5870 overclocking, where to start?

[Ernie101]

Hi i recently got a 5870 and am now wanting to overclock it but im abit confused as to what i need.

Sorry if this is repeated from other threads.

Do i need to flash the bios to get past some sort of limit as i read in a sticky, or is that not needed anymore and I just use the MSI after burner.

I have the MSI after burner software and i've been monitoring the temps.

I seem to get 40 degrees idle and about 55-60 degrees in BC2 after a few hours, I have no idea what the safe temps are for this card and how much room i've got.

I've stuck the fan speed at 38% constantly for this. Seemingly anything over 40-45% is pretty damn loud.

Also i read that poeple play around with voltages and things, i can see the tab to switch it on in afterburner but again im un sure as to what the limits are etc or whether i have to bios flash for this.

Its powercolor 5870.

Any general advice on temps, bios, software etc would be great, thanks.

 

[Ernie101]

so the only advantage to the bios flash is the powerplay feature working with overclocks?

but you can use afterburner without a flash and still change voltages and go over the limit, only powerplay wont work with this method?

Is that right?