This must be a windows 7 issue.Im running XP and firefox 4 and my card downclocks.performance wise my cpu is definitely holding me back.temps are good low 30's at idle and low 60's on load.I started using trixx custom fan profiles and the card stays in the high 50's under load(furmark).the fan is very quiet up to 50%,60-70% it starts getting loud but not annoying(about as loud as a 120mm yate loon low speed at 12 volts).overclocking,i never overclock a new card right out of the box.I usually wait about a week to make sure the card doesn't have any problems.But i just had to see,first i run autotune and subtract 5-10% and start there.autotune set the clocks at 890-1170,i've been running 800-1100.I'll start bumping the clocks up tonight and see where they go
I wouldn't be surprised if FF4 didn't have the bug in XP - I think it's a Catalyst driver problem, and the W7 driver is probably totally different.
Your CPU is definitely holding you back, but you knew that was going to happen. You still got a fantastic deal on the card - way more performance for the same price never hurt, even if you can't tap it all.
The autotuned clocks of 890/1170 sound a bit high. 890 would be almost impossible to hold without extra voltage, and the card doesn't offer that. Starting at 800/1100 sounds safe (and pretty sweet as a starting point, since it's higher than Catalyst would allow on the core - Sapphire has worked around that limitation).
Edit: you posted while I was replying - your 840 on the core sounds exactly right without extra voltage. I can hold about 860 or so before crashing on stock voltage. Seems like there's nothing gimped about this Sapphire card, but let us know about memory clocks. 1100 is fine but not great. Hopefully you can get above 1150.
I'll be getting mine in on Wednesday according to tracking, but I probably wouldn't do anything over than some brief overclocking until the weekend.
Let us know...sounds like people are having some luck with the card.
Too bad the card is out of stock...would be buyers are probably wondering what the heck we keep bumping this thread for!