5850 CrossfireX OC questions

[Grinder]

Hi all. Sorry in advance for the dumb questions. I've done some reading and searching, just looking for up to date info and to save some time

I just bought a second Sapphire Radeon 5850 reference card. I haven't really pushed my first one yet (just maxed it out in ccc) or installed the 2nd. I'm about to order a second swiftech komodo full cover block, to use with the loop in my sig (will install in parallel with the first card). The goal is extremely fast daily use. I don't need fan control, since I'm using water and a tbalancer.

I want to oc both cards, increase voltage, and retain powerplay. Is it desireable to flash an unlocked msi bios to do this in ccc with the latest catalyst drivers, or just stick with afterburner?

Is it still necessary to disable ulps for afterburner and the latest cats?

Is it possible or necessary to control ram voltage?

Do I need to take the time to find the limit of each card, or better to keep them synced and find the limit of the pair?

I suppose afterburner to explore, then flash whatever I'm happy with? I'm open to suggestions from all the experienced folks here.

Thanks!

[slaveondope]

I run 2x5850's (HIS and Gigabyte reference) flashed too MSI bios and use MSI AB 2.0 on 10.4 drivers with Swiftec MCR-60 blocks.
Basically thats the best setup Ive found as far as driver and overclocking under Win7x64.
I run 1050/1224 1.26v under AB when a game needs the extra boost other wise Im at stock (725/1000) with 1.01v.
When I went to water I found no need for the ULPS fix since it only helped in matching the fan speeds when overclocking and using custom fan profiles in MSI AB.
I am adimit about 10.4 being the best driver for these cards as far as stability, anything later blow's and Ive used both X58 and 790GX platforms up to the latest.

[Grinder]

Thanks slave.

What is the bios flash giving you there? Necessary to unlock? I thought I read on another forum that the flash wasn't giving us much anymore.

Any thoughts on finding their limit as a pair or Mem voltage? I'm thinking they need to be at the same speed so why bother testing individually, and that mem overvoltage isn't possible or yielding much. It'll be a week or so before I get the komodo, so I suppose I can play around with ab and bios while i wait, in between work and house renovations

I'll start with 10.4. Later is less stable? or has other probs?

[slaveondope]

I have tried upping the memory voltage to no avail. I use MSI bios simply because when on air it caused me less trouble with AB.
Personally I was never able to change voltage with stock bios even after changing "unofficial overclocking" in MSI AB cfg.
Some have managed fine with the .cfg change though I never have. Try that first and if you end up with the same trouble I did you know what to do.

[darckhart]

I have an XFX and HIS reference. Recommend you find the oc stable for the pair. Each on their own would do much better, but together ended up being a little lower. The cores clock great, but the memory on the HIS seems to be picky regardless of volts applied. After experiments with afterburner, I used RBE to mod the bios to volts and speeds of my liking. I'm currently on cat v10.10e and everything is great.

[Grinder]

Thanks guys.