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How to overclock a 7850 past 1050MHz?
- Thread starter 555BUK
- Start date
Up the volts! I assume it is failing at 1.075v so try cranking them up.
I added this to the Heaven benchmark thread, but I though you may also be interested in a bit of 7850 crossfire action:-
7850 X-Fire @ stock 860MHz core / 4800MHz vram
7850 X-Fire @ 1050MHz core / 5500MHz vram
One of my cards (ASIC 84.9%) is good for 1300MHz core in single card config, but the other is poor (ASIC 72%) managing only 1125MHz. The latter seems to be holding crossfire back, but I guess this mismatched pairing is still doing much better than the worlds fastest GTX680.
Funny that the faster card is a bog standard Powercolor, yet the **** card is MSI's latest and greatest 7850.
7850 X-Fire @ stock 860MHz core / 4800MHz vram
7850 X-Fire @ 1050MHz core / 5500MHz vram
One of my cards (ASIC 84.9%) is good for 1300MHz core in single card config, but the other is poor (ASIC 72%) managing only 1125MHz. The latter seems to be holding crossfire back, but I guess this mismatched pairing is still doing much better than the worlds fastest GTX680.
Funny that the faster card is a bog standard Powercolor, yet the **** card is MSI's latest and greatest 7850.
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I'll fry them both in the end@555buk atleast with the lower asic card you have less chance of frying it
.Here's some 3DMark11 crossfire scores.
7850 X-Fire @ Stock P9967 (Graphics 10398)
7850 X-Fire @ 1050 / 5500 P11195 (Graphics 12253)
Comparison of above two results
Lucid is pretty **** within most games. Benchmark figures look good, but I spot lots of stuttering within games.
I always leave it off.
I have decided that the 7850 is the best card ever. They are so good in Crossfire that I am going to sell my EVGA 680, and keep these as my main setup.
The only game I have played where the 680 wins is Skyrim, but AMD will apparently supply Crossfire support for this within a forthcoming CAP update. At the moment Crossfire has no real gains for Skyrim. On the plus side, 2x7850's are noticeably better than the 680 within BF3. This game is properly optimised for crossfire and returns a pretty constant 100fps @ 1920x1200 Ultra with FXAA=High.
The only game I have played where the 680 wins is Skyrim, but AMD will apparently supply Crossfire support for this within a forthcoming CAP update. At the moment Crossfire has no real gains for Skyrim. On the plus side, 2x7850's are noticeably better than the 680 within BF3. This game is properly optimised for crossfire and returns a pretty constant 100fps @ 1920x1200 Ultra with FXAA=High.
Temps are pretty poor to be honest. My mobo and case are both MATX, the cards sit immediately next to each other, and airflow is only average. At stock settings things remain quiet but at 1050MHz cards reach early 80's and noise ramps up. Fortunately, stock crossfire performance is very very good so I will probably keep them there for 24/7. At stock they are more than equal to the highest overclocked 680's and 7970's.
Virtu does not work with SLI/Crossfire setups. Even with single cards I find the negatives outweigh the positives. Image quality is King, followed by fps. Virtu increases fps but kill IQ in the form of micro stutter and the ocassional odd textures.
This is the max stable I can get out of my crossfired 7850's. The useless MSI PE card is holding my lovely Powercolor back big time.
1125 / 5500 @ 1.21v (the Powercolor can do this at it's default 1.050v).
3DMark11 P11588 / Graphics 12927
1125 / 5500 @ 1.21v (the Powercolor can do this at it's default 1.050v).
3DMark11 P11588 / Graphics 12927
I have a few more observations regarding Crossfired 7850's.
Good
*Easy install, no problems with Catalyst drivers or GPU Tool and Trixx recognition.
*Works great with BF3, almost double the fps and really smooth too.
*Great for benchmarks
*Most games see 60-90% fps increase.
Bad
*Much Noisier within an MATX case.
*Temps much higher on MATX mobo
*The odd game quirks. SKYRIM sees very little fps gains and there is weird flickering at main menu screen (game itself runs fine). F1 2011 freezes at exactly the same instant whenever I start an R&D lap. I can race a full 30 laps without issue and fps is great but I cannot start any R&D sessions. Must be a game/driver bug.
*Overclocks are only as good as your poorest card.
My opinion is that ctossfired 7850's are great, but better suit Full ATX cases and Full sized mobo's where both cards can receive adequate cooling. I may end up DSR'ing my MSI PE card because it is a munter.
Good
*Easy install, no problems with Catalyst drivers or GPU Tool and Trixx recognition.
*Works great with BF3, almost double the fps and really smooth too.
*Great for benchmarks
*Most games see 60-90% fps increase.
Bad
*Much Noisier within an MATX case.
*Temps much higher on MATX mobo
*The odd game quirks. SKYRIM sees very little fps gains and there is weird flickering at main menu screen (game itself runs fine). F1 2011 freezes at exactly the same instant whenever I start an R&D lap. I can race a full 30 laps without issue and fps is great but I cannot start any R&D sessions. Must be a game/driver bug.
*Overclocks are only as good as your poorest card.
My opinion is that ctossfired 7850's are great, but better suit Full ATX cases and Full sized mobo's where both cards can receive adequate cooling. I may end up DSR'ing my MSI PE card because it is a munter.
ASIC represents the quality of the silicon wafer from which the GPU was was cut. Higher numbers equal better silicon and usually equate to superior overclocks at lower voltages and lower temps.
My turd of a MSI PE has just 72% ASIC and a default voltage of 1.21v. My Powercolor card has an ASIC of 84.9% and defaults at 1.050v. The VTX card I used when I started this thread was 86.2% and also defaulted at 1.050v.
Good ASIC's do not guarantee high overclocks, but it makes it more likely. What this proves is that no manufacturer currently cherry picks GPU's for their 7850's. Even MSI's premium overclocking card is plain luck of the draw. Just buy the cheapest 7850 you can find and keep your fingers crossed.
I personally will never buy an MSI card again. I could have forgiven a poor GPU on a cheap or reference card, but on one which screams overclocking greatness all over the box, I will not forgive or forget it. It's going back.
Generally
below 70 very poor
71 to 75 poor
76 to 80 good
81 to 85 very good
86+ lucky you
For me, the MSI card is useless because the minimun 3D volts allowed by BIOS are 1.21v. For a crossfired card with poor airflow this creates tons of heat and noise.
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Thought you may be interested in some crossfire benchmarks for BF3.
Firstly, here are mu single card results taken from page 1.
Here's the Crossfire tests
Scaling is greater than 90% for crossfire. AMD have done a great job tweaking their drivers for this game.
Firstly, here are mu single card results taken from page 1.
Here's the Crossfire tests
Scaling is greater than 90% for crossfire. AMD have done a great job tweaking their drivers for this game.
For crossfire you need a second 7850. They work as a pair.What do I need to do crossfire etc?
Most mobo's with 2x full sized PCI-E slots can run crossfire. You just need to ensure that both slots can run in tandem at 8x or above.I know that
Had a quick look around and it seems I need a new mobo first though
I disagree with your first point.ASIC quality doesn't mean anything
MSI PE was around 84% but would not OC past 1060and to be honest, I'm not sure that was fully stable
They are the WORST 7850 cards on the market. Just ordered a PowerColor PCS+ so hopefully I'll have some decent clocks.
ASIC quality matters. The lower the ASIC, the higher it's default volts. Typically, ASIC's below 73% have a default voltage of 1.21v, ASIC's above 83% have 1.075v and sometimes 1.050v. ASIC's in the middle use voltages in between.
Higher voltages = higher temps and higher noise. AMD supply lower ASIC's higher default voltage because they are more likley to need it to run stable at stock clocks. This reduces the chances of overclocking. High ASIS do not guarantee good overclocks, and low ASIC's do not guarantee a poor overclocker, but the odds follow the percentage.
As for the MSI PE being poor, I fully agree. The box for the card is pure false advertising. To coin a phrase, it is mutton dressed as lamb. They should rename this card to the "MSI 7850 Mutton Edition", because it offers absolutely nothing over their standard card.
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That's exactly what I mean. The MSI's offer exactly the same variance for overclocking as any other card. You get some good, some bad and some average. However, MSI boast about tripple voltage control, improves military components (must be Bristish military), 45% overclocking etc, yet in reality they offer no more headroom than a bog standard reference card.
My £160 Powercolor runs stable at >1300MHz. It comes in a bog standard box which doesn't hint at or promise anything. My £200 MSI Mutton Edition promissed superior components and overclocking, get tops out at 1125MHz. The fact that MSI have used very low quality ASIC''s within my car are a very clear indication that they are all marketing and no substance. They should not proclaim their card as the best when they stick any old random GPU on it.
A better cooler it does have, but with a stock voltage of 1.21v it runs hotter than my reference cooled Powercolor which defaults to 1.05v. It also overclocks much worse than the reference cooled card.Yes but didnt you spend £30 on a better cooler for it? the vtx standard cooler would melt at 1300mhz
I appreciate that some people may get good MSI cards, but they are selling them at a premium price so "better than average" or "atleast average" should be expected.
It was cheaper to buy my reference card and a MUCH superior Accelero TTII cooler than the MSI "Mutton" Power Edition. I paid a £40 premium for a munter. When running an benching my Powercolor at 1300-1400MHz it had the Accelero attached. For crossfire, I had to put the reference back on to fit my mobo, but it still runs cooler than the MSI.
*Powercolor reference with ASIC 84.9 manages 1125 / 5800 on stock 1.050v. Using 1.225v allowed 1250 / 5800, and 1.3v was stable at 1325 / 5800.
*MSI Power Edition with ASIC 72% manages just 1125 / 5500 on stock 1.21v. Pushing voltages up to 1.225v makes no difference. As 1.21v is set as default in BIOS, there is no way to reduce this to see what is achieveable at 1.050v. GPU Tweak and Trixx allows you to lower the voltage sliders, but GPU-Z continues to report 1.21v under 3D, and temps do not change.
All clocks above are Max STABLE clocks. I can run benches on the MSI at 1180MHz and the Powerclolor benches at 1400MHz, but both are very far from stable at these speeds.
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The 1300-1400NHz figures were with the accelero. I think that I got to 1260MHz on the stock cooler, but things got mightily hot and became unstable after that. With the MSI card cooling is okay, but the GPU is utter rubbish. I will not waste time trying the Accelero on the MSI because I know it won't make much difference. It is getting boxed, bagged and returned to sender once I get home tonight.
No more MSI cards for me. I also owned a 6950 Lightening Edition for awhile and that was also below par (although nowhere near a lame as my 7850). My experience with MSI is that they are good at marketing but poor at delivering. The promise of overclockability printes on their boxes far outweighs the reality.
The cheap Powercolor has turned out to be a Ford Focus with a Ferarri engine hidden under the hood. My expensive MSI was packaged as a Ferarri but turns out to have a Lada engine.
Edited to say: The most important component part of a graphics is the GPU. A good GPU in a cheap card is superior to a poor GPU within an expensive one. Large heatsinks, promisses of military class components and fancy boxes are all very well, but don't help much if the GPU itself sucks. Why pay a premium when the most important component is pure luck of the draw? My reference with it's poor packaging and poor cooler overclocked MUCH better out of the box than the bells and whistles MSI. 1260MHz for £160 vs 1125Mhs for £200 - which would you choose?
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