Overclocking my Sapphire VaporX 5870

[SlowSpyder]

Hi guys,

I have a VaporX 5870, I'm quite happy with it. It's whisper quiet and happily does anything I ask of it at 1920x1200.

But, this card does not allow voltage adjustments as the reference boards do. As far as I'm aware there is no way to adjust the voltage of the GPU on this card.

Despite the lack of voltage adjustment, I'm so far able to achieve a pretty stout overclock of 965/1270 and climbing. The top temp I've seen so far is 62C in the middle of a Furmark run.

Other than Furmark, what is 'the' torture test these days? I'd like to push this part as far as I can. So far I'm quite suprised and happy, 965MHz on stock voltage is pretty impressive in my opinion. If a way to adjust the voltage on these cards is ever created, watch out

So anyway, tell me what I should run to really stress this thing. So far AoC is solid after a couple hours of gaming and Furmark runs withouth any problems... FPS Min: 59 FPS Max: 96 FPS Avg: 69. This is at 1920x1200 2xAA. Heaven scores 36.3FPS - Score: 914 @ 1920x1200 2xAA 8xAF all settings on high.

It seems to be stable in these tests, I really want to push this thing and find out what it can do. 1GHz on stock voltage maybe? Probably wishful thinking, but it keeps climbing and responds when I push the clocks. I guess we'll see.

 

[Madcatatlas]

isnt that a pretty nice overclock already? are you hoping for the 1000 on core overclock?

do you need those extra 35mhz on the core?

 

[fffblackmage]

Nice OC!

I was able to hit 1GHz on my 4890, but the voltage bump required to get that far...

But, unlike my 4890, it looks like your 5870 just needs a little more encouragement to make that final 35MHz bump.

 

[Hauk]

Yea OP, that's nice OC on stock voltage. Few would bother pushing for more. I know I wouldn't.

 

[Visaoni]

Yea OP, that's nice OC on stock voltage. Few would bother pushing for more. I know I wouldn't.

1ghz is 1ghz, after all. I probably would try it, simply because of how close 965mhz is to 1ghz.

 

[tweakboy]

You dont wanna do a hard mod, its not worth it. let her run my friend

 

[SlowSpyder]

Yea, 1GHz is just a round number, it doesn't mean anything other than another 35MHz. I really don't have a magic number in my mind, I'm just suprised that this thing keeps going up. If I don't get another single MHz out of it, I'd still be quite happy at 965MHz. I just wish I could adjust the voltage, I think the sky is the limit for this particular GPU.

I imagine 850 -> 965MHz is an actual difference that would show up in game play in certain games.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Furmark crashed at 970MHz. I guess I found my limit.

I'll keep it at 965MHz and see how it goes. I'm sure 960-965MHz will be stable. Anyway, certainly not a bad overclock for stock voltage. I'm happy with it.

I hope others that have a VaporX can replicate these clcoks or better. The VaporX is such a nice cooler, it's a shame the voltage can't be tweaked. :/ I guess we'll wait for the Toxic and Atomic versions.