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The Official 5830 Thread!
- Thread starter Muel
- Start date
Picture time!
The old 4670, and my best possible cable management without modding the case. This will be done soon I promise.
Next to each other.
And in goes the 5830. (Just).
Le boxes.
EDIT: COD4 is running at all settings maxed out, no idea on the framerate but it looks to me like it's now limited by my 60hz monitor, which is good.
Another I've noticed is how much faster all the games load than before, I thought it was my hard drive limiting it before, but it was clearly the 4670. Well happy with it! If you could all recommend some taxing games for it that'd be schweet.
The old 4670, and my best possible cable management without modding the case. This will be done soon I promise.
Next to each other.
And in goes the 5830. (Just).
Le boxes.
EDIT: COD4 is running at all settings maxed out, no idea on the framerate but it looks to me like it's now limited by my 60hz monitor, which is good.
Another I've noticed is how much faster all the games load than before, I thought it was my hard drive limiting it before, but it was clearly the 4670. Well happy with it! If you could all recommend some taxing games for it that'd be schweet.
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COD4 is easy meat for this card. You do need some newer titles to stretch its legs. Nice pics. I have the cheap Xigmatek Asguard case for my gaming rig and it fits fine, if I have my hard drive at the bottom. 2 hard drives and two cards xfire would be a major issue however, but it is a nice light compact case that I can carry around.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-002-XG&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1572
Try downloading the Bioshock demo - again easy meat and a little old but the graphics are awesome. Then move on to the GPU killer demo, Crysis! No one can run that max settings at high res decently. Stalker series is another tough customer. There are loads - just download some modern game demos and give it a good workout.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-002-XG&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1572
Try downloading the Bioshock demo - again easy meat and a little old but the graphics are awesome. Then move on to the GPU killer demo, Crysis! No one can run that max settings at high res decently. Stalker series is another tough customer. There are loads - just download some modern game demos and give it a good workout.
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with regards to the power consumption, i was under the impression from reading reviews that there was no reference board design and the consumption varied per manufacturer, and was generally considered higher than a 5850?
if you look at the bit-tech review of the xfx 5830, the system pulls more juice than with a 5850(238W vs 246W) when running at stock speeds and when overclocked it pulls 263W! which is only 5W short of a 5870.
still not to bad considering the performance per watt,
crossfire might be touch and go on a 600W psu though depending on other components (especially the make of psu
).
if you look at the bit-tech review of the xfx 5830, the system pulls more juice than with a 5850(238W vs 246W) when running at stock speeds and when overclocked it pulls 263W! which is only 5W short of a 5870.
still not to bad considering the performance per watt,
crossfire might be touch and go on a 600W psu though depending on other components (especially the make of psu
).OK thanks for that, I don't really follow the game world so I've no idea what's good these days.
Crysis sounds like a plan though. I don't mind running textures and that on low, as long as I can run 1920x1200 with fairly decent FPS.
Crysis sounds like a plan though. I don't mind running textures and that on low, as long as I can run 1920x1200 with fairly decent FPS.
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I never thought Crysis looks as good as its performance killing tendancies hint at.
There are quite a few recent gaming demos anyway that can be quickly downloaded.
There are quite a few recent gaming demos anyway that can be quickly downloaded.
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I don't think they're actual 5870 boards. The deal is that ATI haven't issued a reference design for the board as they usually do, so the card manufacturers can pretty much so what they want. The powercolor ones use the same board form as the 5870 because (I think) this allows them to use the same cooler. I don't know for sure if they use the same boards or just the form though.
The XFX ones look a lot shorter, it could be a custom board form or even the 5770 form.
Cheers for the advice on games by the way Spririts, I've just been monitoring mine, it went to 50C but was only using 21% fan speed, so I assume it has a fair bit more power to give.
EDIT: From watching the stats change, it looks like 21% is the lowest the fan goes at all, so mine was basically idleing under COD4. Tommorrow when my HDMI cable arrives I'll be able to get my second monitor working again and monitor the load and temps properly.
The XFX ones look a lot shorter, it could be a custom board form or even the 5770 form.
Cheers for the advice on games by the way Spririts, I've just been monitoring mine, it went to 50C but was only using 21% fan speed, so I assume it has a fair bit more power to give.
EDIT: From watching the stats change, it looks like 21% is the lowest the fan goes at all, so mine was basically idleing under COD4. Tommorrow when my HDMI cable arrives I'll be able to get my second monitor working again and monitor the load and temps properly.
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It's not a hot running card. In fact, it's incredibly quiet and cool. It's because it uses a 5870 cooling solution but doesn't do the same workload as a full 5870 - the cooler has plenty left for overclocking.
phill1978, I doubt it's unlockable. These will be Cyprus/5870 rejects with factory disabled GPU parts that failed testing. I've not read anyone unlocking - I think those days are over.
phill1978, I doubt it's unlockable. These will be Cyprus/5870 rejects with factory disabled GPU parts that failed testing. I've not read anyone unlocking - I think those days are over.
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Bit worried, I was just playing the Crysis demo and I think I was getting rather a lot of capacitor squeeling? Is this actually bad for the card or can I just ignore it?
I've heard of people RMAing over this but if it's just a bit of noise, I'll be happy to ignore it. You can only really hear it with the side panel off and the volume muted.
EDIT: The noise is none existant in game play. All running at full settings apart from Anti-Aliasing is x4 and the resolution is 1680x1050. It doesn't offer 1920x1200, any ideas how to make this work? Or is it because it's only a demo?
I've heard of people RMAing over this but if it's just a bit of noise, I'll be happy to ignore it. You can only really hear it with the side panel off and the volume muted.
EDIT: The noise is none existant in game play. All running at full settings apart from Anti-Aliasing is x4 and the resolution is 1680x1050. It doesn't offer 1920x1200, any ideas how to make this work? Or is it because it's only a demo?
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Capacitor squealing sounds alarming doesn't it? I too thought my rig was about to blow up after hearing it. Reading around the net, it's perfectly normal and was a big issue with the GTX 280's. Mine used to squeal like a pig when I ran at very high FPS. Vsync would reduce the frames and the squealing was very much reduced. Either way I couldn't hear it during gaming anyway because of the game's audio. If your PSU was under a lot of strain, the machine would crash and show instability. A 650W quality supply is fine for your components. Under full load a system like yours probably doesn't even go over 300W if you read power usage at the wall socket.
My Powercolor 5830 isn't anywhere near as bad as my GTX 280. I can hear a slight squeal under high FPS. Try enabling vsync and see if that reduces it.
I think it's just an issue with some modern cards and setups, but is perfectly safe. My GTX 280 ran like that for over a year. Do a search on Google for "GTX 280 squeal" for some in depth info all about this phenomenon, as it became a major talking point back then.
You could RMA the card, but the next one might do exactly the same thing if it's your PSU that's making the noise. I've even had motherboards which squealed under high load from certain CPU's.
My Powercolor 5830 isn't anywhere near as bad as my GTX 280. I can hear a slight squeal under high FPS. Try enabling vsync and see if that reduces it.
I think it's just an issue with some modern cards and setups, but is perfectly safe. My GTX 280 ran like that for over a year. Do a search on Google for "GTX 280 squeal" for some in depth info all about this phenomenon, as it became a major talking point back then.
You could RMA the card, but the next one might do exactly the same thing if it's your PSU that's making the noise. I've even had motherboards which squealed under high load from certain CPU's.
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Aye it was rather scary, it's making no noise at all now though which is nice.
Just played the Crysis demo through from start to finish, I've gotta get this game.
Highest the temps went was around 50C, fan went to 22% this time! I can't remember turning on VSync, but it's probably on because on the loading screens I get a lot more funny lines and stuff, and the squeeling is audible, but during gameplay even when muted I can't hear anything and the lines aren't there any more.
Just played the Crysis demo through from start to finish, I've gotta get this game.
Highest the temps went was around 50C, fan went to 22% this time! I can't remember turning on VSync, but it's probably on because on the loading screens I get a lot more funny lines and stuff, and the squeeling is audible, but during gameplay even when muted I can't hear anything and the lines aren't there any more.
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Muel, if you want a nice conservative and safe overclock for your Powercolor, may I recommend going to the overdrive tab in the official Catalyst drivers and selecting:
900Mhz Core 1200Mhz mem.
This will have the mem running at default (it's actually underclocked on the 5830 - the mem is rated for 5870 speeds of 1200Mhz) and the core running at about 25-50Mhz below its max speed without a voltage tweak. The mem should be good up to about 1300 reading around the net. I tested up to 1250 and it was stable. Also ran 1300 and it was stable. 1200 is conservative, but this card isn't memory bandwidth limited anyway so I'm not sure how pushing the mem too far will help performance. Core speed seems to be where it's at!
Just to save you some time testing.
900Mhz Core 1200Mhz mem.
This will have the mem running at default (it's actually underclocked on the 5830 - the mem is rated for 5870 speeds of 1200Mhz) and the core running at about 25-50Mhz below its max speed without a voltage tweak. The mem should be good up to about 1300 reading around the net. I tested up to 1250 and it was stable. Also ran 1300 and it was stable. 1200 is conservative, but this card isn't memory bandwidth limited anyway so I'm not sure how pushing the mem too far will help performance. Core speed seems to be where it's at!
Just to save you some time testing.
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I would, but as far as I know overclocking voids the warrenty? At the moment it's fast enough for me anyway, although I bought Crysis from eBay today, brand new for £8, so if it doesn't void the warrenty then I might well have a play about with it.
Going from 825/1050 to 900/1200 won't really make a huge difference though will it? Especially as I believe it's the number of rops that limit the performance on these, not the memory speed.
Going from 825/1050 to 900/1200 won't really make a huge difference though will it? Especially as I believe it's the number of rops that limit the performance on these, not the memory speed.
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If you're happy with the performance then there is no point.
I'm not sure overclocking voids your warrenty - it's built into the official catalyst drivers and some manufactures supply their own tools! I don't think they can tell anyway unless you flash your bios with the new speeds. Or perform volt mods.
Just do what you feel is right for you. I'm quite happy overclocking, never had any issues, but as you said I'm unlikely to notice the difference unless I bring up FPS counters so I don't frown on those who like the warm comfy feeling of running at default speeds.
Plus my gaming PC isn't used for anything else, so I can risk corruption and crashes!
I'm not sure overclocking voids your warrenty - it's built into the official catalyst drivers and some manufactures supply their own tools! I don't think they can tell anyway unless you flash your bios with the new speeds. Or perform volt mods.
Just do what you feel is right for you. I'm quite happy overclocking, never had any issues, but as you said I'm unlikely to notice the difference unless I bring up FPS counters so I don't frown on those who like the warm comfy feeling of running at default speeds.
Plus my gaming PC isn't used for anything else, so I can risk corruption and crashes!
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Aye well I used to run my CPU overclocked, but I worked out it was only a 12% increase in performance and I never had it maxed out, so I put it back to stock.
I can't risk any of that! I use my system for Uni work and web development aswell, I've got all my documents syncing constantly using dropbox.com, but I can't really risk popping something and having it not running for ages.
I can't risk any of that! I use my system for Uni work and web development aswell, I've got all my documents syncing constantly using dropbox.com, but I can't really risk popping something and having it not running for ages.
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You do right if it's your main machine. I have a separate PC for work and it never gets overclocked too.
Just to add something interesting to this thread I've only just found out - one of my friends got one of these as he was impressed with mine HOWEVER, his won't overclock even to 875 on the core. The max he can get without crashing is something like 840!
That says to me these are reject Cyprus cores that either have defective shaders ROPS etc AND/OR can't make the Mhz speed for a 5870 (which is 850), so are being downgraded to run at 800 (standard 5830 speeds). I'm guessing mine was a defective part as it clocks high, his was a Mhz failure as well as it won't clock hardly at all.
So - there is no guarantee. You might not be missing out on a single thing. It could be his other components of course, but we tried to factor those out (he has a quality PSU and doesn't overclock the motherboard).
Oh well, he's happy enough with its default speed anyway.
Just to add something interesting to this thread I've only just found out - one of my friends got one of these as he was impressed with mine HOWEVER, his won't overclock even to 875 on the core. The max he can get without crashing is something like 840!
That says to me these are reject Cyprus cores that either have defective shaders ROPS etc AND/OR can't make the Mhz speed for a 5870 (which is 850), so are being downgraded to run at 800 (standard 5830 speeds). I'm guessing mine was a defective part as it clocks high, his was a Mhz failure as well as it won't clock hardly at all.
So - there is no guarantee. You might not be missing out on a single thing. It could be his other components of course, but we tried to factor those out (he has a quality PSU and doesn't overclock the motherboard).
Oh well, he's happy enough with its default speed anyway.
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I suppose I do have a netbook to work on anyway...
I've just sent Powercolor a message asking if overclocking using the ATI Overdrive utility will void the warranty. It's supplied with the drivers so it shouldn't really, but then again it's in their intrest to find any way they can of making your warrenty void.
I'm happy with my default speed at the moment, but Crysis should be arriving soon and I'd like it to run as well as possible. I was playing the demo this morning at all settings on high, (then tried very high but I got more stuttering every now and again, the FPS was still good enough though), but only at 1680 x 1050, for some reason I didn't have the option for 1920x1200. :/
I've just sent Powercolor a message asking if overclocking using the ATI Overdrive utility will void the warranty. It's supplied with the drivers so it shouldn't really, but then again it's in their intrest to find any way they can of making your warrenty void.
I'm happy with my default speed at the moment, but Crysis should be arriving soon and I'd like it to run as well as possible. I was playing the demo this morning at all settings on high, (then tried very high but I got more stuttering every now and again, the FPS was still good enough though), but only at 1680 x 1050, for some reason I didn't have the option for 1920x1200. :/