A warning to prospective 7850 owners

[SickBeast]

I just wanted to share my displeasure with my Powercolor 7850. It's the reference model.

The problem with my particular card is that they have completely locked down the voltage on it and you can't change it in *any* of the overclocking software (I tried about 7 different programs without any success).

Also, the cooling on the thing sucks and is completely inadequate for the card even when mildly or moderately overclocked.

My advice to prospective 7850 owners is to stick with the Asus cards as the Asus GPU Tweak software allows full adjustment and overclocking of that card, and the temps are reasonable.

If anyone is interested in my card for $200 shipped please let me know.

 

[thilanliyan]

Powercolor non-reference cards are usually like that I think.

EDIT: Oops, it's a "reference" model, but up to the manufacturer what they put on it.

 

[Phynaz]

Isn't voltage always locked on reference cards?

 

[SickBeast]

Powercolor non-reference cards are usually like that I think.

Well, I can see why they've locked down the voltage. I'm hitting 85C under load at stock volts. 1.3v would probably kill the card with stock cooling.

I have aftermarket cooling on the way, though.

I'm holding out hope for a bios mod down the line, and perhaps better overclocking tools.

 

[KompuKare]

Nice warning. But anyhow, Despite being around for ages (think I once bought a Powercolor Radeon 9100 PCI about a decade ago), the fact that nobody thinks highly of them must speak volumes... Or at least I never read a good review of Powercolor,

 

[SickBeast]

Nice warning. But anyhow, Despite being around for ages (think I once bought a Powercolor Radeon 9100 PCI about a decade ago), the fact that nobody thinks highly of them must speak volumes... Or at least I never read a good review of Powercolor,

It needs to be said. There are tons of people pushing the 7850 on people but there is a lot that is not being said about these cards in the reviews or by the people who are encouraging people to buy them.

Is the 7850 still a good card at $249? It's decent. Is it better than the competing nVidia cards in that price range? Probably, for most people. Is the card guaranteed to hit 1200mhz like people are saying? Absolutely not. Are the temps as good as the reviews say? Not in my experience.

What I'm thinking is that the cards AMD sent out for review had a very different cooling setup than the "reference" cards like mine and the HIS card as well. That's deceptive and should be illegal IMO. It's basically false advertising. It's not like it's a 5C difference, either. It's a 25C difference.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Nice warning. But anyhow, Despite being around for ages (think I once bought a Powercolor Radeon 9100 PCI about a decade ago), the fact that nobody thinks highly of them must speak volumes... Or at least I never read a good review of Powercolor,

This

 

[SickBeast]

Guys you can't downplay this and say it's just limited to Powercolor. The HIS card has the exact same cooler. The other cards are also stuck on the stock bios.

 

[blastingcap]

This may explain why my Sapphire 7850 OC is stuck on 1.075V though I also think it's because the card is so new, they haven't had time to make it compatible with software yet. For instance Afterburner 2.2 appears to be fully compatible with my 7970 Sapphire OC. In short, if it's a true ref model it should volt-unlock but the software may be lagging...

 

[Corporate Thug]

I don't know what software they are using, but these guys seemed to get a nice OC on the card:

http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rid=219883

 

[MisterMac]

Well, it's reference.

Doesn't that sort of say duh?


Especially with brands known as the "lowest" ones in general for the past several years?

What did you expecT?


You order a powercolour reference, yet i can't find any reviewed powercolour that oc's to 1200mhz.

They've straight up been asus or sapphire, non reference.


Aren't you perhaps just expecting too much?

Anyhow, i have a asus 7850 incoming, so im damn well hoping +1200, ill let everyone know

 

[thilanliyan]

Isn't voltage always locked on reference cards?

On reference cards it is almost always unlocked...going back to the X1800 cards for ATI I believe.

I don't think there IS a REFERENCE board for the 7850s is there? It was basically up to the manufacturer to decide what they put on the board?

 

[SickBeast]

I don't know what software they are using, but these guys seemed to get a nice OC on the card:

http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rid=219883

1110mhz on the core is weak for a 7850. 1250mhz is a good overclock.

I hit 1150mhz. I guess in a sense it's not bad. I was just hoping for more, and the lack of voltage adjustment just kills it for me.

 

[p_monks33]

Ive had a couple of powercolor cards that were non-reference design and had decent luck. A 6970 dual fan and an older card I think and x800 series. The 6970 always ran cool. I don't think everyone is buying a card off the fact that it overclocks like crazy, I have been looking at the 7850 for my HTPC for the fact I have seen that it runs pretty cool. I appreciate the update and look forward to seeing if aftermarket cooling gets the temps down, because that is my primary reason to look to this card instead of an nvidia alternative.

 

[tigersty1e]

Then its not reference.

Reference cards can change voltage.

 

[SickBeast]

Ive had a couple of powercolor cards that were non-reference design and had decent luck. A 6970 dual fan and an older card I think and x800 series. The 6970 always ran cool. I don't think everyone is buying a card off the fact that it overclocks like crazy, I have been looking at the 7850 for my HTPC for the fact I have seen that it runs pretty cool. I appreciate the update and look forward to seeing if aftermarket cooling gets the temps down, because that is my primary reason to look to this card instead of an nvidia alternative.

Yeah the reviews are dead wrong in terms of how hot these cards run. You will see those temps if you get the Asus or MSI card with their good cooling setups. Not with the "reference" cooling that the Powercolor and HIS ones have.

Look at the pics of the cooler here and tell me what you think:

http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rid=219883

I think it looks pathetic, and it performs pathetically as well.

 

[p_monks33]

Looks like one of the MSI Cyclone coolers with alot smaller heatsink. I have really been eyeing the Sapphire cards that have the dual fan coolers. What kind of case are you running it in?

 

[SickBeast]

Looks like one of the MSI Cyclone coolers with alot smaller heatsink. I have really been eyeing the Sapphire cards that have the dual fan coolers. What kind of case are you running it in?

Antec 300 with 4 120mm fans and a 140mm fan going. Even with all that I was hitting 82C under full load. I prefer running with a single 120mm intake fan and a single 140mm exhaust fan, and I hit 85C under load with that setup. It's bad IMO. I always thought my case cooling was good. It handled GTX 460 SLI just fine.

 

[p_monks33]

I had great luck with the cooler on this 6970. It always ran in the mid 60c range which for a power hungry card was great. Im surprised that powercolor hasn't released one with this style of cooler.

 

[SickBeast]

I had great luck with the cooler on this 6970. It always ran in the mid 60c range which for a power hungry card was great. Im surprised that powercolor hasn't released one with this style of cooler.

Powercolor did come out with a non-reference card but it still only has a single fan and I'm guessing it sucks as well.

I will never be buying a Powercolor card again.

That said, this is not all Powercolor's fault. I am disappointed on many levels with this card and I think other 7850 owners would agree with me as well.

 

[MrK6]

If you're unhappy with it, why not return it and get the card you want?

 

[SickBeast]

If you're unhappy with it, why not return it and get the card you want?

Because I would have to pay to ship it back and pay a 15% restocking fee. I think I'm outside of the return window now as well.

 

[p_monks33]

What are the options for aftermarket cooling? I know that arctic makes some beefy coolers.

 

[SickBeast]

What are the options for aftermarket cooling? I know that arctic makes some beefy coolers.

I ordered a Twin Turbo II from them but I'm starting to regret that as well as I did not realize that there is no way for me to overvolt the card a bit.

Hopefully the overclocking tools are just immature and I will be able to do it soon. If I see a hot deal on another card I'm going to sell this one, though.

 

[blastingcap]

On reference cards it is almost always unlocked...going back to the X1800 cards for ATI I believe.

I don't think there IS a REFERENCE board for the 7850s is there? It was basically up to the manufacturer to decide what they put on the board?

Apparently there are two reference designs. The GOOD reference designs ALWAYS have the fan at the END :

Lately though AMD has been allow "B reference" with fans in the middle that aren't as good.

This is for the 7950 and not for the 7850 but I bet it's the same story for both regarding the "A reference" vs. "B reference." Click on the link below to see side by side how much the cooler differ.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2012/01/31/amd-radeon-hd-7950-3gb-review/2

You miss 400 grams of metal cooling by opting for the middle-design vs. the end-design. For the metrically challenged, 400 grams is a LOT. That's 0.88 pounds of copper and aluminum, all GONE. Hardware.fr has thermal photos of various card designs and the end-fan reference designs do okay. They get warm when clocked high but they are okay. The middle-fan designs only cool the GPU so the VRMs and memory can get very hot, and when overclocking, the entire card is too hot.

http://www.hardware.fr/articles/853-16/thermographie-infrarouge-cartes-graphiques.html (compare the Sapphire HD 7950 with the Sapphire HD 7950 Overclock; the first card is similar to the middle-fan reference card, and the second card the dual-fan "Overclock edition." You can see what I mean by how the middle-mounted reference-style card doesn't adequately cool the card when overclocked, which you can see on this page: http://www.hardware.fr/articles/853-10/sapphire-radeon-hd-7950-test.html )