OC'ing 2x5770's in CrossfireX

[LiquidBronze]

Hi all

I built this rig a few weeks ago and want to get into OC'ing my 5770's. I wanted to test some new clock speeds just using the ATI Overdrive tool for the moment. I set both cards to 900/1300, the temps did not go above 58C when testing. I loaded up Heaven benchmark and it was choppy (stop and start each frame) I then tried to load up Crysis and the same thing happens, anyone else have this issue with the 5xxx series cards?

I have also tested in increments of 5, even at 855 and 1205, I get the same random choppiness.

I would like to successfully get these to OC, do the GPU and Memory clocks need to be within a certain range of each other?

CORSAIR 850TX 850W
ASUS Crosshair III Formula AM3
AMD Phenom II X4 3.2 @ 3.8 Quad-Core
Noctua NH-U12P
G.SKILL 8GB DDR3 1600
2x SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5770
2x WD Caviar Black 640GB
COOLER MASTER HAF 922
Win 7 Ultimate x64

 

[sabot00]

Most optimal OC's keep the mem:core similar to stock. It might just be a driver bug, etc.

 

[OvrClkr]

the 5770's really don't OC that far, drivers are pre-mature also....

 

[Xelios]

My single 5770 is running at 1050/1300, so I don't see why you're hitting that problem. Are you manually setting fan speeds, and turning the voltages up? It might be obvious, but you did not mention it in your post, so thats my first suggestion.

 

[one-shot]

Tom's just did an article today on overclocking with that same GPU. I'd recommend it as it may give you some ideas or remind you of something you overlooked.

 

[LiquidBronze]

Thank you for the replies all, I appreciate it. I read that article and it does not mention turning up the voltages, is that totally necessary? What program would I use to do that, RivaTuner or something? I had the fan speeds set to 60% when trying to OC and the cards never went above 58C at the first specs I tried (900/1300). That is when I set it back to stock and went up in increments of 5, but still got the same choppy results.

I have both crossfireX cables connected to my cards (both are facing the same direction), I am not sure if I need both thugh, could that be an issue?

 

[OvrClkr]

Don't mess with the GPU's volts unless you know what you are doing....

 

[Xelios]

I personally wouldn't go past 1.25v. But since your temperatures seem a bit high at 60% (mine is 42 idle, 50 load), I'd put your max at maybe 1.2v. Should stabilize your overclock.

Try using MSI Afterburner. Excellent program.

 

[LiquidBronze]

I think I solved the issue,

I decided to take my secondary monitor off the back of the card. I then attempted to OC again and everything ran great at 900/1300. For some reason, I cannot have dual monitors hooked up when I OC. I therefore just set up 2 different profiles in Catalyst, one with the OC for games and the other profile at stock for movies.

Thanks for everyone's replies.


LB

 

[JofaMang]

Good to hear you solved your issue, and thanks for contributing with how you managed to do so. I haven't heard of this sort of issue before, so good to know as I plan on Tri-firing 5770s in my January build. 😀

 

[OvrClkr]

you should run an instance of 3dmark06 and post the scores =)

 

[LiquidBronze]

One other person had this same issue over on the AMD/ATI boards. What the OC actually caused was black lines across the secondary monitor and the slow downs in rendering 3d graphics on the main monitor. I did some more trial and error and I actually only need to have the secondary monitor off (not physically unplugged from the back of the card), in order for the OC to work.