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** The Official ATI 3870/3850 512/256mb Review/Overclocking Thread **

Just in case you were not aware, if your having a little trouble overclocking, apparently installing Dotnet 3.0 will help you out. Don't really know why but previous versions were causing and issue with overclocking the memory apparently - and even not working at standard clocks (as seen on another forum).

Matthew
 
Just tried to bench my 3870 before putting on the Accelero S1 and found no difference in 3D Mark 06 scores between stock 775/1126 vs 815/1200 other than the temps going up!

Both gave around the 7500 mark. I assume that I'm CPU limited since I haven't clocked my Opteron 170 - left at stock 2GHz since I swapped the memory. Rest of system is an Antec Quattro 850, 2GB OCZ Value, DFI LanParty Ultra-D, Vista 32.

The ORB says that the only other similar system to mine is a 170 @ 2.2GHz and that goes up to 8000. Don't know what GPU OC they may have had since it only records the 2D clocks.

Can anybody more knowledgeable comment?
 
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Yes, even at 2.8Ghz on my X2 3800+ @ 2.8Ghz was still CPU bound so get overclocking. If you game at a higher resolution than 1280x1024 then I'd be less worried about the 3dmark score as the GPU will take control. However if you're at 1440x900 then it might still be a little CPU bound in gaming but I'm not too sure.
 
I've just installed my PowerColor HD 3850 Pro Extreme 512MB. How are my 3DMark06 results?

3DMark Score 8029 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 3660 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4084 Marks
CPU Score 1633 Marks

Rest of system: E6320 at stock, 2GB GeIL ULL PC6400, Gigabyte S3 P965, Antec SmartPower 450W.

I'm getting better performance in Crysis (all High except sound, water and one other I've forgotten which are on medium at 1280x768) than I am in Oblivion. :(
 
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Flying Gribble said:
Well got the Opty stable at a touch shy of 2.7GHz. Still need to tweak the memory though. Got an increase to 9220 and games definitely seem smoother.
Click to expand...

Nice one :D. Good to hear a turn around story :). Once you've done a good round in gaming you should try and push that CPU a little further as it will help you out at that resolution.

Please enjoy your new card first though and get lots of great looking games fired up on your screen as that's what it's all about ;).

H2F Scott said:
I've just installed my PowerColor HD 3850 Pro Extreme 512MB. How are my 3DMark06 results?

3DMark Score 8029 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 3660 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4084 Marks
CPU Score 1633 Marks

Rest of system: E6320 at stock, 2GB GeIL ULL PC6400, Gigabyte S3 P965, Antec SmartPower 450W.

I'm getting better performance in Crysis (all High except sound, water and one other I've forgotten which are on medium at 1280x768) than I am in Oblivion. :(
Click to expand...

Read Flying Gribbles posts above.

You need to get overclocking that E6320. Hitting 3.2Ghz would be a fair enough speed that I think you will manage no problem at all. Then watch that score rise ;).
 
J.D said:
Nice one :D. Good to hear a turn around story :). Once you've done a good round in gaming you should try and push that CPU a little further as it will help you out at that resolution.

Please enjoy your new card first though and get lots of great looking games fired up on your screen as that's what it's all about ;).



Read Flying Gribbles posts above.

You need to get overclocking that E6320. Hitting 3.2Ghz would be a fair enough speed that I think you will manage no problem at all. Then watch that score rise ;).
Click to expand...

I can't overclock. I think it's my motherboard. When I overclock, it just goes into a reboot cycle and resets itself back to 1.86. Though the lowest I've tried is 350x7. It's strange because I've had it stable at 400x7 for weeks, but it only started playing up a few days ago.

I'm using an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro btw, so my temps are good.
 
H2F Scott> Put your spec in your signature please, then it helps deduce what your problems/performanace issues may be :) I would first check that your fans/heatsinks are not all clogged up (do you have filters as these clog up as well), and then check voltages. Take a look at the cpu temp as standard, has it gone up? If so would take a look at the heatsink and see if it is still seated properly. Also try a touch more voltage to the North Bridge (memory controller), and see if that helps.

Has anything else changed recently?

Matthew
 
Scougar said:
H2F Scott> Put your spec in your signature please, then it helps deduce what your problems/performanace issues may be :) I would first check that your fans/heatsinks are not all clogged up (do you have filters as these clog up as well), and then check voltages. Take a look at the cpu temp as standard, has it gone up? If so would take a look at the heatsink and see if it is still seated properly. Also try a touch more voltage to the North Bridge (memory controller), and see if that helps.

Has anything else changed recently?

Matthew
Click to expand...

Hey mate. OK, spec is in sig now.

I think my CPU cooler is fine. I'm getting 33C idle (according to Core Temp), which has been consistent since getting this Freezer 7 Pro. I've been running Orthos for an hour and I'm getting 47C. I'll leave it going a bit longer and see if the temps go up any. I'll try upping the NB to +0.1v like you said. What about FSB, DDR2 and CPU voltages? Up them a little too?

Also, I'm running my 3850 Pro at 765/1000 (stock 720/900), not a huge overclock I know but I don't want to push this too hard. Getting 43C idle with the fan at 50% (I don't mind the noise).

The only recent change is the video card. I put the new Geil RAM in about 2 weeks ago, and it was fine at 2.8GHz for a while. I don't think it's the RAM though. It's probably just the voltages, I've only ever upped the CPU voltage while overclocking.

Thanks for your help by the way.

Edit: OK I upped the voltages (CPU, NB and FSB) and set it to 400x7. It booted fine and I'm running Orthos now. Idle temps are 40c, and load temps are currently 50c after 5 minutes or so.

I also ran 3DMark again before running Orthos. This time I got:

3DMark Score 10457 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4594 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4965 Marks
CPU Score 2450 Marks

Quite a big jump. :)

I'll up it to 3.2GHz and try and higher the video card clocks a little more later on after an hour or two of Orthos at 2.8GHz.
 
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:) Great news!

You really want to be running the least voltage that you need to be running for the required overclock, as it extends the components life (less stress and a cooler system). So would be good now that you have it stable to check which one of those voltage increases was causing it not to boot up.

The 3dmark score seems good btw :) 720 is a nice overclock really, as it is very close to the 3870 at that level. You will ideally need more voltage on the core if you want higher. You can get the 3870's voltage with a simple bios mod, but if you want more than that you have to do a hard mod/pencil mod to get more out of it.

Sometimes components have a settling in period but it is strange that it wasn't booting at all when it ran fine before. Wierd.

Matthew
 
Looking great H2F Scott :D. Good advice from Scougar also ;).

What resolution do you game at?. If higher than 1280x1024 then the CPU will become less important from 1440x900 and upwards. The 3.2Ghz would be a good mark for 1280x1024 as the CPU restrains the GPU at lower resolutions.

The 3.2Ghz would be a good 24/7 clock for now if you can get that stable which I think you'll do no problem now that you have made some progress.

Good luck :D.
 
J.D. > Did you just wink at me? *blush* I'm a married man!!! ;)

Check out Gurusan's posts (in this thread) for info on how to pencil mod if you really want to know, or have a look on xtremesystems if you want to find a modded bios for your card that has the 1.3v mod :) Should allow you to get to 'about' 800Mhz on the core or possibly more with luck.

Matthew
 
Scougar said:
J.D. > Did you just wink at me? *blush* I'm a married man!!! ;)

Check out Gurusan's posts (in this thread) for info on how to pencil mod if you really want to know, or have a look on xtremesystems if you want to find a modded bios for your card that has the 1.3v mod :) Should allow you to get to 'about' 800Mhz on the core or possibly more with luck.

Matthew
Click to expand...

Nah, I don't think I want to hardware mod this card. Knowing me, I'd break it. :o

52C seems the highest the temps is going to go -- I doubt it's going to go higher after an hour. I'll go try and get it stable at 3.2GHz, then do what you said about finding the minimum voltages.

J.D said:
Looking great H2F Scott :D. Good advice from Scougar also ;).

What resolution do you game at?. If higher than 1280x1024 then the CPU will become less important from 1440x900 and upwards. The 3.2Ghz would be a good mark for 1280x1024 as the CPU restrains the GPU at lower resolutions.

The 3.2Ghz would be a good 24/7 clock for now if you can get that stable which I think you'll do no problem now that you have made some progress.

Good luck :D.
Click to expand...

I play at 1680x1050. I lower it for Crysis of course.

Thanks guys, you've been a big help. :)
 
Scougar LMAO you nutter :D.

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1680x1050 is brilliant for you. I think 2.8ghz will be fine for that resolution also. Your 3dmarks will be a little lower at that CPU speed but it's only a benchmark. If you feel you want a comparison then you should ask someone with the same card to run 3dmark at 1680x1050 and see what the SM2/SM3 scores are. If they match up then you know you are receiving the full potential of the card at your resolution and that will give you peace of mind at least.
 
Couldn't get it stable at 3.2, so I settled for 3.15GHz. I had to up the voltage to 1.38v on the CPU, +0.2v on RAM, FSB and NB. It's almost 2 hours stable with 55C temps.

I've highered the video card to 780/1050 also.

3DMark Score 11106 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4776 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 5170 Marks
CPU Score 2769 Marks

I think I'll settle for that. :)

Thanks again lads.

edit: wow. I've jus went on Oblivion and now I'm getting 60-70fps average while walking around outside. Absolutely huge difference. I was only getting 25-40 fps yesterday before I overclocked.
 
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FYI for those interested, the Powercolor PCS version doesnt seem to have the 862/863 Core bug....... 877 happily on stock BIOS here!

now i just need an ATT version out with voltage control for the RV670s.....
 
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