Perfered OC software?

[mojothehut]

Hey all,
So I have a question about what utilities people generally prefer to OC their video card with. I'm running a Sapphire 7950 with stock speeds of 900/1250.
This is my second card of this model, my first one I bought over a year ago when the 7000 line was like a week old. Sadly after doing a very minor OC on that one, it died, had to RMA. I only had it at 950/1300 and it failed after two months I was using the AMD Overdrive feature to do the overclock.

Anyway I have my replacement card in and after reading all the uber "7950 OCs like a beast" threads, I've got the urge to try again. This model is also factory OCd to 900mhz core, no boost feature or anything. Is it a bad idea to OC this model? If not, should I roll with something other than AMD's OC software? LIke MSI Afterburner? Despite the card being a Sapphire build.

I'm running a Corsair 650watt PSU with 58amps, should be more than fine to do some minor overclocking right?
Rest of my specs:
AMD 975 @ 4.0 ghz
Asus Sabertooth 990 FX
16 gb (8gb x2) Corsair DDR 1600mhz
WD Raptor 10k rpm 500gb, 64mb cache hd.
Win 7 Pro

Thanks for the input, I really would like to get a decent overclock on this card. I'm getting jealous of all the 7950 success stories
p.s preferred* for the subject title =(

 

[PPB]

I think MSI afterburner is the most complete software regarding not only GPU OCing, but also real time monitoring (it's OSD function is second to none). Even tho overvolting is restricted out of the box, you can alter using notepad a config file that would allow you to do so (and up the core clock beyond CCC's limit).

No worries about brand compatibility, I have been using Afterburner with Sapphire cards for a while

 

[Stuka87]

I have been using afterburner for several years. Has worked fine, except for a strange compatibility with Bioshock Infinite.

 

[blackened23]

MSI afterburner and EVGA precision are interchangeable for nvidia. They're programmed by the same guy and have the same features, I personally prefer afterburner.

For AMD cards, afterburner.

 

[futurefields]

I use Catalyst for my overclocking and I use RadeonPro to tweak my games for maximum playability.

 

[Durvelle27]

I myself use MSI Afterburner and prefer it over any other software

 

[Dankk]

I do small-time overclocking in Catalyst. I have MSI Afterburner installed purely for it's OSD function, and if I wanted to get into serious overclocking then that's what I'd probably use.

 

[Yuriman]

I found that Afterburner wasn't able to adjust the voltage on my card regardless of any ini changes I made, so I'm using Sapphire Trixx. It's a lot more barebones but does exactly what I need.

 

[Greenlepricon]

I was using Afterburner, which is amazing but I ended up running into the voltage-locking problem like Yuriman. Not being able to take my 7950 over 1V was keeping me back quite a bit. I switched to Trixx and it has worked perfectly so far. Just as easy, but it lets you destroy your card if you're not careful.

 

[alexruiz]

Sapphire Trixx also here.
Afterburner has more monitoring, buts seems less hardcore as far as clock and voltage control.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

I've also had more success with Trixx lately than with Afterburner. With both a Sapphire 7950 and a Powercolor Tahiti LE.