Overclocking using CCC. Q's

[Refreshment]

Hello everyone:

The card in question is a Radeon 5850. Using the autotune Catalyst utility the card autoclock itself to 765 core and 1115 memory, from default values of 725 mhz and 1000 mhz respectivly.

I know MSI afterburner is the most used utility to overclock AMD gpu's but im not interested in overvolting. I asume the CCC achieves the overclock withouth raising the voltage.

So my questions are:
1) Is there any risk by overclocking the card this way? I asume not since there isn't any overvoltage.
2)Save for posible image artifacts or stuttering, are there any damaging side effects with incorrect GPU overclock?
3)What behaviour or signs should i spot to recognize an incorrect OC?

Thanks for the time and hopefully some answers.

 

[Termie]

You are already almost at the Catalyst overclocking limits. To exceed the limits of 775/1125, you need to use Afterburner and modify the Afterburner config file:

Go to: Program Files/MSI Afterburner/MSIAfterburner.cfg

change
[ATIADLHAL]
EnableUnofficialOverclocking = 1
AccessibilityCheckingPeriod = 0

The best way to start overclocking is to run a program like MSI Kombustor (which comes with Afterburner) to stress the GPU during testing. You will see graphical glitches when you begin to exceed the GPU clock limits, and you will begin to see lower FPS when you exceed the memory limits (because it's auto-correcting). A bad overclock won't damage the card - it will just crash during games. It might also crash Kombustor, but again, that's not a problem as long as you don't try to keep exceeding the limits of the card.

You won't be overvolting by default on CCC or afterburner. You have to enable that via an option on afterburner, and you should probably hold off on that until you try out some stock-voltage overclocking.

 

[Refreshment]

You are already almost at the Catalyst overclocking limits. To exceed the limits of 775/1125, you need to use Afterburner and modify the Afterburner config file:

Go to: Program Files/MSI Afterburner/MSIAfterburner.cfg

change
[

Thanks Termie.

Yes, i know im close to the limits of CCC. But to sume up:

If i OC using Catalyst, save for artifacts or lower frames, there won't be any risk of damaging the card. Is this correct?

The only problem with OC (withouth voltage increase) might be crashes during games or artifacts?

 

[Termie]

Thanks Termie.

Yes, i know im close to the limits of CCC. But to sume up:

If i OC using Catalyst, save for artifacts or lower frames, there won't be any risk of damaging the card. Is this correct?

The only problem with OC (withouth voltage increase) might be crashes during games or artifacts?

Yes, that's correct.

 

[Refreshment]

Glad you cleared that up Termie.

Also just noticed your sig: "XFX HD5850 @850/1200"

Really sweet. What voltage are you using to get your card to 800 MHZ and what kind of improvement (percentage wise) in comparison to stock values are you getting?

Plus how much time have you had your card overclocked like that?

 

[Termie]

Glad you cleared that up Termie.

Also just noticed your sig: "XFX HD5850 @850/1200"

Really sweet. What voltage are you using to get your card to 800 MHZ and what kind of improvement (percentage wise) in comparison to stock values are you getting?

Plus how much time have you had your card overclocked like that?

Lots of people have been able to hit 850/1200. I'm on stock voltage, I get a 13% FPS increase (or 5% below 5870 at stock), and I've been running it like that for about 6 months.

 

[Refreshment]

Lots of people have been able to hit 850/1200. I'm on stock voltage, I get a 13% FPS increase (or 5% below 5870 at stock), and I've been running it like that for about 6 months.

That's incredible man! You got an exellent value there, performance close to 5870 withouth the extra heat, power consumption and for less money.

Also we have similar choice of components exept for the Intel part.

Do you think i could get my card to 775, even tough the CCC autotune utility set me at 765? I wonder how much the autotune would have ended putting your card since you are at over 75 MHZ above the limit at stock.

 

[Termie]

That's incredible man! You got an exellent value there, performance close to 5870 withouth the extra heat, power consumption and for less money.

Also we have similar choice of components exept for the Intel part.

Do you think i could get my card to 775, even tough the CCC autotune utility set me at 765? I wonder how much the autotune would have ended putting your card since you are at over 75 MHZ above the limit at stock.

Interesting point. I'm pretty sure autotune would have let me hit 775. In fact I think I tried that once. No reason you can't at least try that, although it could be that your card was limiting the overclock for some reason. Trust me, you won't damage the card by upping it 10MHz.

Another way to try overclocking if you don't want to use a modded version of Afterburner is to use AMD GPU Clock Tool. It lets you set the overclock manually (can't set any profiles), and it automatically overrides the CCC limit: http://downloads.guru3d.com/AMD-GPU-Clock-Tool-v0.9.8-download-1985.html. Just make sure to reset the clocks when you're done gaming or they'll stay in 3d mode (i.e., the card will use more power and run hotter at the desktop).

 

[Refreshment]

Thanks for the guidence and your time Termie. Gonna try some of the programs you suggested.

Cheers and enjoy the hollydays.

 

[Refreshment]

Sorry to dig this dead up again. Maybe Termie is around, to help again.

How do i use the AMD GPU clock tool? Do i just install it and set the clocks i want to test and leave the CCC alone? But what happens to the CCC, then?

 

[Termie]

Sorry to dig this dead up again. Maybe Termie is around, to help again.

How do i use the AMD GPU clock tool? Do i just install it and set the clocks i want to test and leave the CCC alone? But what happens to the CCC, then?

Yes, pretend CCC doesn't exist when using the AMD GPU clock tool. The clock tool will override whatever CCC says, and I'm not even sure CCC will accurately show the clocks when using the clock tool.

So just go ahead and set your clocks to 800/1150 using AMD GPU clock tool, and see if the card can run furmark or your favorite game without crashing. That is 25MHz above the CCC limit on both CPU and memory, and if your card can't hold this speed, then there's no reason to bother with anything but CCC's 775/1125 limit. If it works, then you can go ahead and try some higher clocks.

 

[Refreshment]

Thanks alot sir!

Other question. I dont want to use afterburner, even though is better, because it seems to be more demanding resource wise.

So if i install AMD clock tool will it take over the card even after i start up. What i want to do is, start up my machine. If im not playing let the CCC underclock my card to 2d like always. And if i want to play, fire up the AMD clock tool, set my desire values and play.

Will it work like that? As always thanks for your kind advice man.

 

[Termie]

AMD clock tool will only adjust the clocks if you manually input them. While you can certainly put it in your startup folder, it will not set the clocks on startup, it will just open the program. In other words, it doesn't store profiles. So you put the values in that you want, play your game, and then when you quit the game, restore the clocks manually using AMD GPU tool. CCC will then take over with standard 2D clocks.