Is this safe? I started messing with the settings. Before starting GPU was at 800mhz, memory at 1255 amd it would run around 40c, fan was on auto and Power control at 0%. I upped it to 840mhz, 1300 and turned the fan to 100% and it dropped down 37c. Can i keep it at those settings and will this demage my card? Is it not good to run the fan at 100%? Sorry for probably a noob question
You can change the settings all you want, its your card after all. You can put them on max but yes it will decrease the cards life span, but not by much you might even be looking for an upgrade by that time. I wouldnt keep the fan at 100% mainly because its louder then all hell I'd say around 40-50% should be a good area to keep it.
You can't just increase the Core and Memory clocks and call that a stable Overclock. Overcloking a GPU is a process that takes time and patience, you will need to use several applications like Furmark/ATI Tool for stability and artifacts testing and a heavy benchmark application such as Unigine Heaven to test overall performance. Don't use ATI Overdirve since it limits the core and memory clocks you can set, use MSI Afterburner or AMD GPU Clock tool which are not limited by the BIOS. This is a very good guide on how to overclock the 5850: http://tech.icrontic.com/articles/overclocking-the-radeon-hd-5850/ You can use the same guidelines that explain there, however, keep in mind that the clock speeds and voltages are different, so be sure to check your hardware specifications when making changes. About the fan, you shouldn't have to go above 60% even at full load (85C)
Try benchmarking/stress test/playing games and if it seems stable then stick with it. The 69xx series seem to overclock really well and you can up to 900+ if you'd like (I got mine to run 960/1375 @1.23v). If you get any slowdowns or stuttering/flickering you may need to up powercontrol to 20%. You can use programs such as MSI Afterburner or Sapphire Trixx to manage your overclocks/voltage/temps. As for temps/fan speeds check your temps while you play a graphic extensive game. You really dont need to run it at 100% and it will sound like a jet engine. http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm http://www.sapphiretech.com/ssc/TriXX/
P.S. You have an XFX Radeon 6950 which is a Reference card, which means you can unlock the extra shaders in it so it can perform exactly as a 6970 with the 6970's clock speeds as well. Read this: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159 And you should get instant 15% performance boost, then start working on your overclock...
Right now i have it at 825, 1300 and fan @75 and after playing crysis 2 for couple hours and black ops for few more hours it never went above 67c according to msi afterburner.
Thanks for the link. This sounds very tempting but i'm kinda scared i'm going to mess it up. If i do try it should i wait before my 2nd one gets here? Would i be able to unlock both of them. Should i unlock one and than add 2nd one? What do you think?
Give me a link to your card's specs, I'm 99.9% sure that it is a reference design. It's a fairly simply process and there's nothing you need to worry about and you do not need to wait for your second card because these reference cards have dual BIOS which means that even if you flash one BIOS and brick it, you can switch back to the alternate BIOS (There's a switch on the card that allows you to change the BIOS) to boot up the card and re-flash to the original BIOS, in short, there's a very rare chance that you'll ruin the card, that's the whole point of the dual BIOS. You will be able to unlock both of them, provided that the second one is also a reference design 6950, I'm getting mine on Friday and I'm going to unlock it to 6970 as well... P.S. don't try to unlock the second card when both of them are connected to your Mobo, unlock one card at a time...
Card specs? It's this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150530&Tpk=xfx 6950 2gb
Mmmm it looks a bit different than the reference design, but I think it's the same card overall, I think you should email XFX and ask them if it is a reference design and then try to unlock it, or you can try and worst case scenario if it's not a reference design, it will simply not work. But I think it is a reference design.
Alright BUT what does it mean reference card? sorry this is my first build so i don't know everything YET. also on the link you gave me there is a chart of all card brands and what cards unlocked at what rate. XFX seems to be unlockable unless they changed the design. Manufacturer Cards tested Unlocks and works fine Unlocks but rendering errors Does not unlock AMD 1 1 0 0 ASUS 40 39 1 0 Club3D 21 20 0 1 Diamond 8 7 1 0 Gigabyte 48 48 0 0 HIS 71 70 1 0 MSI 27 26 1 0 PowerColor 76 73 3 0 Sapphire 242 230 12 0 XFX 146 143 3 0 VTX3D 11 10 1 0 Visiontek 5 5 0 0 Out of 146 143 unlocked
A reference design simply means that it is the exact same card as designed by AMD but with an XFX/Gigabyte/Sapphire/Any other brand sticker on it, the only difference could be in the clock speeds or the bundles. The card you linked me to has a different fan than the reference design so I'm not sure if it's the same... You should email XFX and ask if it's a reference design, or alternatively, look for a switch on the card that has 1 and 2 on it, this the dual BIOS switch, if it exists, you have a reference design card and you can unlock it.
Someone just replied to the product in Newegg: "No shader unlock" This isn't a reference design so you won't be able to unlock it...
