[yummybar]

Hi guys!

yesterday i got my Diamond 5870, and right away flashed it to asus because iv been hearing good thing about it.

now where do i go from here? i know asus claims it's bios has some voltage tweak, but as i see i can tweak voltage from MSI Afterburner,
also which program do i use to overclock the asus bios card

Thanks in advance

 

[jshay]

Did you go into MSI Afterburner settings and check "Unlock Voltage Control" and "Unlock voltage monitoring" ?

 

[yummybar]

yes i did that

 

[Contagion]

Just use Afterburner to OC.
The Asus bios just raises the OC limit from 900/1300 to 1200/1400 or something like that. Don't worry about the Asus voltage tweak program, just use afterburner.
Make sure you have the latest version as well.

 

[yummybar]

so do i overclock with msi afterburner??
last night i did some overclocking but im not sure on really how to do it

what i did was

up core clock first, until up to the point where i get pixel dismatch error on GPUTOOL.

then up the voltage a little, then try again...

then i get lost onto what to do..

Do i OC memory clock after? or when do i do it?
also what are optimal Core/memory clock speeds, i see that people aim for 1000/1400, but is 1000/1300 bad?

Thanks in advance

 

[yummybar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Contagion Just use Afterburner to OC. The Asus bios just raises the OC limit from 900/1300 to 1200/1400 or something like that. Don't worry about the Asus voltage tweak program, just use afterburner. Make sure you have the latest version as well.

Thanks!!

but im sort of really confused about the steps for overclocking a video card, iv been reading the the guides but it seems to work one day, then the next day the oc fails... also which program do i use to stress and how long, i keep getting mixed answers =/

 

[Juggalo23451]

I have the 5870 and bios flashed it as well
I o/ced it to
1.35v proper cooling needed
1021 gpu
1312 mem
fan at full blast of course

also look at this article i posted here
http://www.overclock.net/ati/646068-...ml#post8149836

I got 24k plus a lil more in mark vantage. No pics on my laptop right now

 

[yummybar]

ok so from what i see i just need to keep overcloking and just play games and see its able to stable during games or do i use Extreme burn from furmark, -side note to furmark when i use it it doenst say if the card is getting pixel errors so how do i find out if its stable or not?

**edit**

ps. do i keep CCC open with MSI AF, i heard somewhere that im gonna need to take out CCC from startup

 

[Contagion]

The voltage that you adjust in Afterburner will not affect the memory OC.
Most 5870's hit around 1300MHz on the memory stable so I would just put it to that and leave it.
As for the core, what you do is keep raising it in increments (I do 20MHz bumps) and stress test it for like 5-10 Minutes in MSI Kombustor (you should see a "K" on the left side of Afterburner. If it passes, then I bump up the core some more. If it fails, I increase the voltage by the smallest increment (if it is at 1.162v, then I would put it to the next closest thing which would be around 1.175v). I run MSI Kombustor again to test for stability. If it passes, I go back to increasing the core speed by 20MHz until it fails. And so on and so on.
Once I get to the higher core speeds (around 1000Mhz) I only increase the core in 5MHz increments.

I hope this was helpful.
Tips:

• Keep the card as cool as possible. While overclocking, try not to let it go above ~75C as this can cause instability at higher clock speeds.

• 1.35v is safe for the card as long as you keep the fan at higher speeds. If you want the best quiet/performance voltage, it would be around 1.275v

• Most 5870's can hit a 1000MHz core with around 1.25v. That is what mine did on my old one.

 

[yummybar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Contagion The voltage that you adjust in Afterburner will not affect the memory OC. Most 5870's hit around 1300MHz on the memory stable so I would just put it to that and leave it. As for the core, what you do is keep raising it in increments (I do 20MHz bumps) and stress test it for like 5-10 Minutes in MSI Kombustor (you should see a "K" on the left side of Afterburner. If it passes, then I bump up the core some more. If it fails, I increase the voltage by the smallest increment (if it is at 1.162v, then I would put it to the next closest thing which would be around 1.175v). I run MSI Kombustor again to test for stability. If it passes, I go back to increasing the core speed by 20MHz until it fails. And so on and so on. Once I get to the higher core speeds (around 1000Mhz) I only increase the core in 5MHz increments. I hope this was helpful. Tips: Keep the card as cool as possible. While overclocking, try not to let it go above ~75C as this can cause instability at higher clock speeds. 1.35v is safe for the card as long as you keep the fan at higher speeds. If you want the best quiet/performance voltage, it would be around 1.275v Most 5870's can hit a 1000MHz core with around 1.25v. That is what mine did on my old one.

Wow great information!! thanks you Contagion(iv read ur review and comparisons very informative thanks for everything! and juggalo ( dude iv watched ur videos about modding nzxt XD awesome info in there as well.

-so i kombust for 5-10 minutes and i know its not stable because it will crush my driver right?

 

[Contagion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yummybar Wow great information!! thanks you Contagion(iv read ur review and comparisons very informative thanks for everything! and juggalo ( dude iv watched ur videos about modding nzxt XD awesome info in there as well. -so i kombust for 5-10 minutes and i know its not stable because it will crush my driver right?

Yes if the card isn't stable one of a few things will happen.

• You will get a BSOD and system will restart
• The screen will lock up and you will have to force a restart
• The drivers will crash to a grey screen (this probably won't happen with newer drivers)
• You will get artifacts (stray lines/dots all over the screen)
• You cursor will change

If anyone of those happens then the card isn't stable.
Be sure to be using the latest drivers from ATI's website.

Tips:
These are 100% true, but I have found them to be fairly accurate.

• If the screen goes completely black and locks up during the stressing, it is more likely the memory isn't stable. So lower the memory MHz a few clocks.
• Artifacts are GPU related usually. If you see them then mess with your core clocks first.
• The grey screen is driver related. Be sure to have the latest drivers.

Latest Drivers

 

[yummybar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Contagion Yes if the card isn't stable one of a few things will happen. You will get a BSOD and system will restart The screen will lock up and you will have to force a restart The drivers will crash to a grey screen (this probably won't happen with newer drivers) You will get artifacts (stray lines/dots all over the screen) You cursor will change If anyone of those happens then the card isn't stable. Be sure to be using the latest drivers from ATI's website. Tips: These are 100% true, but I have found them to be fairly accurate. If the screen goes completely black and locks up during the stressing, it is more likely the memory isn't stable. So lower the memory MHz a few clocks. Artifacts are GPU related usually. If you see them then mess with your core clocks first. The grey screen is driver related. Be sure to have the latest drivers. Latest Drivers

awesome!
im gonna bookmark this for future reference! thanks again contagion =]

 

[Contagion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yummybar awesome! im gonna bookmark this for future reference! thanks again contagion =]

Not a problem. Glad I could help

Good luck with the card! Don't fry anything

 

[F1ForFrags]

Good stuff Contagion.

Some of that info will prove helpful when I'm bringing my 5850 near death.

 

[yummybar]

my computer freezes for 10 seconds right after pressing the Kombustor,

i hope thats nothing serious...

 

[Contagion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yummybar my computer freezes for 10 seconds right after pressing the Kombustor, i hope thats nothing serious...

After the 10 seconds does it start stressing and is everything fine?
If so it could just be Kombustor loading or something.

Quote:

Originally Posted by F1ForFrags Good stuff Contagion. Some of that info will prove helpful when I'm bringing my 5850 near death.

:|

 

[yummybar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Contagion After the 10 seconds does it start stressing and is everything fine? If so it could just be Kombustor loading or something. :|

Yeah its stressing everything fine after the 10 seconds of freeze
weird

 

[yummybar]

for some reason i havnt crushed yet though, im still stock voltage going into stressing 930 CORE

Heres a picture of what happens when i freeze ( not actually it just shown in the time diagram )

So where you see the temperature drop thts when it freezes then gradually the temperature comes back up, but as you see the gpu usage on the right side indicates its still running @ 99%, so anyone has an idea of whats happening ? i never had this happen to me before

 

[trooper001]

Back your memory down to 1200. That memory on stock voltage is making your card unstable, but instead of crashing, it downclocks and slowly works itself back up. In my particular case, if I push mine further than 1225 on stock voltage, it'll stagger a bit on some games. If you want to run that memory clock of 1300, you need to up it.

 

[Contagion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trooper001 Back your memory down to 1200. That memory on stock voltage is making your card unstable, but instead of crashing, it downclocks and slowly works itself back up. In my particular case, if I push mine further than 1225 on stock voltage, it'll stagger a bit on some games. If you want to run that memory clock of 1300, you need to up it.

You have a 5850 while he has a 5870

Just letting you know that. The 5870 runs a stock 1200MHz memory.
And you can't simply "up" the memory voltage. You would need to have some kind of hard mod.
At least, there isn't any other way on a 5870 to up the memory voltage.