Yes. i am unsure about HD 5850 but HD5870 non-reference designs do not always allow voltage tweaks. Some of them are at stock clocks and OC well; others are vendor-set at slight OCs and they do not OC much furtherAre there certain vendors that overclock better than others? (Ability to voltage tweak, etc...)
The Sapphire VaporX stuff appears to use a non-reference design. I wouldn't count on being able to adjust the voltage.Are there certain vendors that overclock better than others? (Ability to voltage tweak, etc...)
A friend has an ASUS 5850 reference card, same as mine, his does 1000@1.35v while mine is 1020@1.25. If he wants to bring the voltages down to where I am he has to drop his core down to 950. He isn't very happy with that, but it's pure luck of the draw.*Generally* the HD 5000 series is a very mature process and they usually overclock; however, it often comes down to your specific card - some o/c well; some don't - even within the same brand and model number.
You can have any BIOS you want, it's easy. However, just because you can doesn't mean you should. I'm already seeing people who have bricked their cards.Lot of misinformation in this thread. Even though most HD 5850's are reference design (new ones are just popping up) they don't have the same bios!!!
Any reference design card can use Afterburner for overclocking and overvolting. ASUS's Voltage Tweak software is garbage, I opt to use MSI Afterburner with my ASUS card and highly recommend it.Get an Asus or MSI 58xx/59xx, they both support voltage software and use similar bioses. The Asus uses their own software called Voltage Tweak, MSI uses Afterburner. Both also offer 3 year warranty.
That's not entirely true, actually. The 775Mhz limit is common to many cards because it is the limit of ATI's Catalyst overclocking tool. But you can run the separate AMD GPU Tool to get around this limit on any card. That's how I run my XFX at 850/1200.Lot of misinformation in this thread. Even though most HD 5850's are reference design (new ones are just popping up) they don't have the same bios!!!
Some vendors don't let you OC worth shit (I have a non reference Gigabyte, that I can OC from 765MHz to 775MHz), but there's also vendors that allow you to overclock to 1000MHz or even 1500MHz. I'm sure Asus allows 1000MHz or even higher, and MSI's bios is pretty much unlocked.
Eh, it depends on the benchmark. I'd almost say my own benchmarks with a GTX 285 are borked, but it looks like the GTX 285 sometimes equals a HD 5850, and sometimes the HD 5850 is like 20% faster? Compared to a GTX 280 it should be more like 25-30%?Great responses here, folks... Think I'll get the Asus or MSI.
Oh, BTW, how much faster is the ATI 5850 compared to the EVGA nVidia GTX280 that I have now? And does anyone know the link to that super chart that shows the performance of all current video cards?
i have one also; GTX 280 is a nice card if aging a bit with only DX10. Did you overclock it? - and do you plan to overclock your 5850?Apoppin...you asked...
"Are you going to replace your GTX 280?"
Might sell it/might keep it...probably sell...
the chart in here (yes old article) shows the stock differences between the 5870 and the 5850. pretty much every review ive seen has the 5850 bettering the GTX 280/285 on everythingi have one also; GTX 280 is a nice card if aging a bit with only DX10. Did you overclock it? - and do you plan to overclock your 5850?
i am not so sure the performance differences are going to be night and day between stock 5850 and 280; HD 5870 is a solid upgrade over the DX10 card as i have been benching my GTX 280 against my HD 5870 and GTX 480, and i would definitely recommend either of those upgrades.
i just have no experience with HD 5850; how much slower is it than HD 5870?