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Asus 5850 OC smart doctor question

Soldato
Joined
18 May 2010
Posts
23,677
Location
London
Some people have told me its easy to overclock the 5850 to near 5870 speeds.

Being a noob overclocker, I was thinking I rather buy the pre overclocked cards rather than try to overclokc my brand new gpu and srew it up etc.


Then I found this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-301mvSNyUI&feature=fvst

:eek:

Is it this easy with an Asus reference 5850?

I know some of you guys have overclocked the 5850 before, are the clocks in the video achivable?

Also, what about heat generation. Would leaving the 5850 at default fan settings, take care of its self? I.e the card will spin down when not in use and spin up during load, just like normal?

I dont want to use the catalyst control center.

Does the warrenty cover overclocking failures etc??
 
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If you can, get the Asus reference card. That way you won't need to flash the bios and will be able to clock it easily with afterburner, which is better than smart doctor.
 
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I'v just found this 5850 oc guide, seems amazing!

http://www.theraptorpit.com/forum/i...a-5870-save-l100-for-only-5-less-performance/

According to this guide, the dude, reckons, you can go straight in with "set voltage to 1.2v, core to 950Mhz and memory to 1175. These speeds should be easily achieved, and the card will be faster than a 5870"

Is this true, and yea the dude that wrote the guide says use after burner as well.

This dude has his 5850 clocked at *ASUS 5850 (clocks to 1000core @ 1.25v / 1200mem) is this realistic?

Becuase if it is, then Im gona get a card now now!!
 
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Well this dude (points at self :p) has two cards. One that needs 1.25v for 950 core and one that only needs 1.2v for 950 core. The memory clocks a little differently too. Some will do 1ghz core with 1.25v and others need 1.3v+.
 
Well my asus reference can do 1ghz only at 1.312

Its all about how lucky you are, you can get a good overclocking card or a bad one.

But yes with enough voltage reference one can do 1000 but it may require 1.3v to do that.

Side question I was wondering is 1.35v 24/7 overclock on air ok as long as temps don't go above a certain point? Basically is it heat that is killing cards or extra voltage?
 
5850 asus direct cu mine is at 950/1200 at 1.21 volts ,very quite and temps never go above 70 degrees.

1 thing tho asus smartdoctor is terrible don't use it at all costs and get a refrence design as the direct cu i have is non refrence and afterburner only allows me to alter voltage by 0.1 volts, smartdoctor lets me up it to 1.35 volts but it causes problems with many games and programs that you'll spend more time restarting your pc than playing games. Example fallout 3 will not work full stop with smartdoctor installed
 
5850 asus direct cu mine is at 950/1200 at 1.21 volts ,very quite and temps never go above 70 degrees.

1 thing tho asus smartdoctor is terrible don't use it at all costs and get a refrence design as the direct cu i have is non refrence and afterburner only allows me to alter voltage by 0.1 volts, smartdoctor lets me up it to 1.35 volts but it causes problems with many games and programs that you'll spend more time restarting your pc than playing games. Example fallout 3 will not work full stop with smartdoctor installed

I had same problem with smartdoctor as well even little oc my games would just go black screen i thought mite the oc setting so atm i got rid of smartdoctor and use stock settings on my 5870

So far without smartdoctor i have no problems.
 
5850 asus direct cu mine is at 950/1200 at 1.21 volts ,very quite and temps never go above 70 degrees.

1 thing tho asus smartdoctor is terrible don't use it at all costs and get a refrence design as the direct cu i have is non refrence and afterburner only allows me to alter voltage by 0.1 volts, smartdoctor lets me up it to 1.35 volts but it causes problems with many games and programs that you'll spend more time restarting your pc than playing games. Example fallout 3 will not work full stop with smartdoctor installed

bigjimmyauk, you dont recommend the direct cu asus 5850? You think plain vanilla reference asus or msi would be better? (easier overclock)

I thought the advantage of the direct cu, was less noise and cooler temps?

Wont the stock cards run too hot and loud at 950/1200 and 1.21 volts?

At those clock speeds, does it match the performance of a 5870?

Also at those clocks (950/1200 and 1.21 volts) my reference 5850 should HYPOTHETICALLY run fine with no issues what so ever?
 
This dude on the overclcokers 5850 Direct cu webpage found here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-225-AS&tool=3


Say's

"Got this card yesterday and without even tweaking the voltage, I got it to 868mhz core and 4906mhz memory which is faster than a 5870, with some voltage tweaking I was able to maintain a stable 1Ghz core and 5Ghz Memory clock.

With my current OC (1Ghz core, 5000mem) I'm getting 48fps average in Crysis Warhead, max settings @ 1920x1080 WITH 4x Anti-Aliasing - using Catalyst 10.4 beta.

The cooler also made me giddy, even under heavy load I can only just barely hear it, it's completely silent on all but the most demanding apps.

Used Asus Smartdoctor in conjunction with MSI Afterburner to get my current OC, Afterburner to get the clocks past 900mhz and Smartdoctor to change the voltage as Afterburner can't with this card."

So surely the direct cu is better than a reference one?
 
Also if you overclock a grpahics card and then unistall the progrma used to overclock, does it affect the graphics card in any way?

Are yu saying that the presence of smart doctor on your computer was causing games to crash?
 
give me 5-10 minutes to write out an explanation for the above posts

just calm down a little and give a man a chance to write his stuff lol
 
1, There are hundreds of complaints about smartdoctor i even logged my own complaint to asus (still no reply yet) The program is simply too unstable to use to overclock any card couple of reason are, it crashes many apps and games i checked this by un-installing smartdoctor then the problems dissapeard and all my games of programs that didn't work then worked fine again.It also has a mind of it's own it will sometimes lose overclocked settings meaning you have to do them agaihn or sometimes i would boot into windows to find that smartdoctor had kindly adjusted my voltage to 1.35 volts without my knowledge until i went to play metro 2033 and seen my GPU temp hit 89Degrees. So put short asus can't back up their great hardware with decent software hence why i said avoid it at all costs.

2. The direct cu uses a uP6208 voltage regulator which is non reference the only thing that can control this regulator is asus's software(smartdoctor) and to a degree afterburner altho it's quiet tricky to get it to work and limits you to only being able to overvolt by 0.1 volts. This is great for me as my card is a very good overclocker, But you could order one and it might not do 950/1200 at 1.21volts.

here is my guide to using afterburner with a 5850 direct cu

1. go into your program folder and locate msi afterburner
2.open MSIAfterburner.CFG
3.Look for enable unnoficial overclocking and replace the 0 with a 1
4.click file,save as,then click save as type and select all files,click save and confirm it will overwrite the old data so click yes
5.now goto the profiles folder in the main msiafterburner folder open it
6.open this CFG file VEN_1002&DEV_6899&SUBSYS_034E1043&REV_00&BUS_1&DEV _0&FN_0
7.At the very bottom of all the text type

[Settings]
uP6208_Detection = 1

Don't forget the spaces between the = sign

8.Do the file save as thing, you just did it a few moments ago save as all files.
9.open afterburner you should now see voltage control LIT up you can adjust from 0-100 each step represents 1Mv
stock voltage on 5850 direct cu is 1.118volts so one step would be 1.119, 2 steps would be 1.120 etc etc all the way upto 1.218volts


Would i buy another direct cu no i wouldn't unless you can gaurentee me that it would do 950/1200 on 1.21 volts or less because if it don't then it would mean that i would have to use smartdoctor which until they make a better more compatible piece of software i will simply refuse to use it.



Any more questions just ask away but give me chance to answer next time lol
 
Ok, dude, thanks for writing that stuff out for me.

I will be happy with a card that reaches the fabled 5% ~ off a 5870 territory.

So you think I should just buy a stock 5850 Asus. But wont it get very hot and loud compared to the Direct CU?

The guide you wrote so kindly above, is generrally the same for a reference card?

I dont really fancy spending ages, benchmarking my card, I just want to install it, and then set the clocks using after burner, and then never have to fiddle with anything again.

First of all, is this possible, or am I being ignorant to the fact that an overclock needs to be tested first?

Secondly, what overcloked settings, do you advise me, to just wack on first time I get my card, to achive near 5870 speeds?

You think I will have more overclocking joy with reference card eh? I was reading tho that the direct cu and the cu top cards, are cherry picked for their overclockability!

I may have even less luck with a stock card with over clocking!
 
Overclcokers no longer have the reference 5850 Asus! I missed the boat!

I wont have to use the catalyst control center at any point will I to overclokc the 5850?
 
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You really need to test an overclock to confirm it's full stability i wouldn't just whack up the core and memory and pray you really need to check everything thouroughly.

The twin fozrill is a noisy card i was gonna get one myself

A better question for you is how much of a budget do you have? then maybe i can help you further

also what games do you play at what card do you currently have
 
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Well, I have money and can afford a 5870... but I cant justify the £300 price premium.

I have been wating for the 6000 series, but am now getting impatient!

Also, with technology things move so fast, we know Windows 8 is due in 2012, no doubt Microsoft will spring a dx12 suprise on us, and then the upgrade process begins again.

This is why im thinking ratherthan being a sucker and stumping up £300, Il act with my brains and get something a bit more buget but still awsome, AKA 5850.

The one thing that turned me off about the 5850 was its performance at stock in warhead.

But as all the 5850 owners on here keep saying you can just overclock the 5850, to near 5870 speeds anyway, so it makes more sense.

I was looking at the gtx 470.... but withthat reviews are so old now, they dont take in to effect the latest Nvidia drivers, so I go no idea on their performance.

I would rather stay with ATI becuase im more familiar and ut runs cooler (then again with an overclock, it wont be too much cooler)

I have seen a reference 5850 Asus, so maybe Il pick that up.

You still think its fairly simple to overclock the card?

I currently have a 3870x2 which I bought in April 2008, and the game I play currently is BFBC2.

Games I have played in the past year: GTA4, Farcry2, MW2, COD4, Dragons Age Origins, Crysis and Warhead, Assasin Creed, Mass Effect.

Games I would buy if I had a dx11 gpu are: AVP, Metro 2033...

I will buy new BFBC game vietname when its out and Crysis two etc...

I game at 1900x1200 resolution, so it needs to be able to play at that res.
 
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ok AVP will run well on a 5850 metro will run pretty average even when overclocked i still get dips in metro into the 15FPS mark on very high setting with tessalation and DOF off (metro is the new crysis for graphics power required)

My thread about the 5850 direct cu and some benchmarks at overclcoked settings
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18160651&highlight=bigjimmyauk

ultimately if you want 5870 performance get a 5870 i got a 5850 cause stock performance was enough for me being able to overclock it past 5870 speeds was just a bonus hence while we are overclockers nothing is gaurenteed and we take risks.

My next upgrade will probably be in a year or 2 now, maybe the 6000 series or see what Nvidia bring to the plate.

At your res i would seriously suggest a 5870 thus gaurenteeing yourself 5870 speeds and remember even the 5870 can be overclocked and will have an extra 160 shaders/stream processors.to get 5870 performance from a 5850 you need to be pushing at least 900 on the core and 1250 on the memory

Any of the Asus Matrix series use different overclocking software which is much better than smartdoctor.

ref designs are pretty rare, best thing to do is try research all the cards your interested in, the asus revision 2's look good altho i'm not sure how reference style they are or if they use the same voltage regulators as the revision 1's
 
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Ok, thanks for all your feed back, much appreciated.

I think yes, the 5850, would probably not satisfy me.

I need to find out how good the gtx 470 actually is with the new drivers, and look at the 5870 cards.

Do you think, I should just wait it out for the 6000 series?

Or a 5870 will be more than powerfull anyway, at at least 2-3 years, which is as long as I will keep the card for?
 
I would look at GTX 470's/480's and 5870's There are lots of benchmarks out there or just post on the forum. like show me your 480/5870 benchies to help me choose which card to buy.

Or just use the search feature as there are lots of threads about all the cards we have mentioned. Browsing the forum can sometimes be more valuable than reading reviews as real user experience is more important.

Let me know how you get on and if you require any more help or would like me to benchmark some games on my 5850 both stock and overclocked then just let me know.

Anyway need sleep i'll catch the thread again in the morning
 
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