The Radeon 7850 is an overclocking beast

[aaksheytalwar]

Yeh thought it was a bit strange, gtx580+ performance for casual gamers...

This thread is the reason I jumped for a 7850, I didn't realize you could OC them that high, 1.2ghz or above is like having an OCed gtx580 performance, for prolly 1/3 the power use.

This is how good the 7800 series are.

 

[SickBeast]

The 7850 is a great card, but I would recommend against the reference cards because the cooling is not adequate once you overclock. Mine runs at 85C under full load at 1150mhz on the core. I had to order an aftermarket cooler which cost another $40.

I have seen the Asus cards selling for around $240 which is a very good price IMO.

 

[Don Karnage]

Asus is the best 7850 but very low inventory

 

[Freddy1765]

Might be worth it to wait for MSI's Power Edition; if the advertisement of improved voltage control comes through, it will easily become the best 7850 (provided of course prices dont skyrocket).

 

[tuffluck]

though the sapphire OC edition appears to be discontinued, it is consistent. i don't think anyone that has one can't do 1200/5800 @ 1.176v. it's almost like that's what the card was intended to do, and they downclocked it on purpose. sounds like a lot of other brands vary though with the overclock, even though when the ASUS is good, it's really good.

 

[blastingcap]

Btw those of you trying to decide b/w the ASUS and Sapphire OC might be interested in what I've gathered: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=33342365&postcount=12 I am curious if anyone knows the diameter heatpipes that ASUS uses on the 7850 cooler, though, as I can't seem to find that info anywhere, ugh.

Basically I don't think you can go wrong with either the ASUS or Sapphire OC. Or the MSI Twin Frozr III / Lightning, obviously, if they ever come out with those.

 

[tuffluck]

Thanks for the reply. So I actually did email Sapphire Tech on this. They got back to me today and said the following:



I did lower my voltage down to 1.175 and was stable at 1125/5000 with Unigine. I'll have to game to really make sure. In addition, I did ask the tech what would be the highest (safest) voltage this card could go to. I'll post when they reply back to this. I've heard 1.25v but we'll see.

heard anything yet?

 

[xatmax]

heard anything yet?

Hey Tuff,

So yes they did reply back to me. For those not following closely, I asked Sapphire Tech what the safest maximum voltage would be.

They replied with -

Anything less then 1.25v.

Tech

So there you go.

 

[SickBeast]

I find it odd that my card is defaulting at 1.21v yet the maximum is 1.25v.

Have any of you figured out how to tweak the voltage on the reference cards? The Asus tool won't work on my Powercolor card, and neither will Afterburner.

 

[bxcloud]

It could be some cards need to run higher than others like the 7900 serious. I heard they came with different voltages and the ones with the lowest overclocks the best.

 

[blastingcap]

never mind

 

[tuffluck]

Hey Tuff,

So yes they did reply back to me. For those not following closely, I asked Sapphire Tech what the safest maximum voltage would be.

They replied with -



So there you go.

that is very interesting. though i would suspect a 1.25v and max OC could get you up in the 90c area. thanks for asking them that.

 

[Don Karnage]

that is very interesting. though i would suspect a 1.25v and max OC could get you up in the 90c area. thanks for asking them that.

Not with Adequate cooling. My 7850 hits 63C loaded with 1.235v and 1250 core.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

He was talking reference, arctic drops temps by 20-30c during load

 

[jacktesterson]

Yep, 7850 are only good for casual gamers who plays at 1080.. above that 7900 are your next best bet. I bought the 7850 due to tigerdirect 1 day sale and score one for $235 shipped and no tax

580 + Performance has gone from top end to casual in less than a month.

Hilarious.

 

[jacktesterson]

though the sapphire OC edition appears to be discontinued, it is consistent. i don't think anyone that has one can't do 1200/5800 @ 1.176v. it's almost like that's what the card was intended to do, and they downclocked it on purpose. sounds like a lot of other brands vary though with the overclock, even though when the ASUS is good, it's really good.

I'm doing 1200/1450 at 1.165v

Been running it this way 24/7 for over a week now.

Ran many benchmarks and done at least 10 hours of gaming.

I have the Asus model.

 

[Silverforce11]

It's a 7870 OC not a 7850, but really these two are so close once OC:

vs gtx680

Within striking range of a "stock" turbo gtx680! Thats some obscene scaling from the 78xx with clockspeeds, and all that OC uses 20W extra.

So much for "casual gaming" card.

Edit: Also shows how inefficient 79xx architecture is, all that extra DP/HPC performance at a cost of gaming throughput.

 

[bxcloud]

I found out that after installing 12.4, CCC limited my GPU usage anything over 1250 core. Probably has to do with Powertune? Uninstalled CCC now it's full blown 1300 core stable again and scores back to same.

 

[j3poy]

Hey guys! I'm new and have been lurking for awhile now.

I have the Sapphire 7850 non OC version clocked at 1120/5800 @ 1.138v and it reaches peak temps of 64 deg in unigine heaven. However when i change it to 1170/5800 @ 1.175 temps reach as high as 85 deg. Is this normal? I'm new to overclocking, and this seems to have a huge impact on temperatures for minimal performance gains.

 

[Upgrade_Itch]

If there is no framerate increase @1170/5800 back it down to 1120 core. Why overheat for no gain?

 

[thilanliyan]

Hey guys! I'm new and have been lurking for awhile now.

I have the Sapphire 7850 non OC version clocked at 1120/5800 @ 1.138v and it reaches peak temps of 64 deg in unigine heaven. However when i change it to 1170/5800 @ 1.175 temps reach as high as 85 deg. Is this normal? I'm new to overclocking, and this seems to have a huge impact on temperatures for minimal performance gains.

That seems pretty drastic, but if the cooler is only designed for a certain amount of heat output, I can see a non-linear increase in temperatures happening once you up the voltage. Sorry, I don't have a 7850 to test for myself.

 

[p_monks33]

Whats the difference in overclocking potential between the sapphire oc and the regular sapphire dual fan 7850? Looks to be the same board and the same cooler. Anyone had their hands on a non oc version to see how it does?

 

[marlinman]

Whats the difference in overclocking potential between the sapphire oc and the regular sapphire dual fan 7850? Looks to be the same board and the same cooler. Anyone had their hands on a non oc version to see how it does?

That logic saw me opt for the regular model. Currently 1hr OCCT stable at stock volts at 1175/1513. Unfortunately, it fails to get through Unigine. Work in progress...

 

[SickBeast]

Hey guys! I'm new and have been lurking for awhile now.

I have the Sapphire 7850 non OC version clocked at 1120/5800 @ 1.138v and it reaches peak temps of 64 deg in unigine heaven. However when i change it to 1170/5800 @ 1.175 temps reach as high as 85 deg. Is this normal? I'm new to overclocking, and this seems to have a huge impact on temperatures for minimal performance gains.

My powercolor card hits those temps as well when overclocked.

I ordered an arctic cooling twin turbo ii to try to lower my temps. They're around $35.

 

[j3poy]

Whats the difference in overclocking potential between the sapphire oc and the regular sapphire dual fan 7850? Looks to be the same board and the same cooler. Anyone had their hands on a non oc version to see how it does?

I would imagine that they are the same. I have a non oc version, I'm able to reach 1170/5800 @ 1.175, haven't tried 1200/5800 as i'm already concerned with the temperatures at full load.