Hello, I've seen threads regarding overclocking the 5850 so I thought I'd see what I could do, I've downloaded all the essential programs to help get me started but I noticed something, if you guys would care to read on and give me your opinions on the matter at hand. So I started up Furmark and ran it @ 1024x768 as the guide said, with the settings of 775/1125 (limit of the overdrive). The minimum was 56c, reaching up to the 70c (after 2 minutes). It then said to increase the memory to 1150, which I did, and not even 1minute in, and the temps reach 85c, at that point I stopped it and am sure there's something dodgy going on. Is it because I haven't increased fan control? I know that may help but for the card to be going this hot not even 5minutes into the stress test gives me little hope as to increase voltage and overall clock speeds... What do you guys think I should do, just leave it at stock? Any feedback is appreciated, Cheers!
85C was still perfectly safe, and yes, when you start overclocking you'll need to mess with fan speeds as well. Also worth noting that I would try finding the maximum of the core, not the memory. The effect of memory overclock on FPS is like 1-3%. So, download MSI Afterburner as a first step. It will let you control the fan speed dynamically and let you get past the overdrive limits.
Yep, I downloaded MSI Afterburner but didn't bother adjusting fan speeds after seeing the sudden jump in temperature, guess I was just afraid to let it run for a whole 15mins :\ Question, do you use MSI Afterburner to overclock your card, or do nvidia users use another program, and if so, what're you fan speeds at? And yeah I should prob focus on the core... that's the one that can be increased more then the mem, ta for your reply.
I do have MSI Afterburner and use it everytime when in need of an OC. In my card after the OC the clock speeds are 750/550 Mhz , fan speed: didn't bother, i am running with my case off :banana:
UPDATE: I managed to hit a stump @ 850/1150 with volts of 1.15v. I changed the fan settings to stay @ 30% whilst temps were under 60, if it went above 60 it'd change to 40% fan speed and anything above 70c it goes to 45%. I played about 10mins or so of Battlefield Bad Company 2 Single player and after I exited the game, the screen went black for a bit and it popped on the bottom saying the display driver stopped working and it was recovered, I'm assuming this means it hit a stump with the overclock. Maybe I need more volts? Anything above 45% fan speed is too loud for me... The max temp that hit when playing was only 71c which is okay I suppose. Is it worth trying again? Right now I've left it at stock speeds...
More voltage is necessary to push these Cypress chips. They're not as friendly as GTX 480s but they're not too bad.
Sounds good lol Hmm, I'll try 1.2v or so, that's what most people used around the 850/900 mark... Will that just allow me to increase the core/memory further? Cause @ 1.15v it seemed to be fine, or is the lack of voltage the reason for the driver crash?
The lack of voltage is very likely to be the cause for your driver crash. However, just to make it clear: what you are controlling there is the chip voltage and does in no way help with overclocking the RAM. So basically, what your RAM can't handle on stock voltage, it will not be able to handle with overvolted chip. So your assumption is only partially true, as overvolting only helps you with achieving higher GPU clock. I would suggest to just leave the RAM speed allone and see what you can maximally achieve on the GPU (when raising voltages, don't forget to check your voltage regulator temps). When you have found your sweet spot, you can start overclocking the RAM until it becomes unstable or slower (RAM on 58xx cards tends to not immediately crash your PC in cases of too high OC, rather the error checking mechanism kicks in and slows down the processing).
Ah, so increasing volts will only allow me to increment higher core speeds... fair enough, thanks for that heads up. Does MSI show voltage regulator temps? or is that another program? I'll experiment more tomorrow I suppose, starting from 850 and 1.2v Also Calef, have you overclocked your 5850 or just left it at stock? Thanks
I switched the volts to 1.225 and I put the core @ 900 and left the memory @ 1125 So 900/1125. It will load into games okay, but if I want to play a video on youtube, it will crash and the computer will freeze... again the temperatures are around 70~ max. More voltage? I've seen people reach 900 and don't require more then 1.225v :\
i have the xfx 5850 Black edition but the same as you i think, and i have it 950 core and 1250 on mem, and 1.2v, i think you have to mutch v try with my settings PD i have the fan at 40%
Hmm I thought having more volts would allow me to clock higher... but according to your settings I'd be downtuning voltage and increasing GPU... For some reason I don't think that will work out too well
I usually read reviews about my card etc, then clock to something a bit lower than the lowest max I've read of. Then I increase the voltage step by step until it's stable, then I move on if I want to.
@ HiDe85 I doubt my clock speeds will be stable @ 950 if I had 1.225v which would make more sense then having it lower, but I will try 1.2v @ the 900 mark regardless. @ naike what volts have you reached with your oc bro? Just noticed you have a 5870 but if its anywhere around 1.2v I'd like to know Sorry about that, my av has picked it up and I've removed it since it prompted me :\
