus*.


Is definitely on my price range, but I'm not quite sure it would make such a huge diff in temps to justify the purchase.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Truedeal*
> 
> *Mono plus*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is definitely on my price range, but I'm not quite sure it would make such a huge diff in temps to justify the purchase.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure that it will. Arctic has good stuff!


----------



## Truedeal

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Is definitely on my price range, but I'm not quite sure it would make such a huge diff in temps to justify the purchase.


You will be surprised to see the results, assuming you dismiss your thoughts and just slap it on your card.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Is definitely on my price range, but I'm not quite sure it would make such a huge diff in temps to justify the purchase.


I do not think that cooler will be enough. If your comfortable doing the mod I would suggest getting an aio watercooler for a cpu and using that. It is by far the best bang for your buck.I have tried everything up to fullcover blocks on my 6850's. A good aftermarket air cooler with dual 90mm fans will get you 55-65c load depending on voltage and ambient temps. I doubt that single 120mm cooler will be able to do that. A aio water cooler will get you closer to 45c load


----------



## Melcar

Depending on what you expect. Do you run a heavy OC? Run overvolted? The stock cooler on my Sapphire HD6850 (two 8mm heat pipes, one fan) keeps the card at full load (970/1000, stock volts) in the 75-80*C range (35*C case temp). An AC Mono Plus cooler should do better than that.
AIOs are a waste, and since a cheap solution is desired, the Mono is the better choice (or a dual fan Twin Turbo if you can find one cheap).


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> Depending on what you expect. Do you run a heavy OC? Run overvolted? The stock cooler on my Sapphire HD6850 (two 8mm heat pipes, one fan) keeps the card at full load (970/1000, stock volts) in the 75-80*C range (35*C case temp). An AC Mono Plus cooler should do better than that.
> AIOs are a waste, and since a cheap solution is desired, the Mono is the better choice (or a dual fan Twin Turbo if you can find one cheap).


I am sorry but the only thing you got right was it depends on what you expect. I don't consider 75-80c on stock voltage good temps. I am speaking from personal experience. My stock coolers were the best available at the time of purchase the asus direct cu 2. And with 1.3 volts and 1000/1200 my cards hit 99c in one run of heaven at 100% fan speed. The temps I quoted were from this kind of stress not your normal overclock. I don't know what you based your facts on but an AIO cooler is cheaper than the equivalent air cooler. To get the cooling performance of a $55 AIO you would have to spend $70 on an air cooler. I completely understand cost is an issue but I would spend $55 for a 25-30c improvement over $40 for a 10c improvement any day.A $80 AIO will get you temps that no air cooler on the market can provide. Its not cheaper, but you get more for your money.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *smoke420*
> 
> I am sorry but the only thing you got right was it depends on what you expect. I don't consider 75-80c on stock voltage good temps. I am speaking from personal experience. My stock coolers were the best available at the time of purchase the asus direct cu 2. And with 1.3 volts and 1000/1200 my cards hit 99c in one run of heaven at 100% fan speed. The temps I quoted were from this kind of stress not your normal overclock. I don't know what you based your facts on but an AIO cooler is cheaper than the equivalent air cooler. To get the cooling performance of a $55 AIO you would have to spend $70 on an air cooler. I completely understand cost is an issue but I would spend $55 for a 25-30c improvement over $40 for a 10c improvement any day.A $80 AIO will get you temps that no air cooler on the market can provide. Its not cheaper, but you get more for your money.


Sorry but if you hit those temps running 1Ghz/1200 with the "best" cooler available at the time I have to tell you that the DirectCUII is bullcrap.
I can run on my Sapphire card with stock cooler at that very same speed and not go above 80c without reaching 100% fan speed. Currently I have the airflow on that card restricted cause of the 2nd card but I will disable crossfire and run the very same benchmark just for you..
When I disable crossfire the slave card readings bug so it shows 100% usage in MSI Afterburner but from the temps reading from it you can obviously reach the conclusion it was doing nothing other than just sit there.
I can't get 1200Mhz on my memory, only 1150Mhz.
1000Mhz/1150Mhz 1.3v Uningine run till temps stabilize since I'm not gonna spend too much time proving you wrong. Max temps = 78C with custom fan profile/Max fan speed =94%.

Take it as you please.
Accelero Mono will do great with these cards.

GPU Temp 3 does read 93 degrees tho, but thats not the graphics chip but something in the board. Either VRM or Memory chips.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Sorry but if you hit those temps running 1Ghz/1200 with the "best" cooler available at the time I have to tell you that the DirectCUII is bullcrap.
> I can run on my Sapphire card with stock cooler at that very same speed and not go above 80c without reaching 100% fan speed. Currently I have the airflow on that card restricted cause of the 2nd card but I will disable crossfire and run the very same benchmark just for you..
> When I disable crossfire the slave card readings bug so it shows 100% usage in MSI Afterburner but from the temps reading from it you can obviously reach the conclusion it was doing nothing other than just sit there.
> I can't get 1200Mhz on my memory, only 1150Mhz.
> 1000Mhz/1150Mhz 1.3v Uningine run till temps stabilize since I'm not gonna spend too much time proving you wrong. Max temps = 78C with custom fan profile/Max fan speed =94%.
> 
> Take it as you please.
> Accelero Mono will do great with these cards.
> 
> GPU Temp 3 does read 93 degrees tho, but thats not the graphics chip but something in the board. Either VRM or Memory chips.


Where do I start?
First I did not and would not say my stock coolers are good, but if you check the early reviews it was the best stock cooler by a good amount. (november 2010)
Second If you noticed I keep saying cards, its not a typo, I was running 4 graphics cards. My setup at the time consisted of x2 6850's in crossfire, a gtx 260 between them for physx and a 8800gt or 9600gso to watch movies on an old CRT TV. considering my setup I don't see how the cards could have done better. (all of this can be confirmed by my earlier posts in this thread)
I can't find any pics that go that far back but believe me when i say I have tried all different ways to cool my 6850's, and an AIO is the best bang for your buck if your willing to do the mod.


This is a pic of the direct cu 2 where I started.

My aftermarket air coolers

This was my first attempt at the red mod. Notice 9600gso now has the asus direct cu on it. (It cooled much better than the blower it replaced)

This was the end result of the red mod. Notice my 9600gso is now sporting my aftermarket cooler now.(more for noise level and looks as the temps never got above 45c watching movies)

My first custom loop. I got everything used except the blocks and pumptop. Had no angle fitting so I had to make it work.

Final setup. I recently upgraded to a gtx 780

These cards are not monsters but they do put out a good amount of heat when overclocked and overvolted. I do not know what you consider great, but the Accelero Mono is far from it in my book. I am personally obsessed with cooling so I might be the wrong person to ask, but what I would consider good is staying below 60c in all reasonable conditions. The Accelero Mono is not capable of that plain and simple.
Edit. Correction the stock coolers were the DirectCU not the DirectCUII it only had one fan.


----------



## Tokkan

TLDR:
Your information is not valuable for the question at hand because you had your sistem airflow severely restricted.
I didn't disagree with your bang/buck thing, I just disagreed with the small ammount of information you gave regarding your cooling setup.
Now that you explained properly why you opted for an AIO solution and doing A mod to fit them to the cards, the person who asked the question (vonss) can decide on what to do.
If he is like you and have his computer filled with hardware in every slot dumping heat to the case, then yes using water cooling might be the best alternative.
If not, a good aftermarket cooler will do wonders. Noise wise the AIO cooler may be quieter.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> TLDR:
> Your information is not valuable for the question at hand because you had your sistem airflow severely restricted.
> I didn't disagree with your bang/buck thing, I just disagreed with the small ammount of information you gave regarding your cooling setup.
> Now that you explained properly why you opted for an AIO solution and doing A mod to fit them to the cards, the person who asked the question (vonss) can decide on what to do.
> If he is like you and have his computer filled with hardware in every slot dumping heat to the case, then yes using water cooling might be the best alternative.
> If not, a good aftermarket cooler will do wonders. Noise wise the AIO cooler may be quieter.


"TLDR" LMAO
Exactly why I left that information out in the first place.


----------



## Alastair

So here is a sign of things to come for my 6850's...... DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUMMMMMM! Yes I did fork out cash for water cooling rather than new cards. Wanna see these babies at the top of HWBOT

Just awaiting arrival of blocks, tubing and fans.


----------



## Gavush

I'll be neat to see how it turns out Alastair. I've got xfx cards with the big two fan / 3 heat pipe heat sinks and my top card runs at like 75-77c while playing team deathmatch on BF4 and they're a slot apart.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gavush*
> 
> I'll be neat to see how it turns out Alastair. I've got xfx cards with the big two fan / 3 heat pipe heat sinks and my top card runs at like 75-77c while playing team deathmatch on BF4 and they're a slot apart.


Yeah. I think MSI should have put twin Frozr on 6850 as well and left Cyclone in the past for 5XXX cards and the like. Cause these things get toasty OC'ed.


----------



## machomen

Hi folks I want to show my Gaming pc with my crossfire XFX 6870 setup

I am using two different versions of the HD6870:

- XFX black edition with two fans
- XFX with the reference design which blows the hot air out the back of the PC

I found the temps way to high so I mounted Artic cooling Accelero Extreme plus on both cards.




The temps on the picture are produced with 10 minutes of Furmark Burn-IN test

Let me know If you like the temps and my build.


----------



## sudo -v

I have a ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU.
I was wondering it is worth buying another one to use it in crossfire? How much is the performance gain? I have read contradicting claims, someone says it gives a 30%-50% gain some say it gives about 70-80% gain.

So is it worth buying another to crossfire or buy something completely different of present generation in same budget? i.e. Same budget single GPU vs 2 x 6850s ?

Also can anyone tell me the difference between these two versions?

EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5
EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2

Of course I know one is new and the other one is newer version 2
But spec wise the only difference I see is
Quote:


> Effective Memory Bandwidth as 256bit


Can anyone explain me the differnce between these two version?
As I most probably have the version 1. So if I buy now for crossfire I would have to buy the V2.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sudo -v*
> 
> I have a ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU.
> I was wondering it is worth buying another one to use it in crossfire? How much is the performance gain? I have read contradicting claims, someone says it gives a 30%-50% gain some say it gives about 70-80% gain.
> 
> So is it worth buying another to crossfire or buy something completely different of present generation in same budget? i.e. Same budget single GPU vs 2 x 6850s ?
> 
> Also can anyone tell me the difference between these two versions?
> 
> EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5
> EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2
> 
> Of course I know one is new and the other one is newer version 2
> But spec wise the only difference I see is
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Effective Memory Bandwidth as 256bit
> 
> 
> 
> Can anyone explain me the differnce between these two version?
> As I most probably have the version 1. So if I buy now for crossfire I would have to buy the V2.
Click to expand...

Scaling has improved a ton since the HD4XXX series. You will be looking at between 70-90% improvement. On a single card in Crysis 3 I manage about 35-40 FPS all settings High/ 1080P no AA. Set to Crossfire and I reach my 75FPS v-sync cap easily. due to v-sync cards are only reaching around 85-90% in most C3 situations. BF4 I tend to sit between 70-90 FPS dual card when at 1080P/High/ No AA/no v-SYNC (This is with my 1GHz/1215Mhz OC) 2 6850's are equal to a single 7870 or 270X. When it comes to my cards OC I am on par with a 7870 at 1250/1450. To be honest. If you can get a nice cheap 6850 I see no reason why you shouldn't get it. They are still doing ok with the most demanding titles at the moment. That is Crysis 3 and BF4. However I will recommend upgrading when the successor to the current line up of cards come along. GT 8XX or Radeon R9-3XX. I plan to jump ship to new cards when Star Citizen and other big AAA+ titles gets released. Cause I can see that as being too demanding for what I call The Little Cards That Could

If you look at the pictures carefully you can see the PCB's of the two cards are different. V2 is using different caps, chokes and VRM's. I can only assume that v2 is better cause of maybe better power circuitry components. other wise they are the same. So a V2 card should THEORETICALLY overclock better.

EDIT: Also ALL 6850's are 256 bit. So there is no difference there.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *machomen*
> 
> Hi folks I want to show my Gaming pc with my crossfire XFX 6870 setup
> 
> I am using two different versions of the HD6870:
> 
> - XFX black edition with two fans
> - XFX with the reference design which blows the hot air out the back of the PC
> 
> I found the temps way to high so I mounted Artic cooling Accelero Extreme plus on both cards.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The temps on the picture are produced with 10 minutes of Furmark Burn-IN test
> 
> Let me know If you like the temps and my build.


Nice clean build and great temps man. Now what you have to do is pump 1.3v through those cards and try reach 1GHz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3,2,1 GO!


----------



## neurotix

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Scaling has improved a ton since the HD4XXX series. You will be looking at between 70-90% improvement. On a single card in Crysis 3 I manage about 35-40 FPS all settings High/ 1080P no AA. Set to Crossfire and I reach my 75FPS v-sync cap easily. due to v-sync cards are only reaching around 85-90% in most C3 situations. BF4 I tend to sit between 70-90 FPS dual card when at 1080P/High/ No AA/no v-SYNC (This is with my 1GHz/1215Mhz OC) 2 6850's are equal to a single 7870 or 270X. When it comes to my cards OC I am on par with a 7870 at 1250/1450. To be honest. If you can get a nice cheap 6850 I see no reason why you shouldn't get it. They are still doing ok with the most demanding titles at the moment. That is Crysis 3 and BF4. However I will recommend upgrading when the successor to the current line up of cards come along. GT 8XX or Radeon R9-3XX. I plan to jump ship to new cards when Star Citizen and other big AAA+ titles gets released. Cause I can see that as being too demanding for what I call The Little Cards That Could
> 
> If you look at the pictures carefully you can see the PCB's of the two cards are different. V2 is using different caps, chokes and VRM's. I can only assume that v2 is better cause of maybe better power circuitry components. other wise they are the same. So a V2 card should THEORETICALLY overclock better.
> 
> EDIT: Also ALL 6850's are 256 bit. So there is no difference there.


Run some actual benches and claim you're on par with a 1250mhz 7870. Try 3dmark11.

My 270X 1270/1500mhz: http://hwbot.org/submission/2480766_neurotix_3dmark11___performance_radeon_r9_270x_9927_marks

A friend's dual 6850 setup 1000/1200mhz: http://hwbot.org/submission/2154270_damric_3dmark11___performance_2x_radeon_hd_6850_8304_marks

As you can see, an overclocked 270X/7870 DESTROYS 6850 Crossfire.

I'd say, sell the old garbage card and take the money you were going to spend on another 6850 and get a 7870, 270X or better yet a 7950.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Scaling has improved a ton since the HD4XXX series. You will be looking at between 70-90% improvement. On a single card in Crysis 3 I manage about 35-40 FPS all settings High/ 1080P no AA. Set to Crossfire and I reach my 75FPS v-sync cap easily. due to v-sync cards are only reaching around 85-90% in most C3 situations. BF4 I tend to sit between 70-90 FPS dual card when at 1080P/High/ No AA/no v-SYNC (This is with my 1GHz/1215Mhz OC) 2 6850's are equal to a single 7870 or 270X. When it comes to my cards OC I am on par with a 7870 at 1250/1450. To be honest. If you can get a nice cheap 6850 I see no reason why you shouldn't get it. They are still doing ok with the most demanding titles at the moment. That is Crysis 3 and BF4. However I will recommend upgrading when the successor to the current line up of cards come along. GT 8XX or Radeon R9-3XX. I plan to jump ship to new cards when Star Citizen and other big AAA+ titles gets released. Cause I can see that as being too demanding for what I call The Little Cards That Could
> 
> If you look at the pictures carefully you can see the PCB's of the two cards are different. V2 is using different caps, chokes and VRM's. I can only assume that v2 is better cause of maybe better power circuitry components. other wise they are the same. So a V2 card should THEORETICALLY overclock better.
> 
> EDIT: Also ALL 6850's are 256 bit. So there is no difference there.
> 
> 
> 
> Run some actual benches and claim you're on par with a 1250mhz 7870. Try 3dmark11.
> 
> My 270X 1270/1500mhz: http://hwbot.org/submission/2480766_neurotix_3dmark11___performance_radeon_r9_270x_9927_marks
> 
> A friend's dual 6850 setup 1000/1200mhz: http://hwbot.org/submission/2154270_damric_3dmark11___performance_2x_radeon_hd_6850_8304_marks
> 
> As you can see, an overclocked 270X/7870 DESTROYS 6850 Crossfire.
> 
> I'd say, sell the old garbage card and take the money you were going to spend on another 6850 and get a 7870, 270X or better yet a 7950.
Click to expand...

I dont claim. I did run benches. They're over in the crossfire-x club. I'll post them here in a minute. Remember I hope that you are taking the rest of the PC into account. The comparison benches used an FX at a similar speed to mine. It's possible that using an I7 system might really boost the results.

EDIT: Just see your friend with his 6850's is using a Thuban at 4Ghz. That is quite a bit behind an FX like yours at 5. That Thuban needs to be at 4.4 or more in order to play catchup. So his CPU is holding him back a bit.

Based on the benches that I have now posted below. Does he really want to spend the INFLATED price (thanks to the mining craze) for 7870's when he can simply buy a cheap 6850 from a friend or something for half the price?


----------



## Alastair

Alright so here they are.

My System:
CPU: FX-8350 at 4.8GHz, 2.7GHz NB and 2.7GHz HTT.
Mobo: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2133MHz CL11 8Gb kit @ 2400MHz CL9-10-12-31 1T
GPU's: 2X MSI R6850 Cyclone Power Editions 1020MHz core/ 1230MHz Memory.
Drivers: AMD Catalyst 13.12
OS: Windows 7 HP 64bit

Comparison System:
CPU: FX-8350 4.7-4.9
Mobo: Asus CVFZ
RAM: GSkill TridentX 8Gb kit
GPU: PowerColor 7870 Devil 13 ed. 3D Mark benches at 1250MHz Core/1450MHz Memory. Heaven at 1265MHz core/1400Mhz Memory
Drivers and OS not known

Vantage basic edition 6850's:


Vantage 7870 and FX.


3DMark11 Basic 6850's:


3D Mark 11 7870:


3D Mark 6850's


3D Mark 7870:


Heaven 4.0 6850's


Heaven 4.0 7870



I could not get Heaven to run the Extreme preset in full screen. So I just copied the exact settings of Extreme and ran it accordingly. And here is DevilGog83's comment about the overclock on his cards.

"I think all of those were done at different clocks but 1250/1450 & 4.7 to 4.9 Ghz CPU was for the 3DMark stuff and 1265/1400 and 4.8Ghz CPU for Heaven. I think for 2 6850's you look good."

Page 48 of the xXCrossXFire ClubXx if you have any doubts.


----------



## Alastair

Double post. Sorry.


----------



## neurotix

Again, look at your bench results though. You basically just proved what I'm saying.

In both 3dmark11 and Fire Strike (really, the only two that matter) a single 7870 outperforms your two 6850s.

Keep in mind, my golden 270X at 1270/1500mhz got 9900 in 3dmark11. You got an 8369 with two 6850s. 9900 is almost 10000, that's 1600 points higher with a 270X.

That's a SINGLE midrange card outperforming your two 6850s, drawing less power, leaving more room in the case, and so forth. A strong single card is always better than weaker twin cards.

Also, I know Devildog83 pretty well and we're good friends. I know that his system is gimped in Fire Strike because of a very low combined score. I had this problem too and fixed it by installing Win7 SP1 through Windows Update. I recommended this to him, but it didn't work when he tried it. In actuality, his Fire Strike score should be significantly higher with a 7870. His low combined test score is dragging his whole score down (probably by over 1000 points).

All this benching stuff equates to much better gaming performance with a single card than with an outdated dual card setup.

Your Valley results are actually better than mine with a 270X. I get about 38 fps or so. I think this may be because dual 6850s have 64 ROPS whereas the 270X only has 32- the one advantage to having 6850s. You also have to remember that GCN shaders are wayyy better than VLIW5 shaders in the 6850. Additionally, a 270X or 7870 supports Mantle, which will give big performance increases on slower CPU systems.

6850s were great value for the time but they are easily outperformed by midrange cards now.

Unless you can get another 6850 for ~$50, you have a decent power supply, and you have room in your case for two cards, I would highly recommend something newer. Sell the current 6850, save your money for a few months and hope the prices on cards come down.

I got my 270X for $219 on Newegg and it's a Vapor-X. Even at 1250mhz 1.3v gaming it never passes 55C. Now, the prices on the 270X are around $300. Used 7950s are $400.

Really, I didn't build my current system or my other systems overnight, I saved my money for months and upgraded them piece by piece. People should learn to do this. Save up for a few months instead of getting a weak, old card without Mantle now. Get yourself something really nice that will smash 6850 Crossfire. Prices won't stay this high forever, and even now if you're crafty you can get good deals on things on Craigslist or Ebay or whatever. Before prices went up I saw 7950s for $200 with a mail in rebate, and 7970s for ~$300. The MSRP of a 280X is supposed to be $300. Once prices return to normal, get one of those and it will blow away 6850s and max any game at 1080p.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> Again, look at your bench results though. You basically just proved what I'm saying.
> 
> In both 3dmark11 and Fire Strike (really, the only two that matter) a single 7870 outperforms your two 6850s.
> 
> Keep in mind, my golden 270X at 1270/1500mhz got 9900 in 3dmark11. You got an 8369 with two 6850s. 9900 is almost 10000, that's 1600 points higher with a 270X.
> 
> That's a SINGLE midrange card outperforming your two 6850s, drawing less power, leaving more room in the case, and so forth. A strong single card is always better than weaker twin cards.
> 
> Also, I know Devildog83 pretty well and we're good friends. I know that his system is gimped in Fire Strike because of a very low combined score. I had this problem too and fixed it by installing Win7 SP1 through Windows Update. I recommended this to him, but it didn't work when he tried it. In actuality, his Fire Strike score should be significantly higher with a 7870. His low combined test score is dragging his whole score down (probably by over 1000 points).
> 
> All this benching stuff equates to much better gaming performance with a single card than with an outdated dual card setup.
> 
> Your Valley results are actually better than mine with a 270X. I get about 38 fps or so. I think this may be because dual 6850s have 64 ROPS whereas the 270X only has 32- the one advantage to having 6850s. You also have to remember that GCN shaders are wayyy better than VLIW5 shaders in the 6850. Additionally, a 270X or 7870 supports Mantle, which will give big performance increases on slower CPU systems.
> 
> 6850s were great value for the time but they are easily outperformed by midrange cards now.
> 
> Unless you can get another 6850 for ~$50, you have a decent power supply, and you have room in your case for two cards, I would highly recommend something newer. Sell the current 6850, save your money for a few months and hope the prices on cards come down.
> 
> I got my 270X for $219 on Newegg and it's a Vapor-X. Even at 1250mhz 1.3v gaming it never passes 55C. Now, the prices on the 270X are around $300. Used 7950s are $400.
> 
> Really, I didn't build my current system or my other systems overnight, I saved my money for months and upgraded them piece by piece. People should learn to do this. Save up for a few months instead of getting a weak, old card without Mantle now. Get yourself something really nice that will smash 6850 Crossfire. Prices won't stay this high forever, and even now if you're crafty you can get good deals on things on Craigslist or Ebay or whatever. Before prices went up I saw 7950s for $200 with a mail in rebate, and 7970s for ~$300. The MSRP of a 280X is supposed to be $300. Once prices return to normal, get one of those and it will blow away 6850s and max any game at 1080p.


My point was yes I am behind a 7870. But not by a huge margin. A 100 points or so at best isn't really much to rave about. And you do admit to having a GOLDEN 7870 which is silicone lottery. If you say DevilDog's scores are gimped, has he tried a clean install of win 7? Did they improve? If they did can you show me the results?

What you say there does ring true. With mantle and GCN and all the future does look good for the newer cards. In terms of future proofing the newer cards defiantly have tat going for them. GCN sharders are beast. I have almost 2000 vs a 7870's 1280 and I'm still as you say a bit behind.

However what's the whole reason we say get a single strong card vs two weaker cards. Its for easy upgradability later. And that's the point in the road he is already at. He already has 1 6850. A decent card back in the day and still fairly capable. He definitely won't be disappointed with a second 6850 or 6870. Especially if he can get it cheap enough. And he will still be within grasping distance of a stock 7850/70 (If his cards run 900/1100 at LEAST). If his cards OC well (950/1200 mark) he will be able to play with a few overclocked 7870's.

On the other hand a 7870 is a powerhouse no doubt. And will scale wonderfully with a second card in the future. It's much more future proof in terms of more VRAM and exclusive features like Mantle. The only downside is the inflated prices at the moment. And how long will it be before the prices become reasonable again? A month? Two months? The thing is we don't know. They might come down. But we don't know when. And this mining craze has already been going on for 3 months and we will soon be moving on to 4.

However. We know 6870 and 6850 will crossfire. So why not a 6870. That will defiantly give a nice healthy boost and he will surely be on par with 7870. It will give him more performance than a 6850. It is still cheaper than a 7870? Just another path to consider.
So to summarise.

*A second 6870:*
Pro's:
Cheap
Available at decent prices right now.
Will be within spitting distance of a single 7870

Con's
Not as future proof
Higher power consumption.
Once you have a second your at a dead end on your upgrade path until you replace with a newer card.

*7870*
Pro's
Powerhouse GPU
More powerful than 2 6850's (Not by a huge margine)
Scales really well with a second card in the system
Less power consumption for similar performance.
Keeps the upgrade path for a second card free in the future
MANTLE!!!!!!!

Con's
Expensive at the moment.


----------



## Alastair

Double AGAIN!


----------



## neurotix

I'm pretty sure if he Crossfires a 6870 with a 6850, some of the shaders and TMUs on the 6870 will be disabled to match the 6850. At least, I know for a fact that people who Crossfire a 7970 with a 7950 end up with both cards running at 7950 spec (1792 shaders). So, getting a 6870 isn't going to give any kind of performance boost.

You got 8300 in 3dmark11, I got 9900. If we round up and say I got 10000, and you got 8400, that makes it an even number, which makes this easier. 10000-8400=1600. That's 16% more performance from a single card without the drawbacks of a dual card setup. Further, GCN shaders have been shown to have 33% more performance than VLIW shaders. When we aren't talking about synthetic benches, but real world gaming performance, the advantage of GCN cards becomes clear in the higher fps. You can see all that here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/780?vs=857 Take note that the 7870 is getting almost double or more the fps of a 6870. When you factor in things like Crossfire scaling with the 6850s, the performance is reduced even more.. Unfortunately anandtech doesn't have a dual 6870 bench set, but you get the idea. My point is basically that the 7870 is well beyond dual 6850s in performance, 16% better or possibly more.

Don't get me wrong. I loved my 6870. Unfortunately, it's dead. My brother went to game on it, and didn't turn up the fan profile. The card overheated and blew. System rebooted and now the card only goes to a black windows login screen. It shows "Starting Windows" but then when it loads the login screen it's completely dead and can't initialize the desktop window manager. I folded nearly 2 million points on my 6870 over a year for the Team Competition. The card maxed out almost any game I wanted to play at 1080p. My brother gave me money to replace the 6870, and I got my 270X, which is easily twice as powerful (I got 5000 or so in 3dmark11 with a 6870 at 1050/1250, and my 270X does double that, look it up on my Hwbot if you want). Anyway, my 6870 is still in it's original box with all accessories in my basement. Not sure what I can do with it, if anything, because I can't RMA it and get it fixed, it's out of warranty. It was a great card for it's time but there is newer and better now.

The prices on the 270X aren't bad if you know where to look, here's an awesome 270X Vapor-X for $229 http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.cgi?action=thispage&thispage=0110040015011_BTY0777P.shtml&order_id=!ORDERID!

If you don't like Sapphire there's plenty of others to choose from, some are even cheaper. http://www.shopblt.com/search/order_id=%2521ORDERID%2521&s_max=25&t_all=1&s_all=270X

There's quite a few on ebay too, some even come with a HD 5450. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=radeon+270X&_sop=15

Just because prices are high on Newegg doesn't mean you can't find good deals elsewhere.

Wish me luck because I'm saving my mining money and selling stuff to afford another 290 Tri-X, Newegg wants to sell them for $750, which is $300 over MSRP. At least the price increases on the 270X are nowhere near that level. I got my first 290 Tri-X for $579 and I sucked it up and overpaid for it, but it was worth it. I just hope I can get my second for that price or less, if they even have them in stock.

There is no reason anyone looking to upgrade shouldn't be able to afford a 270X for $220 on shopblt.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> I'm pretty sure if he Crossfires a 6870 with a 6850, some of the shaders and TMUs on the 6870 will be disabled to match the 6850. At least, I know for a fact that people who Crossfire a 7970 with a 7950 end up with both cards running at 7950 spec (1792 shaders). So, getting a 6870 isn't going to give any kind of performance boost.
> 
> You got 8300 in 3dmark11, I got 9900. If we round up and say I got 10000, and you got 8400, that makes it an even number, which makes this easier. 10000-8400=1600. That's 16% more performance from a single card without the drawbacks of a dual card setup. Further, GCN shaders have been shown to have 33% more performance than VLIW shaders. When we aren't talking about synthetic benches, but real world gaming performance, the advantage of GCN cards becomes clear in the higher fps. You can see all that here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/780?vs=857 Take note that the 7870 is getting almost double or more the fps of a 6870. When you factor in things like Crossfire scaling with the 6850s, the performance is reduced even more.. Unfortunately anandtech doesn't have a dual 6870 bench set, but you get the idea. My point is basically that the 7870 is well beyond dual 6850s in performance, 16% better or possibly more.
> 
> Don't get me wrong. I loved my 6870. Unfortunately, it's dead. My brother went to game on it, and didn't turn up the fan profile. The card overheated and blew. System rebooted and now the card only goes to a black windows login screen. It shows "Starting Windows" but then when it loads the login screen it's completely dead and can't initialize the desktop window manager. I folded nearly 2 million points on my 6870 over a year for the Team Competition. The card maxed out almost any game I wanted to play at 1080p. My brother gave me money to replace the 6870, and I got my 270X, which is easily twice as powerful (I got 5000 or so in 3dmark11 with a 6870 at 1050/1250, and my 270X does double that, look it up on my Hwbot if you want). Anyway, my 6870 is still in it's original box with all accessories in my basement. Not sure what I can do with it, if anything, because I can't RMA it and get it fixed, it's out of warranty. It was a great card for it's time but there is newer and better now.
> 
> The prices on the 270X aren't bad if you know where to look, here's an awesome 270X Vapor-X for $229 http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.cgi?action=thispage&thispage=0110040015011_BTY0777P.shtml&order_id=!ORDERID!
> 
> If you don't like Sapphire there's plenty of others to choose from, some are even cheaper. http://www.shopblt.com/search/order_id=%2521ORDERID%2521&s_max=25&t_all=1&s_all=270X
> 
> There's quite a few on ebay too, some even come with a HD 5450. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=radeon+270X&_sop=15
> 
> Just because prices are high on Newegg doesn't mean you can't find good deals elsewhere.
> 
> Wish me luck because I'm saving my mining money and selling stuff to afford another 290 Tri-X, Newegg wants to sell them for $750, which is $300 over MSRP. At least the price increases on the 270X are nowhere near that level. I got my first 290 Tri-X for $579 and I sucked it up and overpaid for it, but it was worth it. I just hope I can get my second for that price or less, if they even have them in stock.
> 
> There is no reason anyone looking to upgrade shouldn't be able to afford a 270X for $220 on shopblt.


As far as I am AWARE. I may be wrong. But I am sure that the cards don't configure one another to match the smaller card. I am pretty sure I saw that somewhere... Cant remember where though.... If only I had a 6870 to test that theory. What 6870 was it? What cooler? If the card is dead are you willing to part with the cooler (If its twin Frozr or equivalent?) Do you have a second stock cooler like it?

I love my 6850's. They have treated me well. And still perform well. I also think my pair is fairly GOLDEN (Maybe SILVER







) based on the overclocks I have achieved on air. I hope that they will at least last me until R9-3XX (If 2XX gets replaced this year). But if a post I read a few months ago about manufactures struggling with smaller nodes (Moore's Law basically is slowing down now) GCN 28nm MIGHT still have another two years left. If that's the case then I will be upgrading to 280X's maybe end of the year. But I first want to see If I can break records with these 6850's under water first. (I already hold Catzilla 720P for 6850's and I also beat 6870's







) I know. SPENDING MONIES ON WATER FOR THESE OLD BATS? But I just don't want to part with them.... YET...


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> As far as I am AWARE. I may be wrong. But I am sure that the cards don't configure one another to match the smaller card. I am pretty sure I saw that somewhere... Cant remember where though.... If only I had a 6870 to test that theory. What 6870 was it? What cooler? If the card is dead are you willing to part with the cooler (If its twin Frozr or equivalent?) Do you have a second stock cooler like it?
> 
> I love my 6850's. They have treated me well. And still perform well. I also think my pair is fairly GOLDEN (Maybe SILVER
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ) based on the overclocks I have achieved on air. I hope that they will at least last me until R9-3XX (If 2XX gets replaced this year). But if a post I read a few months ago about manufactures struggling with smaller nodes (Moore's Law basically is slowing down now) GCN 28nm MIGHT still have another two years left. If that's the case then I will be upgrading to 280X's maybe end of the year. But I first want to see If I can break records with these 6850's under water first. (I already hold Catzilla 720P for 6850's and I also beat 6870's
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ) I know. SPENDING MONIES ON WATER FOR THESE OLD BATS? But I just don't want to part with them.... YET...


You are correct Alastair, crossfire does not match the cards. What actually happens is that the stronger card runs at a lower usage waiting for the slower card to finish.
You can try this with your current system by leaving one GPU at stock clocks and overclock the other, you'll see that the overclocked one will run at 90% usage vs 99% on the stock GPU.
What was described by the other user is what happens with SLI and not Crossfire, I've already mentioned this several times in this thread so I won't even bother going back to get proof.

6850's might be "aged" but they are not that weak. 1080p gaming they still do rather well, they suffer because of their lack of VRAM tbh.
Regarding the upgrade path, having a single card is always better even if the performance is lower vs dual cards.
Example: 7990 or 290? I would pick the 290 cause it should be smoother.
Same applies to the 6850's, it is no longer a viable option to crossfire them, it was when I did it. Isn't anymore tho in my opinion.

Edit: I'm pretty sure your cards can hold another year Alastair, but they'll loose tons of value meanwhile.


----------



## neurotix

Quote:


> As far as I am AWARE. I may be wrong. But I am sure that the cards don't configure one another to match the smaller card. I am pretty sure I saw that somewhere... Cant remember where though.... If only I had a 6870 to test that theory. What 6870 was it? What cooler? If the card is dead are you willing to part with the cooler (If its twin Frozr or equivalent?) Do you have a second stock cooler like it?


I am almost 100% sure that the cards configure themselves to run at the settings of the lower card, based on numerous posts I've seen in owners threads about people doing it. http://www.overclock.net/t/1220192/crossfire-question-6850-with-a-6870 http://www.overclock.net/t/1047602/can-you-crossfire-6870-with-6850 Everyone is saying that the 6870 will run with 960 shaders instead of 1120.

The card is a Sapphire 6870, the one with a single fan. This one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

For me, it's just the principle of the matter. You shouldn't Crossfire low end or low mid range cards. The best example of this I can think of is a guy in my computer hardware class I took in 2012. Not only did he build a system with an FX-8150 when it was brand new, but he got Crossfire 7770s when the card was brand new. He paid almost $170 per card for 1280 shaders and 32 ROPs. My 6870 handily outperformed his system and cost half as much. If he had just paid about $60 more he could have had a single 7950 and it would outperform his Crossfire setup by a large margin. Never Crossfire two weak cards. So my advice to anyone upgrading is dump the old, outdated and slow 6850s and get a single stronger card.

The problem with 6850s/6870s is that they overclock like garbage and have slow memory bandwidth. With my 6870 I was barely able to do 1000/1200mhz for gaming. That's 100 mhz on the core and 150mhz on the RAM. My 270X does 1250/1500, which is a considerable overclock, and explains why the performance is so much higher with a single card.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> As far as I am AWARE. I may be wrong. But I am sure that the cards don't configure one another to match the smaller card. I am pretty sure I saw that somewhere... Cant remember where though.... If only I had a 6870 to test that theory. What 6870 was it? What cooler? If the card is dead are you willing to part with the cooler (If its twin Frozr or equivalent?) Do you have a second stock cooler like it?
> 
> 
> 
> I am almost 100% sure that the cards configure themselves to run at the settings of the lower card, based on numerous posts I've seen in owners threads about people doing it. http://www.overclock.net/t/1220192/crossfire-question-6850-with-a-6870 http://www.overclock.net/t/1047602/can-you-crossfire-6870-with-6850 Everyone is saying that the 6870 will run with 960 shaders instead of 1120.
> 
> The card is a Sapphire 6870, the one with a single fan. This one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
> 
> For me, it's just the principle of the matter. You shouldn't Crossfire low end or low mid range cards. The best example of this I can think of is a guy in my computer hardware class I took in 2012. Not only did he build a system with an FX-8150 when it was brand new, but he got Crossfire 7770s when the card was brand new. He paid almost $170 per card for 1280 shaders and 32 ROPs. My 6870 handily outperformed his system and cost half as much. If he had just paid about $60 more he could have had a single 7950 and it would outperform his Crossfire setup by a large margin. Never Crossfire two weak cards. So my advice to anyone upgrading is dump the old, outdated and slow 6850s and get a single stronger card.
> 
> The problem with 6850s/6870s is that they overclock like garbage and have slow memory bandwidth. With my 6870 I was barely able to do 1000/1200mhz for gaming. That's 100 mhz on the core and 150mhz on the RAM. My 270X does 1250/1500, which is a considerable overclock, and explains why the performance is so much higher with a single card.
Click to expand...

Were you at your thermal limit? I know Barts in general has two temperature stability walls. 1 at 75C and the next at 85C. If your thermals were ok I wonder if 1GHz is the limit of the Barts architecture. Cause I got a massive 30%+ OC with my 6850's. But now they are at 1Ghz and they are barely stable at the moment at that speed. But due to the thermals of 90C per card I don't have anymore room (AT THE MOMENT) to push any harder. Memory I have also noticed that 1200 seems to be pushing it. I don't know if they just get too hot ( I got some ramsinks to stick on to bust or confirm the theory) or if for the 68XX's they just used poor memory chips?


----------



## neurotix

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Were you at your thermal limit? I know Barts in general has two temperature stability walls. 1 at 75C and the next at 85C. If your thermals were ok I wonder if 1GHz is the limit of the Barts architecture. Cause I got a massive 30%+ OC with my 6850's. But now they are at 1Ghz and they are barely stable at the moment at that speed. But due to the thermals of 90C per card I don't have anymore room (AT THE MOMENT) to push any harder. Memory I have also noticed that 1200 seems to be pushing it. I don't know if they just get too hot ( I got some ramsinks to stick on to bust or confirm the theory) or if for the 68XX's they just used poor memory chips?


I was never anywhere near the thermal limit on my 6870. Temps under full load with 1.3 were below 70C.

The highest I could run my cards for benches was 1050/1250mhz but they would crash in games immediately. This was with 1.3v and "force constant voltage" (which actually worked then, and gave the cards 1.3v according to GPU-Z with no droop. Every 7xxx or R9 card I've had, force constantly voltage doesn't work and the cards still have massive vdroop under load).

The problem with ANY AMD graphics card that I've noticed is that there's not only a thermal wall, there's a MHz wall depending on the chip. Once you reach a certain MHz, adding more voltage won't let you go beyond that frequency no matter what you do. My R9 290 won't do anything more than 1215/1550mhz without black screening (RAM) or showing artifacts in Valley (Core), regardless of the voltage. My 270X won't do more than 1250mhz in games without the computer randomly shutting off eventually. It can do 1300mhz in Valley with no artifacts, but crashes immediately upon loading a game. The card is limited to 1.3v in Trixx, and there's still some vdroop, I think if I could raise the voltage past 1.3 it MIGHT stabilize it at 1300mhz. However, it doesn't seem worth it to mess around with a custom bios just to gain 50mhz, so I leave it alone. Regardless, all of the AMD cards I've had have a limit on what clocks you can run that is encountered before you even hit the thermal limits of the card. Also, in general, newer cards are better clockers and have more overclocking headroom than old cards. Case in point, the R9 270 runs stock at 900/1400mhz but I run my 270X at 1250/1500mhz. That's 350mhz more on the core which is a very large percentage higher in performance.


----------



## smoke420

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sudo -v*
> 
> I have a ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU.
> I was wondering it is worth buying another one to use it in crossfire? How much is the performance gain? I have read contradicting claims, someone says it gives a 30%-50% gain some say it gives about 70-80% gain.
> 
> So is it worth buying another to crossfire or buy something completely different of present generation in same budget? i.e. Same budget single GPU vs 2 x 6850s ?
> 
> Also can anyone tell me the difference between these two versions?
> 
> EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5
> EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2
> 
> Of course I know one is new and the other one is newer version 2
> But spec wise the only difference I see is
> Can anyone explain me the differnce between these two version?
> As I most probably have the version 1. So if I buy now for crossfire I would have to buy the V2.


The v2 has two 6 pin power connectors versus just one on the v1. It has better over clocking potential as well. If you find one cheap go for it. You can not beat doubling your performance for $50 bucks. On the other hand if you game at more than 1080p of plan on maxxing games in the future its time to upgrade. If you decide to get a new card go nvidia. AMD used to be best bang for buck but no more. With so many people mining AMD cards are overpriced for just gaming.


----------



## kopp

I am a noobie

hi to everyone here in _OVERCLOCK.net_









cpu- AMD Athlon 2 X4 630 2.8ghz
mobo- Biostar TA 890 GXE ver 5.1
ram- Adata ddr3 1600 4gb X 2
gpu- XFX Radeon HD 6850
psu- coolermaster 600watt
hdd-seagate sata2 500gb

monitor- Dell S2240L 1920x1080 60hz

in windows 7 64, i used to connect my graphics card (xfx radeon hd 6850 1gb) to my monitor through VGA port- no problem then.

problem started when i connected the monitor with HDMI.

with hdmi, the biostar bootup logo is shown twice- before and after detecting ide channel- it shows only once with vga input

then the onboard audio (realtek alc892) gets corrupted when opening new window, using the scroll function etc. stuttering and crackling voices are heard

(i tried enabling and disabling hdmi audio- with the same result)

zooming in and out in picasa photo viewer became jumpy or stuttering- again the same problems with audio (stuttering and crackling), it used to be smooth with vga

when i booted with vga ang changed to hdmi in windows, everything is fine

what is happening?

please help!

thank you


----------



## vonss

My GPU fan died and is being extremely hard for me to get a replacement in my lousy country.
Any advice of how to make a "home fix" till I can save up to buy a full cooling replacement?
Thanks in advance.


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> My GPU fan died and is being extremely hard for me to get a replacement in my lousy country.
> Any advice of how to make a "home fix" till I can save up to buy a full cooling replacement?
> Thanks in advance.


What model is it? Most conventional air coolers are just simple heatsinks with elaborate fan shrouds. Try taking off the shroud and fan, and strap a good case fan to the heatsink (use zipties or double sided tape/velcro).


----------



## Tokkan

All he is throwing is
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> What model is it? Most conventional air coolers are just simple heatsinks with elaborate fan shrouds. Try taking off the shroud and fan, and strap a good case fan to the heatsink (use zipties or double sided tape/velcro).


This.
Just take off the broken fan, the shroud case fan in it and you'll be having better temps than before prolly.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> What model is it? Most conventional air coolers are just simple heatsinks with elaborate fan shrouds. Try taking off the shroud and fan, and strap a good case fan to the heatsink (use zipties or double sided tape/velcro).


Sorry, typed that in a rush.
My GPU is exactly this one: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/product_index.aspx?pid=1270&lid=1
AFAIK is a 90mm fan that I can't find anywhere to buy one as a replacement.


----------



## Melcar

Just disassemble the shroud and take off the fan. Use zipties to strap on a good 92mm case fan or a 120mm fan if you can fit it.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> Just disassemble the shroud and take off the fan. Use zipties to strap on a good 92mm case fan or a 120mm fan if you can fit it.


I can use a generic 80mm fan or a decent 120mm, though fittin' the 120mm could be a hassle.
¿Should I use the heatsink fins or the heatpipies to attach the zipties?


----------



## Melcar

If the 80mm fan is the same size or smaller than the heatsink, you can simply use ziptie screws. A 120mm fan I imagine will overhang, so just tie the zipties around the heatpipes.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> If the 80mm fan is the same size or smaller than the heatsink, you can simply use ziptie screws. A 120mm fan I imagine will overhang, so just tie the zipties around the heatpipes.


Okay, I'll get working on that right now trying to attach my Zalman ZM-F3 but I reckon I'll need to buy new zipties for that. I will also upload pics for your amusement.
Thanks for the help. Cheers.


----------



## Melcar

Did this today with a pair of 92mm Blade Masters and my old AC Turbo Pro II cooler.


----------



## vonss

Well, here it is:

It was from an old Atlhon XP 3000+ (though I'm considering using the fan of my stock Phenom cooler).
Thanks again for the idea.
P.D.: I might be able to get those Blademasters to try to fit 'em. Cheers


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Well, here it is:
> 
> It was from an old Atlhon XP 3000+ (though I'm considering using the fan of my stock Phenom cooler).
> Thanks again for the idea.
> P.D.: I might be able to get those Blademasters to try to fit 'em. Cheers


Looks good should do well


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Well, here it is:
> 
> It was from an old Atlhon XP 3000+ (though I'm considering using the fan of my stock Phenom cooler).
> Thanks again for the idea.
> P.D.: I might be able to get those Blademasters to try to fit 'em. Cheers


Blade Masters are loud suckers. I have them on with the silencers that came with my Jetflows (60% speed).


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Well, here it is:
> 
> It was from an old Atlhon XP 3000+ (though I'm considering using the fan of my stock Phenom cooler).
> Thanks again for the idea.
> P.D.: I might be able to get those Blademasters to try to fit 'em. Cheers
> 
> 
> 
> Blade Masters are loud suckers. I have them on with the silencers that came with my Jetflows (60% speed).
Click to expand...

Just get JetFlo's. You and the other guy


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Just get JetFlo's. You and the other guy


You can still hear Jetflos even on the 60% silencer. I´m already using all the available headers in my mobo, so there is no way to further silence them.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Just get JetFlo's. You and the other guy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can still hear Jetflos even on the 60% silencer. I´m already using all the available headers in my mobo, so there is no way to further silence them.
Click to expand...

Are they good? I got three sitting on my 360mm rad but until the GPU blocks arrive I am not tearing down my loop to install the rad.

EDIT: I have heard tons of good things about it though.


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Are they good? I got three sitting on my 360mm rad but until the GPU blocks arrive I am not tearing down my loop to install the rad.
> 
> EDIT: I have heard tons of good things about it though.


The Jetflos? They are great, provided you can control them. They run faster than advertised, and a bit louder. 2100rpm at full speed, 1800rpm and 1400rpm with the adapters. You can still voltage regulate them with the adapters, which allows you to further silence them. They move a good amount of air even at 1000rpm.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Are they good? I got three sitting on my 360mm rad but until the GPU blocks arrive I am not tearing down my loop to install the rad.
> 
> EDIT: I have heard tons of good things about it though.
> 
> 
> 
> The Jetflos? They are great, provided you can control them. They run faster than advertised, and a bit louder. 2100rpm at full speed, 1800rpm and 1400rpm with the adapters. You can still voltage regulate them with the adapters, which allows you to further silence them. They move a good amount of air even at 1000rpm.
Click to expand...

You know thats great! Too often I get fans that run slower than advertised (although still within the 10% margin of error.) Seeing some fans doing more than advertised now thats rare! And I look forward to it because I know that I will at least get 1900RPM out of them on the rather restrictive EX rads. My Aerocool Sharks 140mm do about 1550RPM (1500 advertised) with no restriction. Stick it on the read and that drops to about 1350RPM. So assuming the same RPM drop on a similar rad leads me to the conclusion. BUT DATS OFF TOPICS
















Back on topic. Which would be better RAM sinks for my GPU's? I bought the one set cause I planned to do water ages ago but never got to it. Lost the first set Then ordered my WC stuff for my cards (including new RAM sinks) and now I found the old ones!









So I have these black Aluminium ones.


And these VIZO pure copper sinks that are a bit smaller.


Here are the two types next to one another. As you can see the copper ones look a bit smaller. Would the fact that they are copper make up for their lack in size? I dunno. Opinions would be great!










The copper ones do have an adhesive on them. But I think I will replace that with Arctic Thermal Adhesive.

Oh and I will have active cooling for the ram sinks as well.
I got me PCI fan cards to blow onto the cards to give air flow to the sinks. (I cant figure out how to ghetto mod the 92mm fans from the cyclone coolers onto the cards after the water cooling to help with the VRM and RAM cooling. So I opted for the easy way out.


----------



## Melcar

The Jetflos run even faster when pulling/pushing through a filter/rad. My filtered intakes run at 2000rpms with the 1600rpm adapter.


----------



## greenscobie86

I'm still using this card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561

Has served me decently within the past 2 years but Its time to upgrade...

Running 925 Core 1125 Mem due to the locked voltage controller on this card, wish it was unlocked so that I could get some more life out of it.


----------



## NeoReaper

I am going to be leaving my 6870 soon too...
Performance is just not in its nature anymore...
It shall soon be replaced with XFX Radeon R9 270X Boost 2GB
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-xfx-radeon-r9-270x-boost-5600mhz-gddr5-gpu-1000mhz-boost-1050mhz-dvi-hdmi-mdport-plusfree-bf4


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *greenscobie86*
> 
> I'm still using this card.
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561
> 
> Has served me decently within the past 2 years but Its time to upgrade...
> 
> Running 925 Core 1125 Mem due to the locked voltage controller on this card, wish it was unlocked so that I could get some more life out of it.


You have tried flashing the BIOS?

Also I posted up a little while back. Nobody got advice on which RAM sinks to use?


----------



## Melcar

Either will work. GDDR5 doesn't get that hot and just keeping it a few degrees cooler won't allow you to clock them any higher once your particular vram chips reach their physical limit, unless you start pumping more volts into them (at which point you need more serious vram cooling than those small sinks). Use glue if you get cooper sinks; they're heavier and thermal tape won't hold them for long.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> Either will work. GDDR5 doesn't get that hot and just keeping it a few degrees cooler won't allow you to clock them any higher once your particular vram chips reach their physical limit, unless you start pumping more volts into them (at which point you need more serious vram cooling than those small sinks). Use glue if you get cooper sinks; they're heavier and thermal tape won't hold them for long.


Im already pumping +50mv into them without cooling. And they do get rather toasty. So this is why I will be putting the sinks on. I have a feeling the copper ones although smaller will be better.


----------



## greenscobie86

I dont think flashing the BIOS will help in my case. There was a reference thread here on OCN about someone trying to overvolt my exact card, with no results in tiny voltage increments...









EDIT: Im also wondering if trying to improve cooling on this card will yield me a better overclock and no voltage?
If anyone has any tips on how to improve the stock cooler or a good budget solution feel free!


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *greenscobie86*
> 
> I dont think flashing the BIOS will help in my case. There was a reference thread here on OCN about someone trying to overvolt my exact card, with no results in tiny voltage increments...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT: Im also wondering if trying to improve cooling on this card will yield me a better overclock and no voltage?
> If anyone has any tips on how to improve the stock cooler or a good budget solution feel free!


See if you can get some of the older Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo coolers (the older dual fan models). I doubt you will be able to overclock much more just with better cooling, unless your stock cooler is really ****.


----------



## greenscobie86

Thanks for the reply.

Found another thread on this matter and it looks like my only "cost effective" solution would be to replace the thermal paste on the die of the card...

http://www.overclock.net/t/1466196/looking-to-mod-xfx-hd6870-cooling

The Accelero Turbo II's are are discontinued and used ones still go fo an arm and a leg. Oh well, thanks for the help anyway!


----------



## Melcar

Or strap some fans with zipties.


----------



## SRICE4904

1 x Diamond HD 6850 1GB
1 x XFX Black Edition HD 6850 1GB
Pic of my Diamond 6850


Pic of my XFX 6850


CPU-Z for the XFX 6850
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/wzv7a/

I will be running them in crossfire soon


----------



## SRICE4904

Flashed the bios of my XFX 6850 to XFX 6870!
Stock bios 3dmark11 score


With the 6870 bios I got this









http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8171384

Thats a 232 point score increase on professional settings!


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SRICE4904*
> 
> 1 x Diamond HD 6850 1GB
> 1 x XFX Black Edition HD 6850 1GB
> Pic of my Diamond 6850
> 
> 
> Pic of my XFX 6850
> 
> 
> CPU-Z for the XFX 6850
> http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/wzv7a/
> 
> I will be running them in crossfire soon


Have fun. Great little cards still. Are you overclocked?


----------



## NeoReaper

Well now running the XFX R9 270X, putting the 6870 in my Home PC that everyone uses so it will never be stressed out again.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> Well now running the XFX R9 270X, putting the 6870 in my Home PC that everyone uses so it will never be stressed out again.


A good retirement I must say


----------



## SRICE4904

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Have fun. Great little cards still. Are you overclocked?


I flashed the bios from a XFX 6870 on my 6850.

XFX 6850 stock settings:
Core Clk: 820.00 MHz
Memory Clk: 1100.00 MHz
Voltage: 1.150 V
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/wzv7a/

XFX 6850 w/ XFX 6870 bios:
Core Clk: 900.00 MHz
Memory Clk: 1050.00 MHz
Voltage: 1.175 V
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/zac89/

Here is a link to my 3dMark 11 benchmark:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8173550


----------



## SRICE4904

I read all over that I could flash the bios of my xfx 6850 and it worked!









Now my question is with my Diamond HD 6850 can I flash the Diamond 6870 bios over with the same results? And if I can will I be able to run them in crossfire that way?


----------



## SRICE4904

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SRICE4904*
> 
> I read all over that I could flash the bios of my xfx 6850 and it worked!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now my question is with my Diamond HD 6850 can I flash the Diamond 6870 bios over with the same results? And if I can will I be able to run them in crossfire that way?


Anyone have suggestions or comments? Any help will be much appreciated.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SRICE4904*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *SRICE4904*
> 
> I read all over that I could flash the bios of my xfx 6850 and it worked!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now my question is with my Diamond HD 6850 can I flash the Diamond 6870 bios over with the same results? And if I can will I be able to run them in crossfire that way?
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone have suggestions or comments? Any help will be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Yeah to be honest all you are doing is overclocking your cards by flashing them to 6870 BIOS. These cards are not like the 6950's where a BIOS flash would unlock the disabled shader clusters and turn it into a 6970. All the 6870 BIOS does is make the 6850 run at 6870 clocks. And that is easily attainable with normal overclocking through MSI Afterburner. So why don't you just save yourself the trouble and risk of bricking a card and OC your cards normally?


----------



## SRICE4904

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Yeah to be honest all you are doing is overclocking your cards by flashing them to 6870 BIOS. These cards are not like the 6950's where a BIOS flash would unlock the disabled shader clusters and turn it into a 6970. All the 6870 BIOS does is make the 6850 run at 6870 clocks. And that is easily attainable with normal overclocking through MSI Afterburner. So why don't you just save yourself the trouble and risk of bricking a card and OC your cards normally?


Yeah I know about and tried using those programs but with the non reference cards not having a voltage regulator I couldn't up the voltage. That sucked so I flashed my bios. Runs great with the .025v increase at the 6870 clocks. My question is can I do the same thing to my diamond ( if I brick it I can always reflash it with the stock bios right? I made a back up) and can I run them in crossfire?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SRICE4904*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Yeah to be honest all you are doing is overclocking your cards by flashing them to 6870 BIOS. These cards are not like the 6950's where a BIOS flash would unlock the disabled shader clusters and turn it into a 6970. All the 6870 BIOS does is make the 6850 run at 6870 clocks. And that is easily attainable with normal overclocking through MSI Afterburner. So why don't you just save yourself the trouble and risk of bricking a card and OC your cards normally?
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah I know about and tried using those programs but with the non reference cards not having a voltage regulator I couldn't up the voltage. That sucked so I flashed my bios. Runs great with the .025v increase at the 6870 clocks. My question is can I do the same thing to my diamond ( if I brick it I can always reflash it with the stock bios right? I made a back up) and can I run them in crossfire?
Click to expand...

You should be able to do the same things with your Diamond. Go to Techpower up's VGA BIOS database. They should have BIOS's there for you. You could also download the Techpower Up BIOS modding software as well. And you can modify your BIOS and set the voltage manually from there.


----------



## NeoReaper

Lol, while I was waiting for my netbook to install Lubuntu, since my home pc that everyone uses has not got a powerful enough psu I still have my 6870 in its bag so I got it out and started spinning it by its fan... Oh the irony of it all... This card will haunt me forever.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NeoReaper*
> 
> Lol, while I was waiting for my netbook to install Lubuntu, since my home pc that everyone uses has not got a powerful enough psu I still have my 6870 in its bag so I got it out and started spinning it by its fan... Oh the irony of it all... This card will haunt me forever.


I know what you mean.







These 6850's have left such a mark on my heart that I am spending money to get them under water to just keep them a b it longer and get more speed from them, when the money could have been better spent on a 270-280x!


----------



## Tokkan

Same with me, after all the trouble they both gave me I just can't get rid of them...
Was gonna buy a GTX770 for 200 euros and sell them for 75 euros each, but I just wasnt ready to move on.
Still using them to game and they do not disappoint!
Im reaching the point in which if I dont upgrade anything Im gonna leave everything as is and build a new system to replace this one


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Same with me, after all the trouble they both gave me I just can't get rid of them...
> Was gonna buy a GTX770 for 200 euros and sell them for 75 euros each, but I just wasnt ready to move on.
> Still using them to game and they do not disappoint!
> Im reaching the point in which if I dont upgrade anything Im gonna leave everything as is and build a new system to replace this one


What trouble did you get?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> What trouble did you get?


I got a release 6850 from Sapphire and purchased the other one arround a year later.
They use the same cooler, same SKU. Different components.
The PCB on the newer one is crap when compared to the older one, I can't get it to clock anything. Its voltage locked also.
I'm gonna put the old picture I took of them up again.


Top one is the newer card, PCB is longer similar to 6870 PCB but the VRMs etc are plain crap. Can't overclock to 800Mhz without artifacting.
The bottom one is the older 6850, use it as my main card. Overclocks nicely to 1Ghz core and 1150Mhz memory, temps don't go over 76~ on auto fan profile in gaming.

Getting them to play nicely with each other was another struggle, when I bought the both of them I started having all kinds of issues that occupied my free time for over a week. I couldn't get them to crossfire.
They both worked as single cards, I had to play arround with configurations to see what I could do. I believe it was driver related because I don't have any issues with them anymore.
But initially I ran the bottom card as my primary display and the top one as slave, if I turned it arround they wouldn't allow crossfire.
Played with their Bios and changing the clocks to see if I could get higher clocks out of them with voltage regulation... The newer card acepts modifications to the Bios, the older one doesn't.
It stays stuck at 100/150 even if I change all the profiles to 900/1100mhz, I believe it might be driver controlled? Haven't looked much into it cause I just started doing that recently.

Also the older card uses Hynix memory chips vs Elpida on the newer one, the sensor list in GPU-Z also points to a major difference in the PCB as you can see in the attached pics.


The card with a bigger list of sensors is the older one, you can't see it on the screenshot but it also has VDDC current reading, and two VRM temperature readings.


----------



## brucethemoose

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> What trouble did you get?
> 
> 
> 
> I got a release 6850 from Sapphire and purchased the other one arround a year later.
> They use the same cooler, same SKU. Different components.
> The PCB on the newer one is crap when compared to the older one, I can't get it to clock anything. Its voltage locked also.
> I'm gonna put the old picture I took of them up again.
> 
> 
> Top one is the newer card, PCB is longer similar to 6870 PCB but the VRMs etc are plain crap. Can't overclock to 800Mhz without artifacting.
> The bottom one is the older 6850, use it as my main card. Overclocks nicely to 1Ghz core and 1150Mhz memory, temps don't go over 76~ on auto fan profile in gaming.
> 
> Getting them to play nicely with each other was another struggle, when I bought the both of them I started having all kinds of issues that occupied my free time for over a week. I couldn't get them to crossfire.
> They both worked as single cards, I had to play arround with configurations to see what I could do. I believe it was driver related because I don't have any issues with them anymore.
> But initially I ran the bottom card as my primary display and the top one as slave, if I turned it arround they wouldn't allow crossfire.
> Played with their Bios and changing the clocks to see if I could get higher clocks out of them with voltage regulation... The newer card acepts modifications to the Bios, the older one doesn't.
> It stays stuck at 100/150 even if I change all the profiles to 900/1100mhz, I believe it might be driver controlled? Haven't looked much into it cause I just started doing that recently.
> 
> Also the older card uses Hynix memory chips vs Elpida on the newer one, the sensor list in GPU-Z also points to a major difference in the PCB as you can see in the attached pics.
> 
> 
> The card with a bigger list of sensors is the older one, you can't see it on the screenshot but it also has VDDC current reading, and two VRM temperature readings.
Click to expand...

My Gigabyte 6850s are the same. I haven't removed the heatsink, but the older one has more sensors and more headroom, the newer one has locked voltage control.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> What trouble did you get?
> 
> 
> 
> I got a release 6850 from Sapphire and purchased the other one arround a year later.
> They use the same cooler, same SKU. Different components.
> The PCB on the newer one is crap when compared to the older one, I can't get it to clock anything. Its voltage locked also.
> I'm gonna put the old picture I took of them up again.
> 
> 
> Top one is the newer card, PCB is longer similar to 6870 PCB but the VRMs etc are plain crap. Can't overclock to 800Mhz without artifacting.
> The bottom one is the older 6850, use it as my main card. Overclocks nicely to 1Ghz core and 1150Mhz memory, temps don't go over 76~ on auto fan profile in gaming.
> 
> Getting them to play nicely with each other was another struggle, when I bought the both of them I started having all kinds of issues that occupied my free time for over a week. I couldn't get them to crossfire.
> They both worked as single cards, I had to play arround with configurations to see what I could do. I believe it was driver related because I don't have any issues with them anymore.
> But initially I ran the bottom card as my primary display and the top one as slave, if I turned it arround they wouldn't allow crossfire.
> Played with their Bios and changing the clocks to see if I could get higher clocks out of them with voltage regulation... The newer card acepts modifications to the Bios, the older one doesn't.
> It stays stuck at 100/150 even if I change all the profiles to 900/1100mhz, I believe it might be driver controlled? Haven't looked much into it cause I just started doing that recently.
> 
> Also the older card uses Hynix memory chips vs Elpida on the newer one, the sensor list in GPU-Z also points to a major difference in the PCB as you can see in the attached pics.
> 
> 
> The card with a bigger list of sensors is the older one, you can't see it on the screenshot but it also has VDDC current reading, and two VRM temperature readings.
Click to expand...

Man that sucks. Yeah ever since I had the Sapphire 6790's I shied away from their products. The cooler was not good. Loud. Before that I have a Gigabyte "Batmobile" 5770 and a Saphhire 5770 together and they didn't like each other either. I got these MSI 6850's secondhand. One is also a newer PCB revision from the other. But they both clock well and they play well together. I love MSI cards. And I will be sticking to them from now onwards.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Man that sucks. Yeah ever since I had the Sapphire 6790's I shied away from their products. The cooler was not good. Loud. Before that I have a Gigabyte "Batmobile" 5770 and a Saphhire 5770 together and they didn't like each other either. I got these MSI 6850's secondhand. One is also a newer PCB revision from the other. But they both clock well and they play well together. I love MSI cards. And I will be sticking to them from now onwards.


My experience with this is that you either buy reference when they come out or you wait for aftermarket versions of MSI/Asus. If buying Nvidia then Evga.
Twinfrozer, DirectCU


----------



## SRICE4904

So i started having random lockups where I had to reboot. I am pretty sure my oc is stable, the only thing I changed was flash to the 6870 xfx bios, I flashed back to the 6850 to see if it locks back up again.
Anyone have any ideas? Im sure if it locks up again It was the bios flash but if it doesn't does that mean the 6870 bios was unstable on my 6850?


----------



## Tokkan

The time has come.
The end of their days, one of my 6850's is going to be sold, the other one that clocks 1Ghz I'm gonna keep. Maybe it will find a near future with my girlfriend, but for now its slot is gonna be occupied by a reference R9 290 while it'll be sitting in all its glory next to where she worked the past 3 years without missing a heartbeat.
For all its worth they were awesome cards! The strenght to carry on with the most demanding tasks even with today standards but capped because of VRAM.


----------



## neurotix

You're really gonna enjoy the R9 290.

An R9 270X benches more than double a 6850 when overclocked, and a 290 benches about double a 270X.

That means the R9 290 should be about 200% more powerful than a 6850.

Even a single 270X is better than Crossfire 6850s.

They might have been price/performance kings of their time but they're pretty old now. I'd estimate in about 2 years they will be practically unusable for modern gaming (not enough VRAM). By the next generation, probably.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *neurotix*
> 
> You're really gonna enjoy the R9 290.
> 
> An R9 270X benches more than double a 6850 when overclocked, and a 290 benches about double a 270X.
> 
> That means the R9 290 should be about 200% more powerful than a 6850.
> 
> Even a single 270X is better than Crossfire 6850s.
> 
> They might have been price/performance kings of their time but they're pretty old now. I'd estimate in about 2 years they will be practically unusable for modern gaming (not enough VRAM). By the next generation, probably.


Yea... The r9 290 should be a massive leap in performance for me. I'm rebuilding my rig to allow for more airflow for the graphics card currrently, overclocked the memory to 2000mhz. Gonna try to suck the last drops of life out of this 1090t, hopefully it'll behave well with the 290, being a reference card n such.

Edit: And by memory I mean the RAM.


----------



## neurotix

What timings and voltage for 2000mhz?

2000mhz is high for Thuban/Phenom II. Isn't the highest divider 1600mhz? I remember to run my G.skill Snipers at 1866 I had to raise the FSB to 233mhz.

I had a 1090T for most of 2012, and a 555BE (unlocked to quad) since 2010. For 2013 I had an FX-8350 which actually had a native divider all the way up to 2400mhz.


----------



## Tokkan

CL11 at 1.65v, OC'ed through FSB.


----------



## neurotix

Not bad.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Man that sucks. Yeah ever since I had the Sapphire 6790's I shied away from their products. The cooler was not good. Loud. Before that I have a Gigabyte "Batmobile" 5770 and a Saphhire 5770 together and they didn't like each other either. I got these MSI 6850's secondhand. One is also a newer PCB revision from the other. But they both clock well and they play well together. I love MSI cards. And I will be sticking to them from now onwards.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My experience with this is that you either buy reference when they come out or you wait for aftermarket versions of MSI/Asus. If buying Nvidia then Evga.
> Twinfrozer, DirectCU
Click to expand...

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> CL11 at 1.65v, OC'ed through FSB.


Make sure it is running in dual channel. Everytime my memory went beyond 1700MHz on my Phenom 2 it would revert to single channel mode.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Make sure it is running in dual channel. Everytime my memory went beyond 1700MHz on my Phenom 2 it would revert to single channel mode.


CPU-Z Validation
Running @ 2100Mhz actually.


----------



## spikezone2004

I think something is going on with my cards voltage. The voltage never changes even when downclocked on desktop it stays at constant voltage at 1.150v

Because of this my temps are always 48-50C never change because the voltage doesnt change from desktop to gaming, it may go to 52 when gaming thats about it.

I have the Gigabyte 6850HD, I am pretty sure it is voltage locked but I swear it use to downclock both voltage and speed on desktop for colder temps. any thoughts?


----------



## neurotix

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> I think something is going on with my cards voltage. The voltage never changes even when downclocked on desktop it stays at constant voltage at 1.150v
> 
> Because of this my temps are always 48-50C never change because the voltage doesnt change from desktop to gaming, it may go to 52 when gaming thats about it.
> 
> I have the Gigabyte 6850HD, I am pretty sure it is voltage locked but I swear it use to downclock both voltage and speed on desktop for colder temps. any thoughts?


Do you have "force constant voltage" enabled in MSI Afterburner or Sapphire Trixx (or any other overclocking utility)?


----------



## spikezone2004

nope i unchecked force constant voltage disabled that was first thing i checked. maybe i should reinstall MSI afterburner and delete all files incase its messed up


----------



## neurotix

Worth a shot.


----------



## spikezone2004

nope didnt help it, dont know what else to try


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> nope didnt help it, dont know what else to try


Well if you are like me and you are running an overclocked monitor at above 60Hz then that could be your problem. On my cards if I run my screen at 75Hz then my cards stay clocked to 1.3V. Which isn't a problem for me any way. I like 75Hz


----------



## spikezone2004

My monitor isnt overclocked I just have it at 60hz.

does anyone know where MSI afterburners files are other than the folder? when i reinstalled i deleted folder but my settings were still the same when re installed so there were still some files somewhere with the settings and I cant find them, wish driver sweeper worked for it


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> My monitor isnt overclocked I just have it at 60hz.
> 
> does anyone know where MSI afterburners files are other than the folder? when i reinstalled i deleted folder but my settings were still the same when re installed so there were still some files somewhere with the settings and I cant find them, wish driver sweeper worked for it


When uninstalling you have to tick/untick the box that asks if you want to keep the files. After you do that they get deleted.


----------



## spikezone2004

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> When uninstalling you have to tick/untick the box that asks if you want to keep the files. After you do that they get deleted.


I did that and my oc was still there upon install thats why i was confused when i opened after install


----------



## Alastair

You guys seen what is happening to my 6850's!



Yeah yeah! They are going under water! Now. I have a question. Anybody used the Heatkiller GPU X3 universal water block?
Also. How good will the contact be between the VRAM and the VRM's and the heatsinks when its only the weight of the sinks holding them down on the glue?


----------



## vonss

Since I have a Arctic Accelero L2 Plus on the way, I was wondering if there is a way to flash my GPU to some other BIOS that lets me overvolt with Afterburner without having to force it with TriXxX, because TriXxX causes glitches.


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Since I have a Arctic Accelero L2 Plus on the way, I was wondering if there is a way to flash my GPU to some other BIOS that lets me overvolt with Afterburner without having to force it with TriXxX, because TriXxX causes glitches.


You may be able to flash a BIOS fro TPU's BIOS database and with ATIFlash. I wouldn't though. I never had great results when flashing a card with a different BIOS.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> You may be able to flash a BIOS fro TPU's BIOS database and with ATIFlash. I wouldn't though. I never had great results when flashing a card with a different BIOS.


I've read some people doing that with XFX, as in flashing better XFX cards with XFX BIOS, hence my idea. Oh well, thanks anyways for the prompt reply.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> You guys seen what is happening to my 6850's!
> 
> Yeah yeah! They are going under water! Now. I have a question. Anybody used the Heatkiller GPU X3 universal water block?
> Also. How good will the contact be between the VRAM and the VRM's and the heatsinks when its only the weight of the sinks holding them down on the glue?


If you used good thermal glue you should be fine,
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> Since I have a Arctic Accelero L2 Plus on the way, I was wondering if there is a way to flash my GPU to some other BIOS that lets me overvolt with Afterburner without having to force it with TriXxX, because TriXxX causes glitches.


If you're going to flash it, why not change your vbios to the overclock you want instead? Riding you of messing with overclocks on afterburner.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> If you're going to flash it, why not change your vbios to the overclock you want instead? Riding you of messing with overclocks on afterburner.


That's even a better idea!... thought I'm even more clueless how to do that.


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vonss*
> 
> That's even a better idea!... thought I'm even more clueless how to do that.


There are no reliable vbios editors fro hd6xxx cards that I know of.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> There are no reliable vbios editors fro hd6xxx cards that I know of.


So true... Thats why I used the most common software to change the vbios on my card and amazingly it worked








RBE
It even has an option to unlock the 6950's shaders! Thats how unreliable it is.
Do note one thing though, the two 6850's that I had (Sold one of them and kept the other), the one that didn't overclock under MSI Afterburner and had voltage locked everywhere including Trixx I could change its vbios without any issues.
The other 6850 that I could change everything I felt like changing in MSI Afterburner would not clock to 3D clocks on my modified vbios.

As long as you have the original vbios and don't flash anything wrong, just change the clocks/volts you will be fine.

Tutorial for RBE


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> So true... Thats why I used the most common software to change the vbios on my card and amazingly it worked
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> RBE
> It even has an option to unlock the 6950's shaders! Thats how unreliable it is.
> Do note one thing though, the two 6850's that I had (Sold one of them and kept the other), the one that didn't overclock under MSI Afterburner and had voltage locked everywhere including Trixx I could change its vbios without any issues.
> The other 6850 that I could change everything I felt like changing in MSI Afterburner would not clock to 3D clocks on my modified vbios.
> 
> As long as you have the original vbios and don't flash anything wrong, just change the clocks/volts you will be fine.
> 
> Tutorial for RBE


You're lucky. For most, any changes with rbe causes the driver to bsod on Windows load.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> You're lucky. For most, any changes with rbe causes the driver to bsod on Windows load.


Luck has nothing to do with it.
I modified the original vbios that was made for each of my card. They would only bsod if I went into TPU and downloaded a different vbios and modified those.
I used my 6850 almost from launch, played arround with it tons. vBios editing with RBE is safe, if windows crashes you prolly still have your vbios wrong, or windows is bad or still have the previous amd driver installed. I uninstalled the driver after doing modifications to the vbios.


----------



## Melcar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Luck has nothing to do with it.
> I modified the original vbios that was made for each of my card. They would only bsod if I went into TPU and downloaded a different vbios and modified those.
> I used my 6850 almost from launch, played arround with it tons. vBios editing with RBE is safe, if windows crashes you prolly still have your vbios wrong, or windows is bad or still have the previous amd driver installed. I uninstalled the driver after doing modifications to the vbios.


I'm just saying that for a lot of people (just do a quick search about RBE and HD6850/70) flashing the card with a RBE edited vBIOS causes BSODs on Windows login. Good it worked for your particular vBIOS, but it's not guaranteed to work in all situations. And yeah, I have used RBE before on all my ATI cards with no problems and know all the precautions to take.


----------



## vonss

¿So I would basically have to modify my current bios to the voltage and frequency I want and done?


----------



## woosh87

hey guys, new to the club







just bought an XFX Radeon HD 6870 Black Edition. it runs great but im being let down by my shocking single core Sempron 145 (temporary cpu) just want to know if anyones had good overclocking experience with this card and what software? im using msi afterburner at the mo. should I OC? or just be patient and wait for new cpu?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Melcar*
> 
> I'm just saying that for a lot of people (just do a quick search about RBE and HD6850/70) flashing the card with a RBE edited vBIOS causes BSODs on Windows login. Good it worked for your particular vBIOS, but it's not guaranteed to work in all situations. And yeah, I have used RBE before on all my ATI cards with no problems and know all the precautions to take.


I'm not one to keep beating on a dead horse, but my cards were worlds apart from each other so it wasn't just one vbios that worked successfully.

A search on google shows tons of hits saying that they couldn't either apply the clocks or black screened or w,e, I still stand by what I said regardless of what happened in 2011.
Flash the vbios with RBE, if what you said happens it is as simple as flashing the original vbios.

Also they claimed that you can change the volts but can't change the clocks. Thats exactly what he wants. To change the volts without using Trixx.


----------



## APhamX

How would a sapphire/powercooler 6870 paired with a fx 6300 with 8gb DDR3 2133 fare in cs go and dota 2 max settings 1080p? 60fps + ?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *APhamX*
> 
> How would a sapphire/powercooler 6870 paired with a fx 6300 with 8gb DDR3 2133 fare in cs go and dota 2 max settings 1080p? 60fps + ?


Should fare quiet well my friend.

On that note. I got my 6850's in and running again. Load temps have dropped from high 90's to............... 40's!







Yeah! That is 1.3V core and 1000/1200. Now thanks to the extra headroom I got up to 1100core on both cards. But now I can't seem to go past 1.3V in afterburner. Anybody know a way?


----------



## Tokkan

Damn Alastair, you must really love those cards








1100 clock is nice, there is somewhere in this thread a way to increase volts even higher past 1.3v but I can't remember where... Btw your cards might die while doing that even if heat is kept under control.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Damn Alastair, you must really love those cards
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1100 clock is nice, there is somewhere in this thread a way to increase volts even higher past 1.3v but I can't remember where... Btw your cards might die while doing that even if heat is kept under control.


yes I do really live these cards. They have been good to me. And the glorious thing is I haven't really splurged for WC on these cards cause I can reuse the blocks on other cards. So yeah! I read somewhere on OCN that 1.35v was considered the max recommended. So I am going to carry on looking for information and get MOAR POWA!


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> yes I do really live these cards. They have been good to me. And the glorious thing is I haven't really splurged for WC on these cards cause I can reuse the blocks on other cards. So yeah! I read somewhere on OCN that 1.35v was considered the max recommended. So I am going to carry on looking for information and get MOAR POWA!


Have you ran any benchmarks? I would love to see some, bet you're getting pretty good performance out of them.
I sold the crap 6850 I had and gonna build a rig for my girlfriend with the 1Ghz capable 6850. Love that thing to death, had the chance to sell it but I rather keep it and try to give it a new home close to me, still deciding on either a piledriver in a atx motherboard plus overclocking or intel stock in a mitx motherboard. GPU wise the 6850 will serve her well for the time being.


----------



## Alastair

false
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> yes I do really live these cards. They have been good to me. And the glorious thing is I haven't really splurged for WC on these cards cause I can reuse the blocks on other cards. So yeah! I read somewhere on OCN that 1.35v was considered the max recommended. So I am going to carry on looking for information and get MOAR POWA!
> 
> 
> 
> Have you ran any benchmarks? I would love to see some, bet you're getting pretty good performance out of them.
> I sold the crap 6850 I had and gonna build a rig for my girlfriend with the 1Ghz capable 6850. Love that thing to death, had the chance to sell it but I rather keep it and try to give it a new home close to me, still deciding on either a piledriver in a atx motherboard plus overclocking or intel stock in a mitx motherboard. GPU wise the 6850 will serve her well for the time being.
Click to expand...

I will run some benches soon.







Just need to get m,y copy of win 7 back up and running. Cause obviously HW Bot does not accept 8 or 8.1 submissions.


----------



## Alastair

Ok I have found a way to get afterburner above 1.3v. It was an old mod for 2.1 that was made by an OCN user who got bashed by some guy and then removed it. I still had the files buried in here. However everytime I try going above 1.3v I get artefacts. When I tried this last year sometime I did not seem to have an issue with artifacts.







Too much power? If I could JUST reach 1110 I would be SO happy cause that is a 50% OC on Barts Pro!

EDIT: I see back in the beginning Asus smart Doctor and GPU Tweak allowed 1.35V. I will try that. I guess I might have to flash to an Asus bios? Will that work with non-reference cards?!?

EDIT 2: I just had a derp moment. I did not know that these cards came with 2 BIOS'es! I never knew that!


----------



## Alastair

This is what I have done thus far. I am game for ANYTHING that will allow me to reach 1.35V.
1. MSI Afterburner V2.1 with Agent God's Volt Unlocker. (Was removed by Hilbert Hagdoorn or whatever his name is from Guru 3D. I still had a copy.) This has thus far been my most successful attempt. I managed 1.33V according to MSI AB monitoring. Anything higher with Crossfire enabled crashes. However 1.35V on 1 card works fine.

2. Modifying BIOS's using Radeon Bios Editor. Causes BSOD on start up in Windows 7 and 8
3. Using an Asus Bios for the 6850 DirectCu V2. People who owned this card could set up to 1.35V in ASUS Smart Doctor. When I try start up Asus Smart Doctor it says that it can't fing graphics card information.
4. Using MSI 6870 Hawk BIOS. (Bricks cards. Thankfully these cards have dual BIOS so I can un-brick easily)

With 1.33V I managed clocks of 1070MHz on both of my cores and 1230MHz on the memory. I am trying to reach 1100 on the core. That is my goal. When I said I reached 1100 on the core. It was turning up in MSI AB 10MHz at a time until Kombustor crashed. I reached 1110 before it crashed. So 1100 was the last best I managed before crashing. I ran Heaven and it crashed instantly. I dropped until I could run Heaven.

Surely the guys who do extreme LN2 runs have a way to set more voltage? Or do they have special versions of Afterburner and other OC software?
Any other ideas will be appreciated guys thanks!

Here is my windows 8 Heaven bench run. I did 5 consecutive looped runs for stability testing as well and saved the 3 best runs. All 5 runs were around the 43FPS mark. I had an improvement of about 5.6% compared to 1000 core 1200 memory.

(I did a Windows 7 run with a 1101 score and 43.1 FPS ave)


----------



## Tokkan

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> This is what I have done thus far. I am game for ANYTHING that will allow me to reach 1.35V.
> 1. MSI Afterburner V2.1 with Agent God's Volt Unlocker. (Was removed by Hilbert Hagdoorn or whatever his name is from Guru 3D. I still had a copy.) This has thus far been my most successful attempt. I managed 1.33V according to MSI AB monitoring. Anything higher with Crossfire enabled crashes. However 1.35V on 1 card works fine.
> 
> 2. Modifying BIOS's using Radeon Bios Editor. Causes BSOD on start up in Windows 7 and 8
> 3. Using an Asus Bios for the 6850 DirectCu V2. People who owned this card could set up to 1.35V in ASUS Smart Doctor. When I try start up Asus Smart Doctor it says that it can't fing graphics card information.
> 4. Using MSI 6870 Hawk BIOS. (Bricks cards. Thankfully these cards have dual BIOS so I can un-brick easily)
> 
> With 1.33V I managed clocks of 1070MHz on both of my cores and 1230MHz on the memory. I am trying to reach 1100 on the core. That is my goal. When I said I reached 1100 on the core. It was turning up in MSI AB 10MHz at a time until Kombustor crashed. I reached 1110 before it crashed. So 1100 was the last best I managed before crashing. I ran Heaven and it crashed instantly. I dropped until I could run Heaven.
> 
> Surely the guys who do extreme LN2 runs have a way to set more voltage? Or do they have special versions of Afterburner and other OC software?
> Any other ideas will be appreciated guys thanks!
> 
> Here is my windows 8 Heaven bench run. I did 5 consecutive looped runs for stability testing as well and saved the 3 best runs. All 5 runs were around the 43FPS mark. I had an improvement of about 5.6% compared to 1000 core 1200 memory.
> 
> (I did a Windows 7 run with a 1101 score and 43.1 FPS ave)






They do hardware mods to the cards to allow them for higher voltages iirc.
Nice scores









My 6850's were a slideshow at those settings iirc, you got a minimum of almost 20. Thats really good


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!
> 
> 
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> This is what I have done thus far. I am game for ANYTHING that will allow me to reach 1.35V.
> 1. MSI Afterburner V2.1 with Agent God's Volt Unlocker. (Was removed by Hilbert Hagdoorn or whatever his name is from Guru 3D. I still had a copy.) This has thus far been my most successful attempt. I managed 1.33V according to MSI AB monitoring. Anything higher with Crossfire enabled crashes. However 1.35V on 1 card works fine.
> 
> 2. Modifying BIOS's using Radeon Bios Editor. Causes BSOD on start up in Windows 7 and 8
> 3. Using an Asus Bios for the 6850 DirectCu V2. People who owned this card could set up to 1.35V in ASUS Smart Doctor. When I try start up Asus Smart Doctor it says that it can't fing graphics card information.
> 4. Using MSI 6870 Hawk BIOS. (Bricks cards. Thankfully these cards have dual BIOS so I can un-brick easily)
> 
> With 1.33V I managed clocks of 1070MHz on both of my cores and 1230MHz on the memory. I am trying to reach 1100 on the core. That is my goal. When I said I reached 1100 on the core. It was turning up in MSI AB 10MHz at a time until Kombustor crashed. I reached 1110 before it crashed. So 1100 was the last best I managed before crashing. I ran Heaven and it crashed instantly. I dropped until I could run Heaven.
> 
> Surely the guys who do extreme LN2 runs have a way to set more voltage? Or do they have special versions of Afterburner and other OC software?
> Any other ideas will be appreciated guys thanks!
> 
> Here is my windows 8 Heaven bench run. I did 5 consecutive looped runs for stability testing as well and saved the 3 best runs. All 5 runs were around the 43FPS mark. I had an improvement of about 5.6% compared to 1000 core 1200 memory.
> 
> (I did a Windows 7 run with a 1101 score and 43.1 FPS ave)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They do hardware mods to the cards to allow them for higher voltages iirc.
> Nice scores
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My 6850's were a slideshow at those settings iirc, you got a minimum of almost 20. Thats really good
Click to expand...

Yeah that was the Extreme preset. Just set to allow fullscreen. I reeeeeeellllllyyy wanna hit 1.1GHz!







I think I am lucky to own a pair of some of the best 6850's out there. And to think that I am these cards second owner!







I think I am gonna post some HW bot runs now.







See if I can get me a record!


----------



## Alastair

Oh I also thought I would add that I had a max core temp of 43C for GPU 1 and 45C for GPU2 according to AB.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Oh I also thought I would add that I had a max core temp of 43C for GPU 1 and 45C for GPU2 according to AB.


Woah nice temps, just gotta keep it cool.
Are you comfortable with soldering? Cause if you are you can volt mod it with resistors.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Oh I also thought I would add that I had a max core temp of 43C for GPU 1 and 45C for GPU2 according to AB.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woah nice temps, just gotta keep it cool.
> Are you comfortable with soldering? Cause if you are you can volt mod it with resistors.
Click to expand...

No my soldering skills are laughable at best !








I even managed to grab the wrong end of the iron once when I was soldering the wires for my case LED's. But where and what would I actually need to solder?

Also there was this that someone posted to me. Camse from the 290X club. But I am not actually sure yet if it will work for my cards. Or how to actually implement it.









Originally Posted by sugarhell View Post

Guys its easy to give more volts on msi.

Just use /wi4,30,8d,10 for 100mv. The offset is 6.25 mv in hexademical. So on decimal is :16*6.25=100 mv. For 50mv you need 8. For 200mv you need 20( 20=32 on dec. So 32 * 6.25=200mv)

The easy way to do changes:

Create a txt on desktop. Write
CD C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner
MSIAfterburner.exe /wi4,30,8d,10

and then save as .bat file. Eveyrtime you start this bat file msi will start with +100mv

For 50mv: 8
For 100mv:10
For 125mv:14
For 150mv:18
For 175mv:1C
For 200mv:20

I wouldn't go over this point because
1)You are close to leave the sweet spot of the ref pcb vrms efficiency
2)These commands add 200mv on top of the 100mv offset through AB gui.That means 300mv

By default /wi command apply to current gpu only. So if you have 2 or more gpus you must use /sg command. That means the command line is something like that
ex:MsiAfterburner.exe /sg0 /wi4,30,8d,10 /sg1 /wi4,30,8d,10


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> No my soldering skills are laughable at best !
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I even managed to grab the wrong end of the iron once when I was soldering the wires for my case LED's. But where and what would I actually need to solder?
> 
> Also there was this that someone posted to me. Camse from the 290X club. But I am not actually sure yet if it will work for my cards. Or how to actually implement it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by sugarhell View Post
> 
> Guys its easy to give more volts on msi.
> 
> Just use /wi4,30,8d,10 for 100mv. The offset is 6.25 mv in hexademical. So on decimal is :16*6.25=100 mv. For 50mv you need 8. For 200mv you need 20( 20=32 on dec. So 32 * 6.25=200mv)
> 
> The easy way to do changes:
> 
> Create a txt on desktop. Write
> CD C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner
> MSIAfterburner.exe /wi4,30,8d,10
> 
> and then save as .bat file. Eveyrtime you start this bat file msi will start with +100mv
> 
> For 50mv: 8
> For 100mv:10
> For 125mv:14
> For 150mv:18
> For 175mv:1C
> For 200mv:20
> 
> I wouldn't go over this point because
> 1)You are close to leave the sweet spot of the ref pcb vrms efficiency
> 2)These commands add 200mv on top of the 100mv offset through AB gui.That means 300mv
> 
> By default /wi command apply to current gpu only. So if you have 2 or more gpus you must use /sg command. That means the command line is something like that
> ex:MsiAfterburner.exe /sg0 /wi4,30,8d,10 /sg1 /wi4,30,8d,10


Thats a bypass on MSI Afterburner to allow it to change volts even higher.
Open notepad and paste what he said, when saving select your MSI Afterburner folder where the .exe is located and save as a .bat, you will have to run this .bat in order to get MSI Afterburner to use these settings.
You can try using the 50mv one and check if it changes your voltage with hwinfo64, if it does then it means you can overvolt to 1.35 with these settings of 50mv on command file and 150mv on Afterburner GUI.


----------



## Alastair

Is there a way I can set my second card as the primary adaptor. Aka the one I plug my display into. Short on actually swapping the cards around into different PCI-E slots?


----------



## Alastair

I try that. But Afterburner does not open. I can see it start up with task manager. But it closes right away.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Is there a way I can set my second card as the primary adaptor. Aka the one I plug my display into. Short on actually swapping the cards around into different PCI-E slots?


I think you first need to do that in the BIOS then in Windows.


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Is there a way I can set my second card as the primary adaptor. Aka the one I plug my display into. Short on actually swapping the cards around into different PCI-E slots?


With my two 6850's I only plugged the screen to the other card and it worked on booting... But I had the display output on my Bios set to auto/PCIe so I suppose it would search a card that was connected to a screen.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I try that. But Afterburner does not open. I can see it start up with task manager. But it closes right away.


I figured that much, else we would've known of this way before the R9 290's. There were tons of people back in 2010/2011 searching for the same thing you are searching for currently. Bios doesn't help, only hard modding did for most of them, the rest just gave up.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Is there a way I can set my second card as the primary adaptor. Aka the one I plug my display into. Short on actually swapping the cards around into different PCI-E slots?
> 
> 
> 
> With my two 6850's I only plugged the screen to the other card and it worked on booting... But I had the display output on my Bios set to auto/PCIe so I suppose it would search a card that was connected to a screen.
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I try that. But Afterburner does not open. I can see it start up with task manager. But it closes right away.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I figured that much, else we would've known of this way before the R9 290's. There were tons of people back in 2010/2011 searching for the same thing you are searching for currently. Bios doesn't help, only hard modding did for most of them, the rest just gave up.
Click to expand...

So if there are so many people doing it why doesn't MSI AB programmers include support for it and add a disclaimer for it like Unofficial Overclocking Mode? How would one hard mod this card? Simple or hard?


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> So if there are so many people doing it why doesn't MSI AB programmers include support for it and add a disclaimer for it like Unofficial Overclocking Mode? How would one hard mod this card? Simple or hard?


HD5850/HD6850 Voltage measurements/Hard mod

Have a read, search google for a bit there are people that did it.


----------



## spikezone2004

I feel like my 6850 temps are high compared to everyone elses.

I get up to 55c load and idle around 43c. I have a EK VGA supremacy block on my card.

Think it has something to do with my voltage never changing,the voltage is locked on my card so i cant oc much but it also doesn't down voltage when it down clocks every program gives me a constant voltage with no change ever,


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> I feel like my 6850 temps are high compared to everyone elses.
> 
> I get up to 55c load and idle around 43c. I have a EK VGA supremacy block on my card.
> 
> Think it has something to do with my voltage never changing,the voltage is locked on my card so i cant oc much but it also doesn't down voltage when it down clocks every program gives me a constant voltage with no change ever,


Well if the voltage is locked then it will mean your core will be warmer. So the water will slowly warm up over time until it reaches its delta. How mauch rad space do you have. I have 280mm and 360mm. With my 8350 at 5GHz @ 1.584V and my 6850's at 1250mv @ 1050MHz core they reach around 45C and 42C respectively when playing Crysis 3 with the CPU at around 50C.


----------



## spikezone2004

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Well if the voltage is locked then it will mean your core will be warmer. So the water will slowly warm up over time until it reaches its delta. How mauch rad space do you have. I have 280mm and 360mm. With my 8350 at 5GHz @ 1.584V and my 6850's at 1250mv @ 1050MHz core they reach around 45C and 42C respectively when playing Crysis 3 with the CPU at around 50C.


rad space i have 2x240mm about to add a third 240mm rad when i put in new pump. I think my pump may be struggling with my loop which is causing higher temps aswell.

those temps for your 8350 are very good, mine is at 4.6 now (my vrm blew on mobo benching at 4.8, getting a vrm block) at 4.6 i get up to 43c or a little more gaming with gpu getting up to 50-53c but can hit 55


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Well if the voltage is locked then it will mean your core will be warmer. So the water will slowly warm up over time until it reaches its delta. How mauch rad space do you have. I have 280mm and 360mm. With my 8350 at 5GHz @ 1.584V and my 6850's at 1250mv @ 1050MHz core they reach around 45C and 42C respectively when playing Crysis 3 with the CPU at around 50C.
> 
> 
> 
> rad space i have 2x240mm about to add a third 240mm rad when i put in new pump. I think my pump may be struggling with my loop which is causing higher temps aswell.
> 
> those temps for your 8350 are very good, mine is at 4.6 now (my vrm blew on mobo benching at 4.8, getting a vrm block) at 4.6 i get up to 43c or a little more gaming with gpu getting up to 50-53c but can hit 55
Click to expand...

Well I have the same pump as you. Its a 750 just BTW not a 720. (I noticed the mistake in your sig) I did not notice any problems when running at native 12V. Temps were pretty much the same as I have now. Although I run the pump overvolted at 15V just for that extra flow because it helps my CPU a bit more with cooling. Maybe you got a poor mount? Try remounting? What TIM do you use?


----------



## spikezone2004

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Well I have the same pump as you. Its a 750 just BTW not a 720. (I noticed the mistake in your sig) I did not notice any problems when running at native 12V. Temps were pretty much the same as I have now. Although I run the pump overvolted at 15V just for that extra flow because it helps my CPU a bit more with cooling. Maybe you got a poor mount? Try remounting? What TIM do you use?


Lol thanks for pointing that out, haven't noticed that!

how do you run your pump overvolted? My pump currently makes a loud buzzing noise don't know if that is affecting temperatures or not.

I remounted my cpu not too long ago and got better temps, I also remounted my gpu block and temperatures were the same as before. I use MX-4 thermal paste.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Well I have the same pump as you. Its a 750 just BTW not a 720. (I noticed the mistake in your sig) I did not notice any problems when running at native 12V. Temps were pretty much the same as I have now. Although I run the pump overvolted at 15V just for that extra flow because it helps my CPU a bit more with cooling. Maybe you got a poor mount? Try remounting? What TIM do you use?
> 
> 
> 
> Lol thanks for pointing that out, haven't noticed that!
> 
> how do you run your pump overvolted? My pump currently makes a loud buzzing noise don't know if that is affecting temperatures or not.
> 
> I remounted my cpu not too long ago and got better temps, I also remounted my gpu block and temperatures were the same as before. I use MX-4 thermal paste.
Click to expand...

I cut up an old adjustable laptop charger and added a female molex to the end. Only problem with this is I am so used to just hitting the power button on the PC I sometimes forget to turn the pump on now that it has its own power supply!







I have run the pump all the way up to 24V to try purge bubbles out the loop. Although a large buzzing sound does not sound good for you. My pump is dead silent at 15V. All I hear is a slight hum. Maybe your pump is dying? Or you got an air pocket trapped in there. Maybe try shaking you PC around a bit. Tipping it on its side, upside down etc. etc.


----------



## spikezone2004

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I cut up an old adjustable laptop charger and added a female molex to the end. Only problem with this is I am so used to just hitting the power button on the PC I sometimes forget to turn the pump on now that it has its own power supply!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have run the pump all the way up to 24V to try purge bubbles out the loop. Although a large buzzing sound does not sound good for you. My pump is dead silent at 15V. All I hear is a slight hum. Maybe your pump is dying? Or you got an air pocket trapped in there. Maybe try shaking you PC around a bit. Tipping it on its side, upside down etc. etc.


I have tried shaking it in every possible way its not a air bubble because iv had it since before i redid loop and it was fully drained cleaned and everything. Dont know if its dying or just making a noise, dont have anyway to tell without a flow meter and knowing what it was before the noise started. it is rather loud too. can be heard on my mic on teamspeak lol.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spikezone2004*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> I cut up an old adjustable laptop charger and added a female molex to the end. Only problem with this is I am so used to just hitting the power button on the PC I sometimes forget to turn the pump on now that it has its own power supply!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have run the pump all the way up to 24V to try purge bubbles out the loop. Although a large buzzing sound does not sound good for you. My pump is dead silent at 15V. All I hear is a slight hum. Maybe your pump is dying? Or you got an air pocket trapped in there. Maybe try shaking you PC around a bit. Tipping it on its side, upside down etc. etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have tried shaking it in every possible way its not a air bubble because iv had it since before i redid loop and it was fully drained cleaned and everything. Dont know if its dying or just making a noise, dont have anyway to tell without a flow meter and knowing what it was before the noise started. it is rather loud too. can be heard on my mic on teamspeak lol.
Click to expand...

Then I would suspect your pump might be on its last legs.


----------



## spikezone2004

I have a feeling you are correct. I have been in a RMA battle with NCIX for a while. would never recommend ordering from them, i know i wont after these past 2 months. no matter how good their prices are.

They are sending me a new pump, when I don't know because their customer service doesn't exist.


----------



## s3nzftw

I'm joining!!



Pics of rig and specs soon.

I have 2 XFX Double Dissipation in CF


----------



## Tokkan

Welcome! You got them used? What do you think of them?


----------



## s3nzftw

Haven't gamed yet, im more outside to be honest... But hey i love them mostly because the looks and i will do some testing later


----------



## Gavush

Awesome. I've two XFX Double-D cards as well.


----------



## s3nzftw

Here are the promised pics





Build log coming when finished, it's a work in progress. If you are really interested, check out this page

http://www.overclock.net/t/1384681/fractal-design-core-1000-owners-club


----------



## kyoiorikof97

Hi,
My card is MSI R6850 Cyclone/OC/PE-II & my question is GpuZ & Hwinfo is not showing the VRM temp







so how can i see the vrm temp?


& Where is vrm located on the card???


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kyoiorikof97*
> 
> Hi,
> My card is MSI R6850 Cyclone/OC/PE-II & my question is GpuZ & Hwinfo is not showing the VRM temp
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so how can i see the vrm temp?
> 
> 
> & Where is vrm located on the card???


Hey man got the same cards as you!







Ok so first thing is first. As far as I know the MSI cards do not have VRM temp sensors. Your sensors seem to be the same as mine which I assume to as follows. GPU Thermal Diode: Temperature of actual GPU die. GPU TS0: The part of the core that sends information to the outputs of the card. GPU TS1: The memory bus. And then GPU TS2: Temperature of the GPU shader cluster. How ever I do not claim to be correct about this. So if I am wrong some of the more knowledgeable users can chime in.

As for the position of the VRM's. That is easy. Here are my cards. The VRM's are circled.


----------



## s3nzftw

After some BF3, my lower gpu (main) was 75 Celsius, and the top one 70. Nothing bad i guess, but im gonna change some fans around so that the radiator will be outtake


----------



## kyoiorikof97

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Hey man got the same cards as you!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok so first thing is first. As far as I know the MSI cards do not have VRM temp sensors. Your sensors seem to be the same as mine which I assume to as follows. GPU Thermal Diode: Temperature of actual GPU die. GPU TS0: The part of the core that sends information to the outputs of the card. GPU TS1: The memory bus. And then GPU TS2: Temperature of the GPU shader cluster. How ever I do not claim to be correct about this. So if I am wrong some of the more knowledgeable users can chime in.
> 
> As for the position of the VRM's. That is easy. Here are my cards. The VRM's are circled.


Thanx for your information









Today i am going to mod my gpu with corsair H55 through zip ties method.
Can you post the pics of your mod it will very helpful for me.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kyoiorikof97*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Hey man got the same cards as you!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok so first thing is first. As far as I know the MSI cards do not have VRM temp sensors. Your sensors seem to be the same as mine which I assume to as follows. GPU Thermal Diode: Temperature of actual GPU die. GPU TS0: The part of the core that sends information to the outputs of the card. GPU TS1: The memory bus. And then GPU TS2: Temperature of the GPU shader cluster. How ever I do not claim to be correct about this. So if I am wrong some of the more knowledgeable users can chime in.
> 
> As for the position of the VRM's. That is easy. Here are my cards. The VRM's are circled.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanx for your information
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Today i am going to mod my gpu with corsair H55 through zip ties method.
> Can you post the pics of your mod it will very helpful for me.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I won't be able to help you much with a mod. My cards have been inserted into a custom loop. I didn't do the "Red Mod" as it is called. I just bought blocks and added them into my existing loop.

But I can show you what I did.

I added copper VRM and memory heatsinks using thermal tape. Put water blocks on. And bingo you have it.


----------



## kyoiorikof97

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Unfortunately I won't be able to help you much with a mod. My cards have been inserted into a custom loop. I didn't do the "Red Mod" as it is called. I just bought blocks and added them into my existing loop.
> 
> But I can show you what I did.
> 
> I added copper VRM and memory heatsinks using thermal tape. Put water blocks on. And bingo you have it.


Wow...nice work








As you know card has stock heat sink on vrm for cooling but my question is do i need to put heat sink on memory like you? i dont wanna do overlock my card.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kyoiorikof97*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Unfortunately I won't be able to help you much with a mod. My cards have been inserted into a custom loop. I didn't do the "Red Mod" as it is called. I just bought blocks and added them into my existing loop.
> 
> But I can show you what I did.
> 
> I added copper VRM and memory heatsinks using thermal tape. Put water blocks on. And bingo you have it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow...nice work
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you know card has stock heat sink on vrm for cooling but my question is do i need to put heat sink on memory like you? i dont wanna do overlock my card.
Click to expand...

No you shouldn't need to change it.


----------



## kyoiorikof97

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> No you shouldn't need to change it.


Finally i've done the mod and got idle temp 39-40C (before 49-50C) & after playing continuously 5hrs skyrim max temp 50C & after playing ghost recon future soldier max temp 56C (before 85-95 or above) & everything was on ultra setting.


----------



## Alastair

Well here are my final stable clocks at 1.3V under water. 1050MHz core and 1250MHz memory. The extra 50MHz on the memory seemed to make a noticeable improvement to my BF4 game play. I don't know if it's a placebo or if the extra 6.4GB/s of bandwidth I got actually helped make up a bit for my lack of VRAM.


----------



## Jeebus87

I have an PowerColor ATI 6870 GDDR5 1GB 2.1 PCi-Express card. When I bought it in November 2011 I read many good reviews but it turned out to be a bad card. It suffers from overheating issues and ATI drivers are a pain sometimes.

Once DX12 comes out next year is my card going to be completely obsolete? Or will it get some DX12 support?

Newegg link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131378
Official
http://www.powercolor.com/global/products_features.asp?id=307



Part NumberAX6870 1GBD5-2DH
Graphics EngineRADEON HD6870
Video Memory1GB GDDR5
Engine Clock900MHz
Memory Clock1050MHz (4.2Gbps)
Memory Interface256bit
DirectX® Support11
Bus StandardPCIE 2.1
Display ConnectorsDL DVI-I/ SL DVI-D/ HDMI/ Mini DisplayPort x2


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jeebus87*
> 
> I have an PowerColor ATI 6870 GDDR5 1GB 2.1 PCi-Express card. When I bought it in November 2011 I read many good reviews but it turned out to be a bad card. It suffers from overheating issues and ATI drivers are a pain sometimes.
> 
> Once DX12 comes out next year is my card going to be completely obsolete? Or will it get some DX12 support?
> 
> Newegg link
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131378
> Official
> http://www.powercolor.com/global/products_features.asp?id=307
> 
> 
> 
> Part NumberAX6870 1GBD5-2DH
> Graphics EngineRADEON HD6870
> Video Memory1GB GDDR5
> Engine Clock900MHz
> Memory Clock1050MHz (4.2Gbps)
> Memory Interface256bit
> DirectX® Support11
> Bus StandardPCIE 2.1
> Display ConnectorsDL DVI-I/ SL DVI-D/ HDMI/ Mini DisplayPort x2


As far as I am aware only GCN cards from AMD will be getting DX12 support. So HD7XXX and newer.


----------



## vonss

My Arctic Accelero L2 Plus will arrive soon, so I'm wondering if you can give me any tips/advice for the installation. Thanks.


----------



## spikezone2004

Anyone know what size the screws are for the gigabyte hd6850 stock heat sink? I just took off my water block and putting my stock heatsink back on and can't find my screws for it


----------



## vonss

The VRM heatsinks that come in the L2 Plus are too big for a single VRM but too short to cover both of them (the layout of my GPU VRM's is exactly the same as Alastair) so i left the stock one. Though I fear they are not doing a good job.



You can see the same of the VRM heatsinks in the picture above

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## spikezone2004

when my block was under water block i didnt put any heatsinks on mine never had any problems. just made sure i had good airflow


----------



## Gavush

well... picked up a pair of 7970s via ebay and I've listed my 6870s on craigslist... they served me well.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gavush*
> 
> well... picked up a pair of 7970s via ebay and I've listed my 6870s on craigslist... they served me well.


I think im going to hang mine up on the wall. They served me so well. Just waiting on 300X series from AMD.


----------



## Gavush

I just might do that since no bites on craigslist. That or ~$40 ea on ebay less ebay fees and paypal fees... Hardly seems worth it. Maybe save them for a rig for the kids.


----------



## AussieBobby

My problem.
I have a MSI R6850 and with no drivers installed or in safe mode with drivers the card works after window login.Once drivers(any version) are installed I get a black screen after windows log in .

Iv tried the card in two PCs differant PCIe slots,flashing the BIOS with the same and different MSI 6850s BIOS from techpowerup and also a 6870 BIOS.

What else can I try or is it deadish?


----------



## Jeebus87

Has anyone tried the latest Omega Catalyst 14.12 drivers for the HD6870 series? Currently I'm on 14.4 because it was the last stable Catalyst I found. I am just wondering if AMD still really supports the card or just claims that it does but does not even bother to check if drivers work with older series.


----------



## vonss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jeebus87*
> 
> Has anyone tried the latest Omega Catalyst 14.12 drivers for the HD6870 series? Currently I'm on 14.4 because it was the last stable Catalyst I found. I am just wondering if AMD still really supports the card or just claims that it does but does not even bother to check if drivers work with older series.


Is working perfectly smooth for me, I have notice no negative effects so far (2 weeks of use or so), if any, I had a small performance boost.


----------



## kyoiorikof97

Hi everyone,

After reading lots of websites tomorrow i was trying to overclock my MSI R6850 C\PE (Modded with Corsair H55).

Core clock - 945Mhz ([email protected])
Memory - 1155Mhz ([email protected])
Voltage - Stock

After 30mins of playing far cry 4 & watch dogs i haven't seen any artifacts & max temp peak 44C.

Am i going right?

Pls help!!!


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kyoiorikof97*
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> After reading lots of websites tomorrow i was trying to overclock my MSI R6850 C\PE (Modded with Corsair H55).
> 
> Core clock - 945Mhz ([email protected])
> Memory - 1155Mhz ([email protected])
> Voltage - Stock
> 
> After 30mins of playing far cry 4 & watch dogs i haven't seen any artifacts & max temp peak 44C.
> 
> Am i going right?
> 
> Pls help!!!


Sounds fine. I have a pair of them on custom water. 1050 core and 1250 memory and they do not get over 50C. I have cranked the voltage all the way to MSI Afterburner's limit of 1.3V and +50mv for memory.

I get an odd phenomenon where temps BELOW 50C give me artifacts. It's very odd.

But they have been trucking at 1.3V for 3 years now. Two of those years were at 90C on the air coolers at 1000/1200


----------



## OxygeenHD

I update this thread because i wanted to see how much i could squeeze out of my HD6850.

i was able to reach max CCC overclocking with safe temps before (Artic Cooling MX-4 applied.) with a stock Powercolor heatsink. i had a gain of about 5 FPS...

Then i OC'ed my CPU to 3.5 Ghz but bring back my GPU to stock clockspeed because of the fact that this heatsink it's clearly bad. no VRM cooling, only two 6mm cooper heatpipes into a block of alluminium to cool the GPU core...

And today i want to OC back my GPU, just for the sake of it.

so i did a quick Furmark Stresstest at 1440x900 without Anti-alliasing, here is the result after five minutes....



Fan control is automaticly defined by MSI afterburner.

Maybe i'll need to create a custom fan curve, advices are welcommed, Thanks.


----------



## Tokkan

Way too hot. The graphics card shouldn't go over 80ºC, while overclocking going over ~75ºC will most likely cause it to crash. The max you can reach would be of about 1000Mhz on Core and 1250Mhz on memory, that is quite a nice performance boost over stock but you have to keep the temperatures under 75ºC because you'll need arround 1.3v to reach it.
That is my advice and my experience with this card. I wish you good luck, its still a good card but those temps are way too high.


----------



## OxygeenHD

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Way too hot. The graphics card shouldn't go over 80ºC, while overclocking going over ~75ºC will most likely cause it to crash. The max you can reach would be of about 1000Mhz on Core and 1250Mhz on memory, that is quite a nice performance boost over stock but you have to keep the temperatures under 75ºC because you'll need arround 1.3v to reach it.
> That is my advice and my experience with this card. I wish you good luck, its still a good card but those temps are way too high.


I thought about changing the fan and zip-tie another fan to the heatsink, here is the post i've made on my thread, can you tell me if this gonna work ? Thanks

http://www.overclock.net/t/1507626/change-powercolor-hd6850-fan/30#post_23751296


----------



## Tokkan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *OxygeenHD*
> 
> I thought about changing the fan and zip-tie another fan to the heatsink, here is the post i've made on my thread, can you tell me if this gonna work ? Thanks
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1507626/change-powercolor-hd6850-fan/30#post_23751296


That other fan is requires too much power for the GPU to provide. I wouldn't advise using it.
I don't see what you can do but maybe the stock fan is broken. So Idk... Temperatures aren't good for overclocking.
What is the max fan speed that it reaches?


----------



## OxygeenHD

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> That other fan is requires too much power for the GPU to provide. I wouldn't advise using it.
> I don't see what you can do but maybe the stock fan is broken. So Idk... Temperatures aren't good for overclocking.
> What is the max fan speed that it reaches?


Just done an hour session of Dirt 2. Max temp hit : 85°C. max fan speed reached : 77%.....

My fan is not broken, i've replaced the thermal paste maybe 2 weeks ago.

But why did you said that the fan i wanted to put on my gpu to replace the stock fan is too powerfull ?

i mean, my stock fan is a 12V 0.35A.
the fan i want to put : 12V 0.19A.

so i think he needs less power no ?


----------



## Tokkan

Lol yea sorry my bad. I didn't read all of the text on the other post because I was at work.
Yea the fan supposedly works, if it is the same plug. But it might not improve the temps. Can you take a picture of your case please? So I can see how you have it set up.


----------



## OxygeenHD

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Lol yea sorry my bad. I didn't read all of the text on the other post because I was at work.
> Yea the fan supposedly works, if it is the same plug. But it might not improve the temps. Can you take a picture of your case please? So I can see how you have it set up.


It's a corsair 200R.



It has 2 front fans. 1 top fan. 1 bottom fan next to the PSU.


----------



## Tokkan

Yea doens't seem to be a ventilation issue, temps are too hot. Idk maybe its normal cause mine never broke 80ºC for me.


----------



## OxygeenHD

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Yea doens't seem to be a ventilation issue, temps are too hot. Idk maybe its normal cause mine never broke 80ºC for me.


Here is the problem...


No VRM Cooling, only two heatpipes, poorly soldered into an aluminium plate

and my idea was to do :



At least a PSU fan on a GPU heatsink should perform better, or push more air...


----------



## Tokkan

Yea remove the shroud and get a fan blowing right on top of it.


----------



## OxygeenHD

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Yea remove the shroud and get a fan blowing right on top of it.


Detailed view of the heatsink :



EDIT : Well, even with the fan zip-tied into the heatsink, it doesn't seems to help the temps to lower so much... maybe because as we can see above, the copper heatpipes aren't so "copper colored" anymore.. think my card had overheat which makes the heatpipes less conductive...

Proof, just in the menu of DiRT 2 after five minutes...


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *OxygeenHD*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Tokkan*
> 
> Yea doens't seem to be a ventilation issue, temps are too hot. Idk maybe its normal cause mine never broke 80ºC for me.
> 
> 
> 
> Here is the problem...
> 
> 
> No VRM Cooling, only two heatpipes, poorly soldered into an aluminium plate
> 
> and my idea was to do :
> 
> 
> 
> At least a PSU fan on a GPU heatsink should perform better, or push more air...
Click to expand...

Git rid of the fan on there. As you can see the primary bank of fins are the ones on the sides. The shroud of the fan blocks the airflow. I would probably put the stock fan back on. However what might have happened is the heatpipes might have cycled so many times that they have just warped out of shape and are no longer contacting the base or the fins effectively any more.


----------



## TheNoobOCer

Whats the best legacy drivers out there for 6870s crossfired?


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheNoobOCer*
> 
> Whats the best legacy drivers out there for 6870s crossfired?


why do you want legacy drivers? The 6xxx series is still kept up to date with current drivers. I'm using 14.4.


----------



## masteratarms

This is a long thread. I saw some users talk about the Asus EAH6870 and using afterburner, but with the 6850 v2 they have removed the programmable voltage controller (CHL82xx) and replaced with RT8867 which I've been told is not programmable. However with the right drivers (Asus ones) smart doctor changes GPU-Z's voltage reading. I'm not too fond of Smart Doctor however it is known for causing BF3 to crash between rounds.

Has anyone found another way to up the GPU voltage with this card? I have already flashed it with an incompatible bios and was luckily able to revive it. Has anyone modded a bios? In RBE v128 it has no option to change voltage, but due to this being a voltage tweak card which can be controlled via software to up the voltage I hope its possible to bios mod.

I have a G10 kraken on it and i've had it at 915/1100 stock voltage. I had it at 850/1100 with Asus' cooler. Looking at how they have beefed up v2's VRM compared to v1 really makes me want to give it more juice, and I have not yet pushed it to instability.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *masteratarms*
> 
> This is a long thread. I saw some users talk about the Asus EAH6870 and using afterburner, but with the 6850 v2 they have removed the programmable voltage controller (CHL82xx) and replaced with RT8867 which I've been told is not programmable. However with the right drivers (Asus ones) smart doctor changes GPU-Z's voltage reading. I'm not too fond of Smart Doctor however it is known for causing BF3 to crash between rounds.
> 
> Has anyone found another way to up the GPU voltage with this card? I have already flashed it with an incompatible bios and was luckily able to revive it. Has anyone modded a bios? In RBE v128 it has no option to change voltage, but due to this being a voltage tweak card which can be controlled via software to up the voltage I hope its possible to bios mod.
> 
> I have a G10 kraken on it and i've had it at 915/1100 stock voltage. I had it at 850/1100 with Asus' cooler. Looking at how they have beefed up v2's VRM compared to v1 really makes me want to give it more juice, and I have not yet pushed it to instability.


No I really don't know. I think the only thing you can do is use the ASUS software. If you are able to get the volts up though you should be able to get to a GHz or maybe more.


----------



## Ceadderman

A tad late to this party but I'm here.









I have two Sapphire 6870 Radeon HDs, one of which I ran in my sigrig the other went on the shelf because I took the cooling shroud off it for inspection but did not get it back on before I went away for a bit and now they're both awaiting inclusion in my loop using modified Swiftech FC heatsinks under EK Thermospheres.

I noticed that I was not able to Overclock the main one using Afterburner or Catalyst. When I had an XFX 5770 reference card I could OC the hades out of it. Shouldn't I be able to OC these? Am I stuck with Sapphire for O'CONNER now or is there a 3rd party app I can use?









Guess I will have to upload my pics later. My phone isn't cooperating.









~Ceadder


----------



## masteratarms

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> No I really don't know. I think the only thing you can do is use the ASUS software. If you are able to get the volts up though you should be able to get to a GHz or maybe more.


The trick is to install the Asus drivers (after that u can do a control panel uninstall and reinstall latest ati driver + control panel). Asus lists GPUtweak as a download for EAH6850 and it works (without the problems of smart doctor), unlocks voltage to 1.233v and 2000/1350Mhz clock limits.

For problems with MSi afterburner I would take a look at http://forums.guru3d.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55


----------



## Forde3654Eire

I suppose I'm a bit late for the party as well haha! Got my Sapphire 6850 around mid-2011... if memory serves right. Started playing around with clocks after warranty expired a year later. Just a couple of questions I'd like to put out...

1) Stock clocks for this card are 775 / 1000, I know its stable for 900 / 1050 (equal to 6870 stock clocks)... or at least I think it is... the problem I repeatedly run into is inconsistent outcomes from GPU stress tests... at one point I got artifacts at stock clocks with very low temps yikes! Other times I have a nice rock solid long-term overclock with no issues, several months go by with no problems! If I do start getting artifacts or TDR again, the "cure" seems to be taking out the graphics card and clean the crap out of it with a big ol' blower... but temps weren't that high to begin with( 70C) , and barely any dust clogging up either! Temp drops minimal, 5 C lower at best! So what would be causing these random artifacts?

2) MSI Afterburner won't let me adjust voltages... solutions? Sapphire TriXX works just fine... but after applying new voltage, card won't power down to idle voltage of 0.950V... any way to resolve this?

3) Having had the graphics card around 4 years now... would it be a good idea to replace thermal paste? I've got some Artic Silver 5 lying around... for reference, best case scenario ambient temp 20 C, fans 100%, 65 C in OCCT.

Hopefully I'll put up a GPU-Z validation if I can confirm my 900 / 1050 OC clocks are stable, with no more of these weird shenanigans!


----------



## Ceadderman

Yeauhup, my Afterburner went voltage locked on my Sapphires as well. I think our cards were locked from launch. I could be wrong though cause I got mine used. But my 5770 worked just fine unlocked in AB. Only when I upgraded did AB voltage control disappear from their control panel.









Now it could be that updating the Sapphire software pack could rectify there issue. Mine aren't online so I haven't been able to test this for myself.









~Ceadder


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forde3654Eire*
> 
> I suppose I'm a bit late for the party as well haha! Got my Sapphire 6850 around mid-2011... if memory serves right. Started playing around with clocks after warranty expired a year later. Just a couple of questions I'd like to put out...
> 
> 1) Stock clocks for this card are 775 / 1000, I know its stable for 900 / 1050 (equal to 6870 stock clocks)... or at least I think it is... the problem I repeatedly run into is inconsistent outcomes from GPU stress tests... at one point I got artifacts at stock clocks with very low temps yikes! Other times I have a nice rock solid long-term overclock with no issues, several months go by with no problems! If I do start getting artifacts or TDR again, the "cure" seems to be taking out the graphics card and clean the crap out of it with a big ol' blower... but temps weren't that high to begin with( 70C) , and barely any dust clogging up either! Temp drops minimal, 5 C lower at best! So what would be causing these random artifacts?
> 
> 2) MSI Afterburner won't let me adjust voltages... solutions? Sapphire TriXX works just fine... but after applying new voltage, card won't power down to idle voltage of 0.950V... any way to resolve this?
> 
> 3) Having had the graphics card around 4 years now... would it be a good idea to replace thermal paste? I've got some Artic Silver 5 lying around... for reference, best case scenario ambient temp 20 C, fans 100%, 65 C in OCCT.
> 
> Hopefully I'll put up a GPU-Z validation if I can confirm my 900 / 1050 OC clocks are stable, with no more of these weird shenanigans!


don't use AS5 on GPU's. I use MX4 on mine. Sounds like you experienced a very similar to phenomenon to me. When I am clocked at 1050/1250 on my cards, if the temps are below 46C the cards artifact like CRAZY! The minute the temps go above 46C then the artifacts go away. It's very strange.


----------



## Forde3654Eire

I still think there might be a way to unlock voltage control in Afterburner, reason being voltage is fully unlocked in Sapphire TriXX.

Had another go at testing my 900 / 1050 clocks. Took the graphics card out, dusted through the fins thoroughly with a fine brush, another good blast from the blower and in again. Temps lower by a couple degrees in OCCT , and it took well over a minute for errors to appear, as opposed to a few seconds the first time round... still puzzled by this phenomena... I read somewhere about OC tolerance going lower with increased temperatures, especially when the hardware is bordering the limit of its overclock.

Never had a problem with any of my games, heck even 3DMark Firestrike was fine for a few loops. Crysis 3 was fine too, played for about half an hour with no problem... scratched my head a bit more, than remembered I never actually tried out Crysis 1... word of mouth is that it seems to be more graphically intensive. Got the free demo and started playing, about 15 minutes in got a TDR crash, GPU locked up and screen blacked out before recovering.

I guess its quite clear then that 900Mhz on the core is just a tad bit too much. Backed it off to 850Mhz (the limit imposed by Afterburner without unofficial overclock), everything's fine now.


----------



## Ceadderman

Nope. If not open now (AB) never open.

However if you have Trix it shouldn't be locked afaik.

Someone (dkw) pointed me to those drivers to unlock my cards, but since they're currently shelved for this build I haven't checked it out.









I agree with Alastair. Don't use AS5 on GPUs. Try to get some same day burn-in paste. AS5 is minimum 8 day burn-in under load. No bueno for GPUs.









~Ceadder


----------



## 802PWR

Upgraded my XFX 6870 with a ARCTIC Accelero Twin Turbo II VGA Cooler; The stock fan was degrading and making a bit of a racket. I was really impressed with cooling system that came with card.

Any experience using different heat sinks for the RAM and VRM's that has proved better cooling/performance?

So far so good at the moment.


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *802PWR*
> 
> Upgraded my XFX 6870 with a ARCTIC Accelero Twin Turbo II VGA Cooler; The stock fan was degrading and making a bit of a racket. I was really impressed with cooling system that came with card.
> 
> Any experience using different heat sinks for the RAM and VRM's that has proved better cooling/performance?
> 
> So far so good at the moment.


I just used Vizo Copper DRAM heatsinks for my 6850's.


----------



## Ceadderman

I'm machining Swiftech 6950/6870 heatsinks to allow the use of Thermospheres. Performance to my surprise still has good stock on them.









~Ceadder


----------



## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ceadderman*
> 
> I'm machining Swiftech 6950/6870 heatsinks to allow the use of Thermospheres. Performance to my surprise still has good stock on them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ~Ceadder


sounds cool. Please let me know how it goes!


----------



## 802PWR

I added pictures above.

Did any versions of these cards come with or able to get a back cooling plate?


----------



## Ceadderman

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Ceadderman*
> 
> I'm machining Swiftech 6950/6870 heatsinks to allow the use of Thermospheres. Performance to my surprise still has good stock on them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ~Ceadder
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sounds cool. Please let me know how it goes!
Click to expand...

I will post pics in my build log and link it here when the time comes.









~Ceadder


----------



## masteratarms

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forde3654Eire*
> 
> I suppose I'm a bit late for the party as well haha! Got my Sapphire 6850 around mid-2011... if memory serves right. Started playing around with clocks after warranty expired a year later. Just a couple of questions I'd like to put out...
> 
> 1) Stock clocks for this card are 775 / 1000, I know its stable for 900 / 1050 (equal to 6870 stock clocks)... or at least I think it is... the problem I repeatedly run into is inconsistent outcomes from GPU stress tests... at one point I got artifacts at stock clocks with very low temps yikes! Other times I have a nice rock solid long-term overclock with no issues, several months go by with no problems! If I do start getting artifacts or TDR again, the "cure" seems to be taking out the graphics card and clean the crap out of it with a big ol' blower... but temps weren't that high to begin with( 70C) , and barely any dust clogging up either! Temp drops minimal, 5 C lower at best! So what would be causing these random artifacts?
> 
> 2) MSI Afterburner won't let me adjust voltages... solutions? Sapphire TriXX works just fine... but after applying new voltage, card won't power down to idle voltage of 0.950V... any way to resolve this?
> 
> 3) Having had the graphics card around 4 years now... would it be a good idea to replace thermal paste? I've got some Artic Silver 5 lying around... for reference, best case scenario ambient temp 20 C, fans 100%, 65 C in OCCT.
> 
> Hopefully I'll put up a GPU-Z validation if I can confirm my 900 / 1050 OC clocks are stable, with no more of these weird shenanigans!


Solution for my Asus 6850 voltage tweak was to first install Asus graphics drivers before full uninstall (no driver sweeper in safe mode) then install latest and GPUtweak will work. I've upgraded now to a kraken G10 cooled Asus 280x DC2T 3GD5.


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## Forde3654Eire

Thanks for getting back to me! I'm currently away on holiday, but will give it a go as soon as I'm back.


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## Alastair

So guys. I would like your help with a matter.

My two Sapphire Fury's have arrived. Before I retire my 6850's I have decided that they shall go out swinging. I am going to try and take as many 6850 HW records on HW Bot as is possible. And thus my problem!

The current dual crossfire 6850 record on HW Bot for heaven bench extreme. Is 2002 points. That score was made with 1046MHz on the cores and 1236 on the memory. Driver version for that test was 11.6.

I can run the bench at 1080 and 1250 on 15.5, but my scores are no where NEAR close. The best I have managed is in the high 1600's. How the hell am I loosing on a purely GPU based test when my GPU's are the exact same yet running at a superior speed!?!


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## masteratarms

@Alastair It will also tell you which drivers the submission was using. I found 8_861_Asus_Vista_Win7_WHQL gave me a couple of hundred over the latest cats. Also RAM timings, CPU tweaks may play a roll. Maybe OS optimisation was used (cutting services out).


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## Alastair

I checked the allowed tweakes in the rules section. You can use Driver wizardry to disable tessellation and lower detail levels at a driver level and run the tests. It's considered legal on HW Bot. And made sense since even with faster cards I was still scoring 400 points less than the current heaven record holder. I broke the record with a 2020 point heaven run on Thursday night. But I forgot to save the file. But I can do it again. And will be tonight.

Seems my 6850's will retire swinging after all!


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## Ceadderman

Nice.









~Ceadder


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## Alastair

Well there it is. 1 HW record down. A few more to go! thumb.gif Go! Go! Barts!
http://hwbot.org/submission/2964175_alastair_s1d_unigine_heaven___xtreme_preset_2x_radeon_hd_6850_2045.59_dx11_marks?recalculate=true


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## 473809

Hi everyone, I own a 6850 Gigabyte. Can anybody tell me which version of the driver is the most stable for this graphic card?


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## 473809

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *coloNEiLu*
> 
> Hi everyone, I own a 6850 Gigabyte. Can anybody tell me which version of the driver is the most stable for this graphic card?


up++


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## masteratarms

http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3630#dl

Or try latest catalysts, lucky for you its still supported by latest AMD drivers.


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## 473809

Thank you for responding me. I saw on the Internet that people recommend the versions 11.7, 12.1 and 12.3, the ones newer than those are bugged(12.4/5/6/7). I know that the last version for the 6k series is 12.7. What's newer than 12.7 is optimized for 7k series and so on. Are those 3 versions that I mentioned stable or bugged? I don't know what to say about the 8.9 version..


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## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *coloNEiLu*
> 
> Thank you for responding me. I saw on the Internet that people recommend the versions 11.7, 12.1 and 12.3, the ones newer than those are bugged(12.4/5/6/7). I know that the last version for the 6k series is 12.7. What's newer than 12.7 is optimized for 7k series and so on. Are those 3 versions that I mentioned stable or bugged? I don't know what to say about the 8.9 version..


AMD still supports the 6800 series with their latest drivers. I am on 15.5 at the moment. Don't try find legacy support for a product that isn't Considered legacy yet. 12.7 was the last optimised driver for HD4XXX.

Just use the latest drivers and be happy.

Don't fix what ain't broke.


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## Sildur

Recently picked up a HD6870 from Asus for 30bucks, since it fits the cheapo build I'm making for a friend quite well.

Thought to overclock it a bit, getting past that 1ghz barrier took quite some voltage, got it somewhat stable at 1.245v.
Whereas I'm rock solid on 980mhz/[email protected] so decided to stay there for now.
Even on such a rather mild OC the card gets it job still quite well done, can't complain about performance for 30bucks I guess.

Whole system is:
MSI h81m-p33
Intel Pentium [email protected]
HD6870 from Asus
2x4GB from Crucial
Windows 10 Pro x64


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## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sildur*
> 
> Recently picked up a HD6870 from Asus for 30bucks, since it fits the cheapo build I'm making for a friend quite well.
> 
> Thought to overclock it a bit, getting past that 1ghz barrier took quite some voltage, got it somewhat stable at 1.245v.
> Whereas I'm rock solid on 980mhz/[email protected] so decided to stay there for now.
> Even on such a rather mild OC the card gets it job still quite well done, can't complain about performance for 30bucks I guess.
> 
> Whole system is:
> MSI h81m-p33
> Intel Pentium [email protected]
> HD6870 from Asus
> 2x4GB from Crucial
> Windows 10 Pro x64


Go for the 1.3V or nothing.









Ran my 6850's at that voltage for 2 years at 90C at 1GHz and then another year waterblocked at 50C at 1050 Mhz.


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## Sildur

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Go for the 1.3V or nothing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ran my 6850's at that voltage for 2 years at 90C at 1GHz and then another year waterblocked at 50C at 1050 Mhz.


Hmm, gonna think about it. Didn't want to kill the card instantly, also not used to AMD. More of the Nvidia guy here, currently running a gtx770 in my system.

EDIT: At 1.3v I could reach 1030mhz stable


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## Alastair

Looks like we have reached the end of our journey guys.







But it has been a grand one! HD5XXX and HD6XXX are now legacy products. It has been a good run with my 5770's and 6850's. Probably two of the best value purchases I have ever made.


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## Sildur

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Alastair*
> 
> Looks like we have reached the end of our journey guys.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But it has been a grand one! HD5XXX and HD6XXX are now legacy products. It has been a good run with my 5770's and 6850's. Probably two of the best value purchases I have ever made.


That [email protected] will still be a big upgrade for my friend with the slowest Intel HD graphics card available. (Intel Pentium n3520, with hd baytrail). And might serve him for a few years, on the lower side of the graphic options tho.

Also wondering if "cocktail drivers" will be a thing for HD5XXX and HD6XXX series.


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## Forde3654Eire

Just got the news yeah...

So Crimson is out, and I more or less anticipated that AMD would drop support for HD 5000 / 6000... but 7000 as well? Bit of a stretch seeing as they are GCN cards...

This begs the question of... as of now, which is the best driver for HD 5000 / 6000? I have the latest 15.7.1 on a fresh install of Windows 7... I'm not particularly interested in the Crimson Beta made available, worried about potential problems with a brand new release... and I don't see anything in there that RadeonPro can't do.


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## Sildur

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Forde3654Eire*
> 
> Just got the news yeah...
> 
> So Crimson is out, and I more or less anticipated that AMD would drop support for HD 5000 / 6000... but 7000 as well? Bit of a stretch seeing as they are GCN cards...
> 
> This begs the question of... as of now, which is the best driver for HD 5000 / 6000? I have the latest 15.7.1 on a fresh install of Windows 7... I'm not particularly interested in the Crimson Beta made available, worried about potential problems with a brand new release... and I don't see anything in there that RadeonPro can't do.


The crimson beta driver is basicly beta 15.11.1 with the new control panel. Such a bad move, ending support with a beta driver, the least they could do is release a proper whql driver.
Btw one of the devs of the leshcat drivers is currently checking if modded drivers are possible.


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## Sildur

Bit of a nooby question, got some spare heatsinks that would fit on the memory chips... Was wondering if cooling the mem chips affects the max memory clock you can go for since you cant really change the voltage amount for them.


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## Alastair

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sildur*
> 
> Bit of a nooby question, got some spare heatsinks that would fit on the memory chips... Was wondering if cooling the mem chips affects the max memory clock you can go for since you cant really change the voltage amount for them.


i dunno if it was due to the temps being better on the core and therefore the memory bus was more stable, or if it was the fact that I added the heatsinks to my 6850's ram but went from 1200mhz to 1250.


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## mazdaboi

Been a long time since I've posted in this section. Still have my Gigabyte HD 6850OC (OC to 820mhz from 775mhz factory), and just built a new Budget gaming pc and this bad boy went in the build. Amazing how my FX 6300 does paired with this. Running majority of games on High settings and 1080 with 50-60fps solid. good enough for me. Contemplated on getting an R7 250 but its almost the same as performance goes.

Im back in the Game!


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