OC'ing Video cards

[MaSonZ]

As many know, I just recently got a new video card, partly to say I had it, partly to gain performance and run BF3, which I now have installed. BF3 also brings me to my question. I know if you aren't careful with an OC, you can easily damage the device, and I have never OC'd before. MSI has an overclocking software, but so does ATI (its a 6850), then theres my BIOS. Factory the card came OC'd with a 85 MHz core clock over the regular MSI 6850 Cyclone. I can run BF3 on High, and theres some video lag on Ultra. Some Reviewers claim that if they push their card they can easily perform with 6870's. I only want to do enough OC'ing to run BF3 with Ultra settings, however having never OC'd anything before I don't want to push too far. I also want to use a software that would be ebst for OC'ing, or is my BIOS the best bet?

[cattb]

From what I have read the 6850 can compete with the 6870 in some applications depending on your system.

There is alot of information on this topic in the web.

Heres 1 article http://www.anandtech.com/show/4002/amd-radeon-hd-6850-overclocking-roundup-asus-xfx-msi/1 to give you an idea.

I think your biggest comcern is going to be making sure you don't overheat your card. Also appling to much voltage for the higher clock rate and doing damage to the card.

There is also many forums, such as overclockers.

I have not done to much overclocking of GPUS myself.

Good Luck

[guncrasher]

what processor do you have?  you can oc your video card more than your cpu can handle and wont make a difference.  look more at does it really make a difference for you between high and ultra?

I can oc my cpu/vc to play ah with everything on and shadows at 4096.  but i cant tell the difference most of the time since i am just looking out the window at another airplane.  so i get rid of shadows just so my leg dont overheat since my puter is on the floor 12 inch away from my leg and i can feel the heat .


semp

[MaSonZ]

what processor do you have?  you can oc your video card more than your cpu can handle and wont make a difference.  look more at does it really make a difference for you between high and ultra?

I can oc my cpu/vc to play ah with everything on and shadows at 4096.  but i cant tell the difference most of the time since i am just looking out the window at another airplane.  so i get rid of shadows just so my leg dont overheat since my puter is on the floor 12 inch away from my leg and i can feel the heat .


semp

i7-970.

I think your biggest comcern is going to be making sure you don't overheat your card. Also appling to much voltage for the higher clock rate and doing damage to the card.

this is my biggest dillemma, while it wouldnt be hard to look around the web for safe temps for the card, if I should for some reason exceed those temps even for a second I'm going to have to look into an alternate cooling solution. About the voltage, I could probably go around and cross reference sources for safe voltages, although obviously I wouldnt push the card to its voltage limit.
I skimmed through that article, and can read more tomorrow, but it looks interesting.

[guncrasher]

i7-970.
this is my biggest dillemma, while it wouldnt be hard to look around the web for safe temps for the card, if I should for some reason exceed those temps even for a second I'm going to have to look into an alternate cooling solution. About the voltage, I could probably go around and cross reference sources for safe voltages, although obviously I wouldnt push the card to its voltage limit.
I skimmed through that article, and can read more tomorrow, but it looks interesting.

nice computer.  I oc my computer thru bios, never thru windows as it's recommended.  my vc is oc thru windows using evga's own software.  which is pretty good for my vc.  there's two things to oc, your gpu and your video ram.  video ram can only be oc a little (5to 10 %) and i hear contradicting info as to if it actually helps or not.

google what' is the highest to oc for your video card and it will show some unrealistic insane oc by pro's or people with money and nothing to lose and some middle of the road for people like us.  your video card can be as hot as 100c, but it usually below 80 is normal unless you have some really good cooling system.  mine stays in the mid 60's (both of them) with 3 monitors and everything on with shadoes at 2048 (or whatever).

I removed the side panel and left case open mostly because my legs get cold and the heat coming out of the case helps with the arthritis in my knees  .  the case sits on the floor a few inches from my legs but if I close the door to my room. in 1 hr or two the room gets pretty hot even thought the temps in my case are still normal.  it is a small room.  just letting you know in case you notice it and think there's something wrong with your computer.

not an expert here and pretty sure somebody will correct me if I made a mistake  .


semp

[MaSonZ]

nice computer.  I oc my computer thru bios, never thru windows as it's recommended.  my vc is oc thru windows using evga's own software.  which is pretty good for my vc.  there's two things to oc, your gpu and your video ram.  video ram can only be oc a little (5to 10 %) and i hear contradicting info as to if it actually helps or not.

google what' is the highest to oc for your video card and it will show some unrealistic insane oc by pro's or people with money and nothing to lose and some middle of the road for people like us.  your video card can be as hot as 100c, but it usually below 80 is normal unless you have some really good cooling system.  mine stays in the mid 60's (both of them) with 3 monitors and everything on with shadoes at 2048 (or whatever).

I removed the side panel and left case open mostly because my legs get cold and the heat coming out of the case helps with the arthritis in my knees  .  the case sits on the floor a few inches from my legs but if I close the door to my room. in 1 hr or two the room gets pretty hot even thought the temps in my case are still normal.  it is a small room.  just letting you know in case you notice it and think there's something wrong with your computer.

not an expert here and pretty sure somebody will correct me if I made a mistake  .


semp

I installed MSI Afterburner (an MSI Card). figure it would be the best bet. In the future I want to convert to water cooling, but I need to find out whats going on with my future. IF I get accepted I'm goin to college for Paramedic Sciences (supposedly school is the only one that does an excessive amount of required stuff). ig this is the case, I need to save my pennies.

[olds442]

As many know, I just recently got a new video card, partly to say I had it, partly to gain performance and run BF3, which I now have installed. BF3 also brings me to my question. I know if you aren't careful with an OC, you can easily damage the device, and I have never OC'd before. MSI has an overclocking software, but so does ATI (its a 6850), then theres my BIOS. Factory the card came OC'd with a 85 MHz core clock over the regular MSI 6850 Cyclone. I can run BF3 on High, and theres some video lag on Ultra. Some Reviewers claim that if they push their card they can easily perform with 6870's. I only want to do enough OC'ing to run BF3 with Ultra settings, however having never OC'd anything before I don't want to push too far. I also want to use a software that would be ebst for OC'ing, or is my BIOS the best bet?

my 6790 runs BF3 on ultra settings fine. i use AMD over drive, it comes with a "factory overclock" so they say.

[MaSonZ]

my 6790 runs BF3 on ultra settings fine. i use AMD over drive, it comes with a "factory overclock" so they say.

ill check into the differences between my 6850 and a 6790 when I get a chance, and go from there. 

[katanaso]

Do some searches on various overclocking sites for your particular card, and see what people have it overclocked to.  Since it's already slightly overclocked, the options might be different than a regular reference card.

I utilize MSI Afterburner to majorly overclock my card, while also slightly overvolting it.  This was after doing a lot of research, as well as trial and error for stability.

If you are going to overclock it, make sure you have good airflow through the case.  The cards can run very hot.

[guncrasher]

a factory oc card is the same as a regular card except it has been oc at the factory instead of done by the buyer.

the max oc is different on each card and it's similar to oc of cpus.  for example i can do 4.8 oc with no problems whatsoever on my 2500k but some people get less than that, some slightly more.

I have sli evga 465 cards.  one is oc and the other isnt.  but both will oc to nearly identical settings.

semp

[Copprhed]

I have my Sapphire HD 6850 OC'ed to 903 on the core, 1008 on the memory, with my GPU voltage set at 1174, using the Sapphire Trixx OC program. Google Overclocking Radeon HD6850, i found a really good article that gave me great advice. The card can actually do higher with Non stock cooling. I have a huge cooler on mine, had to cut one rail on my HDD bay to get it in

[zack1234]

I have a hd6970 when you use Amd overdrive it does increase FSP ect.

I also treaked the Bios as well, temps have not risen that much.

[Copprhed]

Remember, folks, ATI Overdrive will not clock a card past a specific point. I've found that Sapphire's Trixx OC program can go past ATI's "lock".

[Debrody]

Hello Sirs,
i got a Sapphire Hd 5830. Runs fine, fast enough for what im using it, and has a stock core clock of 800Mhz. Was trying to OC it to see where are the limits, but ran into a wall around 860-865 MHz.
My card is running very cool, about 50C at full load, hoping for a 920-950 MHz core clock with some additional voltage.
My question: the voltage-function is locked in the Sapphire Trixx. How to adjust it? Guessing its locked in the bios, how to get a modded one?
Thanks, Debrődy

[katanaso]

Hello Sirs,
i got a Sapphire Hd 5830. Runs fine, fast enough for what im using it, and has a stock core clock of 800Mhz. Was trying to OC it to see where are the limits, but ran into a wall around 860-865 MHz.
My card is running very cool, about 50C at full load, hoping for a 920-950 MHz core clock with some additional voltage.
My question: the voltage-function is locked in the Sapphire Trixx. How to adjust it? Guessing its locked in the bios, how to get a modded one?
Thanks, Debrődy

Debrody,

A quick search showed people saying they downloaded the latest version of Sapphire Trixx in order to get it working with that card, since it's non-reference.