Which 5850?

[Campy]

I had decided to get a reference 5850 card on some good advice, but now that I'm about to order I'm having some last minute doubts. I can get a
MSI Radeon HD 5850 1GB Twin Frozr II for 50$ cheaper. It has a better cooler than the reference card and MSI advertise it to have better components.

Does this card need a BIOS flash to allow unlimited clock speed changes and voltage control in afterburner?

if so:

Can i safely flash this card's BIOS with that of a reference 5850 to allow that voltage control AND unlimited clocks?

 

[Termie]

Nope - can't flash to get voltage control. That's a difference in the hardware.

That being said, I would not at this point spend $320 to get a reference 5850, because any 5850 can overclock nicely, and $320 is just too much today for a 5850. You can get 5870s for about $350 when they are on sale, not to mention the GTX470 for around $240, i.e., here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2096651.

 

[Campy]

Yeah but the thing is the card does allow voltage control in afterburner by default. MSI advertise that. http://eu.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=130&cat2_no=137&prod_no=2029

The BIOS flash would be for unlocking the clockspeeds in afterburner from the limits of the bios. Actually i'm not even sure if this card has limits in the bios which is part of what i'm asking for info about, but if it does have clock limits I understand that it may not be possible to flash due to hardware differences.

Would it be possible to change voltages in afterburner and use AMD GPU Clock Tool at the same time to change clocks?

Also I don't live in the US, and unfortunately hardware is more exp. here. The cheapest i can get a 5850(any kind) for is around 320$ for ONLY the card.
I can get a 5870 for 470$, or a second hand 5870 for about 405$.

 

[Termie]

Yeah but the thing is the card does allow voltage control in afterburner by default. MSI advertise that. http://eu.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=130&cat2_no=137&prod_no=2029

The BIOS flash would be for unlocking the clockspeeds in afterburner from the limits of the bios. Actually i'm not even sure if this card has limits in the bios which is part of what i'm asking for info about, but if it does have clock limits I understand that it may not be possible to flash due to hardware differences.

Would it be possible to change voltages in afterburner and use AMD GPU Clock Tool at the same time to change clocks?

Also I don't live in the US, and unfortunately hardware is more exp. here. The cheapest i can get a 5850(any kind) for is around 320$ for ONLY the card.
I can get a 5870 for 470$, or a second hand 5870 for about 405$.

I used AMD GPU Clock Tool to get around the 775/1125 clock speed limits on the reference 5850 for a few months. But I later learned that Afterburner actually has an option in the settings file to override those limits as well, so I use that now. I can't say for sure whether that will work with the MSI card, but I'm pretty sure AMD GPU Clock Tool can work with any AMD card.

I'd say it's worth a shot to get the MSI card for $50 less than a reference card, because one way or another, I think you'll be able to get around the overclocking limits.

 

[Campy]

I've read that you lose voltage control when you change that settings file in afterburner. Can you confirm that that's incorrect?

 

[Termie]

I've read that you lose voltage control when you change that settings file in afterburner. Can you confirm that that's incorrect?

I believe I've experimented with overvolting and overclocking beyond the reference limits using MSI Afterburner, but I don't recall for sure, and I'm not at my gaming system now. Given what I remember about the settings file change for the clock limits, I'd be surprised if it affected voltage control. But best to find information from MSI, since you'll be using their card with their software.

Either way, I'm pretty sure AMD GPU Clock Tool will allow control over clocks regardless of MSI's limits.

 

[thilanliyan]

Don't flash the card with a reference BIOS...you might brick your card as the MSI one is not reference.

 

[Campy]

I'll just get the MSI card and use GPU Clock Tool for clocks and afterburner for the voltage then ^^

 

[Kenmitch]

When I bought my 5850 I did the safe thing and bought a ref design card. i had the intention from day 1 of flashing the bios and shooting for the moon

The biggest thing you'll have to worry about is the temps. Depending on your overclocking goal for your card you may just be thermaly limited. These babies can get pretty damn hot when subjected to higher clocks and voltage!

Too bad you aren't into water cooling as I'm bored with my card already. Wouldn't mind playing around with some of the green teams stuff for a while.

 

[Campy]

Overclocking is partly why i want this MSI card, the card runs 12' cooler than a reference card/cooler (according to MSI).