(07-01-2012, 10:50 PM)Garteal Wrote: [ -> ]First of all, update your specs in your profile.
What motherboard do you have?
If you want to OC properly, you'll have to change some settings in the BIOS first.
Then once you've done that, simply set your voltages to 1.15v or so, and put up the multiplier to 40x or so.
Boot up, check temps, stress test. Does it work fine? Want more MHz?
Reboot, get in the BIOS put your multiplier to 45x or so.
Now when you reboot you will (most likely) not be able to boot.
It'll either get stuck at loading Windows, or if you DO get into Windows, you'll get a BSOD with a 0x000000124 message or so.
That means you'll have to raise up the voltages a bit.
I recommend you raise your voltage incrementally, so from 1.15v, you go to 1.16v and so on until it works properly.
Do not exceed 1.4v. Try to stay below it.
I've got a Gigabyte Z68. Any programs you recommend? Do I need to perform those crazy tests that raise the temperature really high? I have a big external heatsink on it. Thanks for your help by the way.
Quote:Any programs you recommend?
Use the BIOS/EFI/UEFI of your MoBo, overclocking programms are not recommended.
Quote:Do I need to perform those crazy tests that raise the temperature really high?
you mean stress or stability tests, right? Yeah, it's recommended to do a test after overlocking, e.g. with Prime95.
If your PSU allows it(600watts+) go 6850 crossfire. outperforms both at the same pricepoint (in my area that is). Also I've had some bad experience today with the amd drivers, screen flickers and stuff so I can't really recommend an AMD card. If you like tesselation and AA go nvidia. If you want GPU horsepower at a reasonable price go AMD. easy as that.
(07-01-2012, 11:05 PM)TSA Wrote: [ -> ]If your PSU allows it(600watts+) go 6850 crossfire. outperforms both at the same pricepoint (in my area that is). Also I've had some bad experience today with the amd drivers, screen flickers and stuff so I can't really recommend an AMD card. If you like tesselation and AA go nvidia. If you want GPU horsepower at a reasonable price go AMD. easy as that.
Everywhere I've asked they suggested the 7870. I can't really say no to them. But truth be told I was hoping to get a nVidia card. Last time I was as well, it just never seems to be recommended anymore.
Quote:I've got a Gigabyte Z68. Any programs you recommend? Do I need to perform those crazy tests that raise the temperature really high? I have a big external heatsink on it. Thanks for your help by the way.
Overclocking should be done via the BIOS, always imo.
You can monitor your CPU speed and voltages with CPU-Z.
You can monitor your CPU temperatures with Realtemp.
You can stresstest with Prime95 and/or Intel Burntest.
Yes, you need to use these to test your system stability.
These will make your CPU work at full load (100%).
Even though you'll most likely never use your CPU at its full load, testing it at its full load will ensure you that its working correctly.
Make sure you don't exceed
85c. If you do, simply stop the torture test.
Quote:Everywhere I've asked they suggested the 7870. I can't really say no to them. But truth be told I was hoping to get a nVidia card. Last time I was as well, it just never seems to be recommended anymore.
Get the 6870, the 7870 is slightly faster and too expensive.
I've never had issues with my AMD card, people are just overreacting and blaming every mistake they make on AMD.
Ultimately its your choice, I've given a response about this on the previous page too.
(07-01-2012, 11:18 PM)belomeclone Wrote: [ -> ]Everywhere I've asked they suggested the 7870. I can't really say no to them. But truth be told I was hoping to get a nVidia card. Last time I was as well, it just never seems to be recommended anymore.
Is that so? oh well I barely have any hardware stores nearby everything i buy goes via the web. So i do a lot of research by youtube vids, reviews and so on and generally nVidia cards are more loved and deserve the love.
Also nVidia doesn't have any mid-high range 6XX cards so on low-high budgets you're stuck with a 7000 series of cards. Stores mostly recommend the newest products so they wont always recommend old cards like the 5XX series or 6XXXseries from amd.
The 6XX cards are veryyyy promising and perform just beast for the rated wattage and even for the price. The 7870 comes close to the 670 price range so I'd suggest to go for the 670. I've heard that 7XXX cards have even
worse drivers.
Quote:I've never had issues with my AMD card
Just because you haven't doesn't mean they other people haven't experienced problems.
Quote: people are just overreacting and blaming every mistake they make on AMD.
Riiiiiiiight.
By that logic I'm sure all of those people reporting grey screens and flicking for the first 6 months after the 5000 series launch were all just making the same stupid mistakes. It couldn't have been the drivers fault......even though they eventually fixed it with a driver update and admitted that it was a driver problem (which they didn't do until after they fixed it.....gee I wonder why).
Both AMD and Nvidia f**k up their drivers every once and awhile but AMD does it A LOT more often. The fact that their have always been so many more people on the internet reporting issues with AMD cards than nvidia cards despite the fact that nvidia has remained the market leader should make that fact pretty obvious. I'm not saying people shouldn't buy AMD cards or that their drivers are awful but saying people are "just overreacting and blaming every mistake they make on AMD" is downright wrong.
Quote:Just because you haven't doesn't mean they other people haven't experienced problems.
I'm just saying I personally haven't ever had any issues with my cards. I never said others don't have them.
Quote:By that logic I'm sure all of those people reporting grey screens and flicking for the first 6 months after the 5000 series launch were all just making the same stupid mistakes. It couldn't have been the drivers fault......even though they eventually fixed it with a driver update and admitted that it was a driver problem (which they didn't do until after they fixed it.....gee I wonder why).
I thought you'd know better about what I actually meant.
There are obviously cases when AMD has to fix their drivers.
But most of the time it's the fault of the user that they're experiencing problems.
It usually goes like this: someone buys a new AMD GPU, and replaces his old AMD GPU. The first thing he does it start up a game and he notices artifacts, etc.
There are several reasons why he experiences these:
1. He hasn't updated his drivers.
2. His GPU is defective.
The first thing this man does, is go to hardforums.com and whine about AMD GPU's not working correctly.
In many cases this is what happens.
But there are also experienced people who bought a GPU days after launch with everything updated properly that experience this.
That's normal IMO, since the GPU just came out. They just have to report things aren't right and should get looked into so the manufacturer can fix it.
Quote:The first thing this man does, is go to hardforums.com and whine about AMD GPU's not working correctly.
In many cases this is what happens.
Then they tell him to completely remove his current drivers, update to the latest drivers, and check his temperatures. After doing all of this the problem is almost always still present because it's a semi-common driver issue.
After years of browsing sites like those it's become very apparent to me that the vast majority of these issues are not user issues. Most of the people who have bothered to even post issues like those on tech forums have usually already tried the common solutions already and/or browsed google for solutions.
Quote:That's normal IMO, since the GPU just came out.
For AMD yes. For nvidia no. The number of people reporting issues on new nvidia cards have always been a fraction of the number of people reporting issues with a new AMD card. And by new I mean a card that has only been on the market for a few months or less.
(07-02-2012, 11:59 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: [ -> ]Then they tell him to completely remove his current drivers, update to the latest drivers, and check his temperatures. After doing all of this the problem is almost always still present because it's a semi-common driver issue.
I'm not stupid, my card is
not defective, I've tested it in numerous different PC's, ran furmark no strange things what so ever. It's just that once in a while the screen flickers which is extremely annoying. I've tried all sorts of different drivers. Used the drivers from the disc, removed them, used from the site, removed those again, tried the beta ones I've tried it all. It could also be my monitor which refresh rate doesn't really suit my 6850 or something like that as the driver the detects that my monitor pulling rate is 75 hertz while it in fact is 60hertz, i've adjusted the crap out of the drivers but no luck whatsoever it still flickers once in a while. Also my temps are max 70 degrees (running furmark) so that's not pretty bad i think.
It's just the drivers... It has to be the drivers... Though it could be the VGA cable i use but meh doesn't bother me too much. It flickers once in a while (half - 4 hours). And basicly now AMD is only focussing on their 7000 series of cards, so they wont support 6000 series that often or release a fix w/e.