Powercolor HD 7850 2gb Overclock using Afterburner, or powercolors oc tool?

[chargeit]

Wondering if I should try out powercolors OC tool instead of afterburner. Right now, I'm using afterburner on my GPU, maxing out (The oc), and staying at 59 - 60c playing planet side 2.

It runs fine, I'm just not sure if I should stick with what I'm using, or try out the OC're designed by my cards manufacturer.

 

[Tradesman1]

Give it a try, can always go back, may find you can do better one way or the other

 

[chargeit]

Give it a try, can always go back, may find you can do better one way or the other

Yea, I'll take a look at it (later). Just hate installing things that aren't needed on a new system. Wasn't sure if someone could vouch for it.

 

[Tradesman1]

With any OCing, I'm not a big fan of any of the preset software packages, I prefer to do the system through the bIOS and with say GPUs, use something that allows to set individual voltages, freqs etc

 

[chargeit]

With any OCing, I'm not a big fan of any of the preset software packages, I prefer to do the system through the bIOS and with say GPUs, use something that allows to set individual voltages, freqs etc

Yea, I did my CPU through the BIOS. I'll have to look into it.

I'd prefer to not have to alter the voltage on any of my hardware for now. It seems like that's a quick way to put excess wear and tear on it. Now, of course with my video cards, I'll most likely want to upgrade sooner than later, but, I'd still prefer it to remain as healthy as possible.

I'm wondering if I can get the same OC through BIOS, as I can with a program, without raising voltage. Also, what is the max OC that I'd be looking at for my HD 7850? It runs cool, even when I've it maxed through afterburner (without adjusting voltage). So far, it stays between 58-60c. The only game that took it to 61c, was Neverwinter nights 2, believe it or not.

Also, I've been setting it to default outside of games.

 

[Tradesman1]

With the 7850, base clock is around 860, I'd say prob 950+ depending on make and model, there are some pre OCed up to around 1000 and have seen them up to 1150ish if I remember right, but every card is different (even with the same model) so mileage will vary

 

[chargeit]

With the 7850, base clock is around 860, I'd say prob 950+ depending on make and model, there are some pre OCed up to around 1000 and have seen them up to 1150ish if I remember right, but every card is different (even with the same model) so mileage will vary

I know through the program, I can up it to 1050. The ram from 1200 to 1450.

I'm guessing since this is without altering the voltage you can get more like the 1150 you mentioned.

I had read that the card I got did really well with Ocing, since it has a 120mm fan, and and copper piping. From the temps I'm getting, I'd say this sounds correct.

 

[Tradesman1]

Sounds good to me, I play with GPUs on occasion, but aren't a gamer myself, I build the rigs, OC them to good settings, then let the clients try and blow them up with the more insane OCing, then they call me back to fix em,

 

[chargeit]

I was playing Diablo 3 today, and had my system black screen on me. At first, I was thinking it was from OCing the video card. The thing is, my temp even oc'd have stayed 60 - 63c. I am also able to pass heaven benchmark with the current settings.

My top exhaust fan was causing noise when I set to max, so, I took the time to replace it. In order to replace it, I had to remove a few things inside the case (ram, and cpu cooler fan). After completing this, I ran prime95.

I started prime95 and all was going as expected. I left the room and came back to find that one of my cores had failed after 20 min.

After this happened, I realized that more likely than not, the reason I black screened playing D3 was related to the CPU and not video card. I had noticed that the CPU is used much more while playing this game, compared to say a fist person (it gets higher temps).

So, next I entered my BIOS and change load line to extreme from auto. Right now, I'm 40 min into Prime95, and haven't had a core fail yet. My temps are up from what they were before. My CPU is running at 43 - 44c , and my (I'm guessing socket?) is 45 - 46c.

I'm thinking that by setting the load line to auto, I wasn't allowing enough power to pass through to my CPU. That would likely also explain my previous super low temps. Still, I find it odd that before it had passed over an hour of prime95 with my previous settings, and now it's suddenly power starved.

What do you think? I'm really shooting from the hip on this one.

 

[Tradesman1]

Sounds like good TS and reasoning, try it and see how it goes, keep in mind when you get into adjusting voltages I like to keep a log to see where I've been and where I won't to go, also like to allow myself a period of time to play, rather than sort of haphazard 10 minutes here and there

 

[chargeit]

I'm still running stock voltage, which is why I had left load line alone.

I was able to get it clocked stable running prime95 at 4.4 with a voltage change for 30 min before getting scared about temps of 50c (I know not bad but still). When I tried that, one of the things I had changed was load line. I kept a record of my changes while messing with the voltage.

Assuming that I can pass this current prime95 test, I might take the jump back up to 4.4 with increased volts.

Over an hour in atm and looking good. was going for 3 hours, but, if I do decide to go back up to 4.4, I might just do 2 hours.

 

[Tradesman1]

Sounds good, love to see folks think things through and then go for it, too many jump and go and keep jumping and don't get anywhere

 

[chargeit]

I ended up stopping at 1:30 min.

I'm running prime95 at 4.4 right now, 35 min in. used my notes and increased the voltage by 0.075.

My temps seem to of settled in at 48 - 50c for socket and CPU. I did hit a max of 59c (too quickly for me to catch) on the CPU. The temps are jumping around though, they go down into the 30's than jump back up to 50. I'm assuming this is sensor issues.

So, I will run this for at least 3 hours, keeping close eye on my temps.

This is making me nervous as hell, but, not going up to 4.4 has been nagging at me.

 

[Tradesman1]

Sounds like things are fine will be checking in

 

[chargeit]

Sounds like things are fine will be checking in

In 10 min I will have passed 3 hours of Prime95 at 4.4Ghz. I know some like 24 hours, but, 3 hours sounds pretty stable to me.

I'll try 4.5 later, but, not yet.

 

[Tradesman1]

Good work, time to take a break, document your current BIOS settings so you have fallback, play a game or something for a while and let the mind relax

 

[chargeit]

Cool, thanks for the help.

I stopped at 3 hour 35 min. Will now run a heaven stress test.

 

[Tradesman1]

Cool, thanks for the help.

I stopped at 3 hour 35 min. Will now run a heaven stress test.

______________________

You do know of course that the ave crash time for this is 3 hours 36 minutes............LOL, sorry couldn't resist Good job!

 

[chargeit]

Cool, thanks for the help.

I stopped at 3 hour 35 min. Will now run a heaven stress test.

______________________

You do know of course that the ave crash time for this is 3 hours 36 minutes............LOL, sorry couldn't resist Good job!

Lol. Yea, really... Should of gone that extra min.

Passed heaven stress test, than played Diablo 3 for a good hour (I game, but, usually in short sessions) and all seems well. My cpu temp maxed at 41c, and video card 58c.

 

[Tradesman1]

Sounding good, have fun !

 

[chargeit]

Still going strong. I'll tell you what, that sucker really heats the ol'computer room up now that my temps have gone up. Before, it would stay icy in there, now, not so much.

I did attempt to up my GPU past 1050, to 1100. I ended up failing Heaven. I'm contributing this to my PSU only being a 500w, not the card not being able to handle it. I'm sure that with a larger watt psu, I could get that sucker to run at 1200 , 1400. But, that will have to wait for another day. I'll be happy with 1050 , 1400 for now.

The thing works great, most of the games I play are less intensive, I've had to start running v-sync with them, since going over 60 is pointless (IMO) unless it's going to be steady 120. More intense stuff, like planetside 2 still gets really good fps (45+ easy) with modest settings at 1080p. Mainly, I keep most things other than textures on medium, lower lights and shadows, max view distance (a must), low or off AA.

Really loving this system, for the price, and general easy of making I can't believe I've been using laptops for the last 6 years or so. The last time I had a gaming system, I bought it made. P4 3.4, 1gb ram, Nvidia fx 6800 (I don't want to admit the price I paid for that system). Lol, as you can tell, it's been awhile.

Thanks again for the help. Without you there saying go for it, I'd most likely still be at 4.2.

 

[Tradesman1]

Have fun, wil C U around

T